Read the entire text and answer the questions below.

Culture

          According to Saundra Hybels and Richard Weaver, culture is the ever- changing values, social and political relationship, and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors which includes common history, geographic location, language, social class, and/or religion.

Gender

             Gender cultures are the set of behaviors or practices associated with masculinity and femininity. Men and women differ in the way they act, behave and communicate.

             Communication between members of different cultures is affected by how different societies view the roles of men and women. To refrain from showing a bias, it is better to avoid using “he” and “man” to refer to a general group of people. 

Age

The age identity factor refers to how members of different age groups interact with one another.

Although there are always exceptions to the norms that different generations adhere to in communication, daily observation of those from different generations makes it evident that the way different generations communicate differs.

Social Status

             Social status refers to the relative rank or standing that an individual has in the eyes of others.

             It is shaped by one’s background, education, reputation, perceived power, and position in an organization’s hierarchy.

2 Types of Social Status

          a. Ascribed Status is determined at birth. It is a position in the society that is obtained involuntarily. It includes a person’s age, gender, race, ethnic group, and family background.

        b. Achieved Status is a position that a person holds in the society as a result of the application of their knowledge, skills, ability, and talent. It could be an achievement, position or rank in the community.

Religion

             Karl Marx (1818 -1883) saw religion as descriptive and evaluative. He noted that social and economic situations shape how we form and regard religions and what is religious. For Marx, the fact that people tend to turn to religion more when they are facing economic hardships or that the same religious denomination is practiced differently in different communities would seem perfectly logical.

Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

The developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) offers a structure that explores how people experience cultural differences (Bennett and Bennett, 2004)

1. Denial – the individual does not recognize cultural differences.

2. Defense – the individual starts to recognize cultural differences and is intimidated by them, resulting in either a superior view on own culture or an unjustified high regard for the new one.

3. Minimization– Although individuals see cultural differences, they bank more on the universality of ideas rather than on cultural differences.

4. Acceptance – the individual begins to appreciate important cultural differences in behaviors and eventually in values

5. Adaptation – the individual is very open to world views when accepting new perspectives.

6. Integration – individuals start to go beyond their own cultures ad see themselves and their actions based on multifarious cultural viewpoints.

QUIZ 6:  Read the questions carefully and choose the letter of your choice.

1. It is the sending and receiving of message across languages and cultures.

A Intercultural competence

B Socio-cultural competence

C Sociolinguistics

D Intercultural communication

2. Which of the following is a factor affecting intercultural communication?

A All of these choices

B Social status

C Age

D Culture

3. What is the ever-changing values, social and political relationship, and worldview created and shared by a group of people.

A Culture

B Gender

C Religion

D Social class

4. It is one of the factors affecting intercultural communication means as the set of behaviors or practices associated with masculinity and femininity.

A Gender

B Culture

C Age

D Religion

5. This factor affecting intercultural communication refers to the relative rank or standing that an individual has in the eyes of other.

A Religion

B Culture

C Social status

D Age

6. He noted that social and economic situations shape how we form and regard religions and what is religious.

Choose Answer

A Karl Marx

B John Toomey

C Richard Hybels

D Richard Marx

7. Religion is shaped by one’s background, education, reputation, perceived power, and position in an organization’s hierarchy.

A False

B Maybe

C True

D Somehow

8. It happens when individuals interact and create meanings while bringing in their varied cultural backgrounds.

A All of these choices

B Communicative situation

C International communication

D Intercultural communication

9. Communication between members of different cultures is affected by how different societies view the roles of men and women.

A Somehow

B False

C Maybe

D True

10. Understanding cultural diversity is very much important in attaining effective communication process.

A False

B Maybe

C True

D Somehow

Activity: