Culture
is the "lens" through which one views the world. In communication,
people respond to
their experience, not to reality itself.
Culture is
pervasive.
Cultural differences arise from different origins:
birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender;
age; language; education; physical condition; sexual
orientation; religion; profession; place of work, and so on.
Cultural Blindness
Ignoring cultural differences, speaking and acting as though differences do
not exist.
Cultural Incompetence
You cannot treat everybody the same regardless of culture without adverse
consequences. Simple gestures that would be benign or complementary in one
country could be a gross insult in another country. Acts that people from
one culture perform every day and phrases that they use all the time with
each other could be offensive and judged negatively by people from a
different culture. For instance, North Americans view direct eye contact as
a sign of honesty, while in many Asians view direct eye contact as a form of
disrespect.
Stereotyping
Generalizing about a representative of a culture while ignoring presence of
individual difference; mindset “they are all like that."
Cultural Imposition
Believing that everyone should conform to a certain culture whose
representatives think they know what's best for everyone,
Ethnocentrism
Inability to accept another culture's world view and values; mindset “our
way / style of democracy / values are the best."
Discrimination
Discriminatory treatment of a person or a cultural group due to minority
status – actual, perceived or imposed.
The bird thinks it is an act
of kindness to give the fish a lift in the air.
