The key concept that stood out to me in chapter 12 was that intercultural communication couldn’t be avoided. I believe that as Americans we follow the Burger King slogan to a T and that is " Have it your way." We want life to be convenient and easy. But when it comes to intercultural communication life can't be simple. We don't live in a world anymore where all of your neighbors are the same race as you nor speak the same language. Frankly I think we are better off living in diversity, but it does force us to become more patient and better communicators.
My grandma gets really frustrated shopping at Wall Mart because many of the workers are Hispanic and don't speak English. She has this backwards mind set that everyone in America has to speak English in order to live here, however; this just isn't the way our world is anymore.
I personally think it is great that we live in a country that has so many different cultures and ethnicities present. Just look at SJSU we are wonderfully diverse which isn't the case for most college campuses. I believe communication between different cultures can be difficult but it is more rewarding. Learning how to work with all different kinds of people, male, female, black, white rich or poor, makes us better of I individuals.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Week 9 Post 2
Do I believe in rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises? What are the social institutions based off these beliefs?
I thought that the three premises were very interesting and different from one another. I personally believe in the perfectibility premise that we are born to sin but we can strive to achieve goodness. An important part of this premise that is left out is that we can't achieve perfection on our own it is only with God's help that we can come anywhere near perfection. We have to accept Christ in order to reach our full potential. An important institution that is based off of this premise are churches. We have to admit we are sinners and from that we can move forward into becoming a better person.
I personally don't really follow the rationality premise very much and that is the belief that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis. pg 353. Some of the most important decisions we make in life are made with our hearts and not with our heads, therefore; we are not always logical. I think that because the heart can be so illogical that is why so many cases in court are hard to judge. The court is one example of an institution that follows the rationality premise.
Last is the mutability premise. This premise assumes that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors, and that in order to improve humans we need to improve the physical and psychological circumstances. This premise makes me think of helping the poor and the homeless. In order for people to become better their most basic needs have to be met. These needs include clothing, food water etc. One institution that really stresses this is the Sacred Heart. This foundation wants to get people off the street but in order for this to happen they serve the homeless by providing for them their most basic needs.
I thought that the three premises were very interesting and different from one another. I personally believe in the perfectibility premise that we are born to sin but we can strive to achieve goodness. An important part of this premise that is left out is that we can't achieve perfection on our own it is only with God's help that we can come anywhere near perfection. We have to accept Christ in order to reach our full potential. An important institution that is based off of this premise are churches. We have to admit we are sinners and from that we can move forward into becoming a better person.
I personally don't really follow the rationality premise very much and that is the belief that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis. pg 353. Some of the most important decisions we make in life are made with our hearts and not with our heads, therefore; we are not always logical. I think that because the heart can be so illogical that is why so many cases in court are hard to judge. The court is one example of an institution that follows the rationality premise.
Last is the mutability premise. This premise assumes that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors, and that in order to improve humans we need to improve the physical and psychological circumstances. This premise makes me think of helping the poor and the homeless. In order for people to become better their most basic needs have to be met. These needs include clothing, food water etc. One institution that really stresses this is the Sacred Heart. This foundation wants to get people off the street but in order for this to happen they serve the homeless by providing for them their most basic needs.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Week 9 Post 1
I would have to agree with Ruth Benedict that we are creatures of our cultures. I loved her quote on pg 344 "We are so well programmed that we seldom stop to think that culture is learned. Our cultural norms appear to be natural and right, we can't imagine ever acting differently." I loved reading about Miss Benedict's thoughts on culture because it was very eye opening. I don't really think about how the way we do things in America is not the same way people do things in other parts of the world.
I had the privilege of studying in London for the summer. While I was there I had one experience that stood out to me as being culturally different. I shouldn't say just one experience because of course there were many small cultural norms that were different from ours, but this particular experience really shocked me. I went to see a play with the other students in my class called "Gone Too Far." It was an excellent play about differences in culture and culture shock. The story followed two brother one who was raised in Nigeria and one who was raised in London. The brother were reunited in London and had almost nothing in common because of their different up bringing.
The thing that shocked me wasn't the play itself it was the audience. You see the cast was mostly African English and the majority of the audience was also African. The audience hooted and hollered while the show was going on and dialogue on the stage was happening. I found this completely rude and distracting. The theatre etiquette I learned was that you are silent until the appropriate time to clap, and you never yell at the actors on the stage.
Afterwards I was sitting with my friend Danielle who happens to be African American and I went on and on about how rude it was for the audience to be so loud and interrupting. Danielle explained to me that in the African culture it isn't considered rude to shout words of praise. It is actually a compliment if an audience addresses you. Danielle said that the people in the audience were not being rude they were paying their respects and appreciation to the actors in the show. I would have never thought this.
Like Molly also pointed out in her blog I think it is possible to break through our culture it just takes a lot of will power. In America we are so fortunate to get to say and do what we think. So for me to change the way I see the world isn't as hard as it would be for someone who still lives in a village in South America. I had a Mormon friend who really wanted to convert to Christianity but because of all the negative consequences such as being shunned by her family and excommunicated from her church she just didn't think it was worth it. She would have been left with nothing.
Sometimes change requires big consequences and in order to break through your culture you have to decide if the sacrifices are worth making.
I had the privilege of studying in London for the summer. While I was there I had one experience that stood out to me as being culturally different. I shouldn't say just one experience because of course there were many small cultural norms that were different from ours, but this particular experience really shocked me. I went to see a play with the other students in my class called "Gone Too Far." It was an excellent play about differences in culture and culture shock. The story followed two brother one who was raised in Nigeria and one who was raised in London. The brother were reunited in London and had almost nothing in common because of their different up bringing.
The thing that shocked me wasn't the play itself it was the audience. You see the cast was mostly African English and the majority of the audience was also African. The audience hooted and hollered while the show was going on and dialogue on the stage was happening. I found this completely rude and distracting. The theatre etiquette I learned was that you are silent until the appropriate time to clap, and you never yell at the actors on the stage.
Afterwards I was sitting with my friend Danielle who happens to be African American and I went on and on about how rude it was for the audience to be so loud and interrupting. Danielle explained to me that in the African culture it isn't considered rude to shout words of praise. It is actually a compliment if an audience addresses you. Danielle said that the people in the audience were not being rude they were paying their respects and appreciation to the actors in the show. I would have never thought this.
Like Molly also pointed out in her blog I think it is possible to break through our culture it just takes a lot of will power. In America we are so fortunate to get to say and do what we think. So for me to change the way I see the world isn't as hard as it would be for someone who still lives in a village in South America. I had a Mormon friend who really wanted to convert to Christianity but because of all the negative consequences such as being shunned by her family and excommunicated from her church she just didn't think it was worth it. She would have been left with nothing.
Sometimes change requires big consequences and in order to break through your culture you have to decide if the sacrifices are worth making.
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