Midterm Exam Part II

634 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role and task of women in the military

Martin and Nakayama discuss four potential barriers to intercultural communication, both attitudinal and behavioral. The four that are discussed are ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. The authors believe that attitudinal behaviors such as stereotyping and prejudice can be the gateway leading to larger behavioral communication barriers such as prejudice. With each barrier having its own unique challenges and strategies to help combat.
“Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own cultural group – usually equated with nationality – is superior to all other cultural groups.” (Martin & Nakayama, 2011, p. 54) Along with this idea individuals that believe this place a hierarchy on other cultures, placing their culture at the top. Therefore other cultures are then ranked below their own. This leads to a since of superiority among a given culture and limits their ability to see others as equals. Martin and Nakayama suggests that by spending extended periods of time with other cultures can lead to a better appreciation can keep ethnocentrism from getting out of hand.
The dictionary describes stereotypes as “simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly”. ("Stereotype," n.d., para. 2) The text describes them as “widely held beliefs about a group of people”. (Martin & Nakayama, 2011, p. 55) Similar to the other communication barriers discussed here, stereotypes themselves are not necessarily bad, but when use to belittle of single out a group negatively they can cause communication issues. There has been a big debate in recent years as to whether or not women should be placed in combat related job fields. One of huge factors preventing this from happening wa...

... middle of paper ...

...ctive effort.
All four communication barriers discussed have education at the source of the strategies used to combat them. Recognizing that ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination exist and understanding what they truly mean is the first step. Self-evaluation is next in making sure individuals recognize negative traits within themselves and finally spreading that knowledge; whether it is through individual, collective or institutional education. Finally exploring alternative means of combating these communication barriers will help society as a whole become better.

Works Cited

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2011). Experiencing Intercultural Communication: an Introduction (4. ed.). London: McGraw-Hill Education - Europe.

stereotyping. (n.d.). The Free Dictionary. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stereotyping

Show More
Related

  • Dalton Conley You May Ask Yourself Summary

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    The term “ethnocentrism,” meaning the sense of taken-for-granted superiority in the context of cultural practices and attitudes, described the way Europeans looked at their “culture” as though they were superior to all others. Westerns even stated that non-Westerns had no culture and that they were inferior to the culture that was building in Europe.

    Read More

  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers Analysis

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Asuncion-Landé, N. C., & Pascasio, E. M. (1981). Building bridges across cultures: Perspectives on intercultural communication--theory and practice. Manila, Philippines: Solidaridad Pub. House.

    Read More

  • The Negative Impact of the Depiction of Black Male Stereotypes in Media

    3152 Words  | 7 Pages

    Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160.

    Read More

  • The House I Live In Movie Analysis

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.

    Read More

  • Film: Guess Who?

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holliday, A., Hyde, M., & Kullman, J. (2010). Intercultural Communication. London & New York: Routledge.

    Read More

  • Language, Gender, and Culture in Society

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    In many circles of the world, various groups of people distinguish themselves from one another through religion, language, culture, and sometimes gender. People also develop stereotypes about a particular group of people in order to identify them. However, most of the time, these stereotypes hold true for only some members of a group. Sometimes, these stereotypes are just plain misconceptions that do not even apply to the group it claims to. Stereotypes are placed on people because it is a way to easily identify what type of person or ethnicity an individual is. At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is being perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate. Some hardly even apply to the particular group people it claims to. It is true that how people are perceived has a big impact on how other individuals interact with them; however, people are not perceiving these groups correctly.

    Read More

  • Mexican American Culture: The Film Selena

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Read More

  • Prejudice and Stereotyping in the Movie, Crash

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    In our global economy requiring functional and respectful relationships between nations, prejudice and stereotypes can be a destructive force both in the world and in individual societies, especially in diverse ones.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kim's Contextual Theory Of Interethnic Communication

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Kim, there is a particular circumstance that must occur in order for an interaction to be considered an interethnic communication. There must be some kind of deviation or distinction between the communicator and interactant with regards to identity and ethnicity (Kim, 2005). This can include traits such as age, sex, skin color, and body size. Within this context, interethnic communication is regarded as an open-system concept rather than a fixed and rigid form of interaction. Every aspect of the conversation not only considered independent of one another, but

    Read More

  • Cultural Competence and Intercultural Communication

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    When individuals or groups from different cultures communicate, this process is called intercultural communication. The transaction process of listening and responding to people from different cultural backgrounds can be challenging. The greater the difference in culture between two people, the greater the potential of misunderstanding and mistrust. Misunderstanding and miscommunication occur between people from different cultures because of different coding rules and cultural norms, which play a major role in shaping the patterns of interaction (Jandt, 2012).

    Read More

  • Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ethnocentrism, as stated above, means the belief that one’s own culture is above and beyond all other cultures. Although this is somewhat of a shallow definition, it still provides an adequate explanation of a very complex issue. We see ethnocentrism every single day, in all aspects of life. The United States of America is a prime example of ethnocentrism is action. The people of this country have a tendency to disregard other cultures, instead believing that American culture is the only way to go. This is not to say that this is how everyone thinks, although most people, at one time or another, have had thoughts along these lines.

    Read More

  • Intercultural Communication: An Eveolving Discipline

    1868 Words  | 4 Pages

    Intercultural communication is an evolving discipline that occurs between individuals from contrasting backgrounds. It include...

    Read More

  • Problems In Intercultural Communication

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Education

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from culture differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. We are dealing with systemic problems in education, economic, government, religion and culture differences.

    Read More

  • Individual Reflection For The Final Project

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    To elaborate, by mentioning intercultural understanding, I meant that each cultural group has different ways to communicate. For example, Western culture encourages people to be up-front and straight-forward with their communication; contrastly, people who are influenced by Eastern culture might be less outspoken about their ideas and pay a lot of attention to nonverbal language of the people around them. Culture is something that if one have never encountered or exposed to it, he or she would never know. I hope that after this project, besides of the knowledge we gained from the research itselves, all four of us would improve even more on our intercultural and interpersonal communication skills. Because at the end of the day, the knowledge that one have learnt might be forgotten, but all of the skills that one have gained will stay for a very long time.

    Read More

More about Midterm Exam Part II

Open Document