Daniela Oloño Fierro

A01566346
Understanding world cultures
11/06/2017

COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE: THE CHALLENGE OF THE

FUTURE

ACTIVITIES
1. Explain the following statement: “In studying other cultures ¿we do so very
often from the perspective of our own culture.”
Culture is a very important aspect of our daily life, we were born in a context defined
by that culture and we have grown in that same context all our life. For that reason,
we are very used to the same beliefs, values and behaviors that it seems impossible
to think that things can be different. So when we go to another culture, we expect the
people from that culture to act and behave according to our own culture. Additionally,
we often compare other cultures with our own and tend to get mad when other cultural
values differ greatly form ours.

2. Explain how changes in technology, the new global economy, and increases in
the world´s population might affect you.
Technology, nowadays, is probably one of the most important factors that define our
lifestyle so it is logical that it affects all individuals. For example, in a few years
transportation as we know it today might disappear, and instead more advanced
vehicles will be used. Therefore, we should adapt to new technologies since they have
the objective of making our lives easier.
Economy is another factor that determines a lot of aspects of our life, the fact that it
is becoming global is something that we must consider in order to assure our success.
We should adapt our activities to this global context in which all cultures are
interconnected. If we stay thinking that economy is only dependable on our culture,
we won´t be able to adapt to this new world.
The increase in world´s population will also affect the way we live, in fact, we are
seeing the consequences of this issue right now. For example, right now the traffic is
much worse than a few years ago. Another example is seen in Mexico city, in which
buildings are designed with several floors in order to allow more people to live in
there.

3. Explain how and why communication and culture are linked.

In order to understand the link between culture and communication, firstly, it is
necessary to understand the meaning of each term.
Communication refers to the ability of sharing or exchanging messages between
individuals. On the other hand, culture refers to the sum of beliefs, rules, values and
techniques that certain group shares.
Now that we know the definition of culture and communication, we can say that both
of them depend on each other because communication allows individuals to share the
 culture, and at the same time, culture is needed to organize individuals into a group
in order to assure the existence of communication.

4. Explain the following statement: “When studying intercultural

communication, you should be aware of the problems associated with
individual uniqueness, stereotyping, objectivity, and assuming communication
is a cure-all.”
Studying intercultural communication is difficult since a lot of factors must be
considered. For example, we should think of individual uniqueness and stereotypes.
The first term refers to the fact that we cannot define someone by analyzing his or her
group since usually each individual is different from each other even if they share the
same culture. Stereotypes cannot be considered because they are just ideas that
someone created and often they are not true. Objectivity refers to the fact that
emotions and personal ideas must not intervene when studying several culture. And
assuming that communication is a cure-all could also cause several problems because
in order to solve misunderstanding, other factors such as tolerance should be applied.

5. Explain what is meant by the phrase “Communication is contextual.” Can you

think of examples of how context has influenced behavior?
Communication is a very complex term that involves several factors in order to be
completely understood. The phrase communication is contextual refers to the fact that
the message given can be influenced by the emotional state of the individual, the
environment and the situation in which the conversation in taking place.
Understanding this phrase can be easier with an example: If you receive a phone call
from an unknown number, you may use a formal language and ask questions to create
a context. On the other hand, if you receive a call from a friend, you probably will
use informal language since you know who you are talking to. In this situation we can
see how communication changes depending on the individuals interacting.