Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 10

Furniture Arrangement within the home communicates something about the culture. For example, people from France, Italy or Mexico visiting the United States are often surprised to see that the furniture in the living room is pointed toward the TV set. For them, conversation is important, and facing chairs toward a television screen stifles conversation. In their countries, furniture is positioned to encourage interaction.

Even the arrangement of offices gives us a clue to the character of a people. According to Hall and Hall, French space is a reflection of French culture and French institutions. Everything is centralized, and spatially the entire country is laid out around centers. In Germany, where privacy is stressed, office furniture is spread throughout the office. In Japan, where group participation is encouraged, many desks are arranged hierarchically in the center of a large, common room absent of walls or partitions. The supervisors and managers are positioned nearest the windows. This organization encourages the exchange of information, facilitates multitask accomplishments, and promotes the Confucian concept of learning through silent observation.

Co-cultures also have their own use of space. Prostitutes, for example, are very possessive of their territory. When they mentally mark an area as their own, even though it may be a public street or hotel lobby, they behave as if it were their private property and attempt to keep other prostitutes away. In prisons, where space is limited, controlled, and at a premium, space and territory are crucial forms of communication. New inmates quickly learn the culture of prison by learning about the use of space. They soon know when to enter another cell, that space reduction is a form of punishment, and that lines form for nearly all activities. Women normally allow both men and other women to stand closer to them than do men.

Time. When Shakespeare wrote "The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time," he was putting into words what we all know but often overlook. Although you cannot hold or see time, you respond to it as if it had command over your life. Because time is such a personal phenomenon, all of you perceive and treat it in a manner that expresses your character, and – your culture. If you arrive thirty minutes late for an important appointment and offer no apology, you send a certain message about yourself. Telling someone how guilty you feel about your belated arrival also sends a message.

A culture's use of time can provide valuable clues to how members of that culture value and respond to time. In America, most members of the dominant culture adhere to the advice of Benjamin Franklin which tells us that "Time is money." We also hear the phrase "He who hesitates is lost." The Chinese know the Confucian saying "Think three times before you act." Reflect for a moment on how differently each of these cultures perceives time. A culture's conception of time can be examined from three different perspectives: (1) informal time; (2) perceptions of past, present, and future; and (3) Hall's monochronic and polychronic  classifications.

Informal Time.Most of the rules for informal time are not explicitly taught. Like most of culture, these rules usually function below the level of consciousness. Argyle (1982: 68) makes much the same point when he compares cultural differences in punctuality standards:

How late is "late"? This varies greatly. In Britain and America one may be 5 minutes late for a business appointment, but not 15 and certainly not 30 minutes late, which is perfectly normal in Arab countries. On the other hand in Britain it is correct to be 5-15 minutes late for an invitation to dinner. An Italian might arrive 2 hours late, an Ethiopian after, and a Javanese not at all — he had accepted only to prevent his host from losing face.