Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 38

Although all cultures ask the institution of family to instruct children in the correct use of basic communication skills, the skills that are stressed vary from culture to culture. Studies of Western family life have shown that parents encourage, approve, and reward aggressive behavior. In the traditional Mexican family, which highly values respect, the child is taught to avoid aggressive behavior and to use diplomacy and tactfulness when communicating with another individual.

In Chinese families, children learn the social skills necessary for group harmony, family togetherness, interdependence in relationships, respect for their place in the line of generations, and saving face.

A vivid example of how each family teaches various social skills can also be seen in the Thai family: The child quickly learns that by behaving in a way that openly demonstrates consideration for the feelings of others, obedience, humility, politeness and respect, he can make people like him and be nice to him. This behavior may be summed up in one Thai word, krengjai. Krengjai is usually translated as consideration.

We hope the examples we have provided have demonstrated the prominence of the family in the enculturation process. What is intriguing about this process is that, like most of the deep structure of culture, it is resistant to change. Although, for reasons we have already discussed, this may not apply to the United States, it does apply to most other cultures. In China, for example, in spite of the legal and cultural persecution of the traditional Chinese family, neither Mao's Cultural Revolution nor the Gang of Four could destroy it. The Chinese have a proverb that expresses both the strength and influence of the family: "To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root."

HISTORY

The importance of history to the study of culture can be represented by the assertion of English writer Edmund Burke that "history is a pact between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn." Burke's observation takes on added meaning for students of intercultural communication when we realize that we can substitute the word culture for the word history, for in a very real sense both are the conduits that carry the important messages a culture deems important.

Before we begin our discussion of how history and culture are interwoven, we remind you that our intention is simply to expose you to some historical examples that will enable you to appreciate the following advice: The study of history needs to be part of the study of intercultural communication. We need to recognize that the history of every society or people deserves to be studied not only as part of world history but also on account of its intrinsic values.

The influence of history is hard to pin down and define. When we are talking about history, we are talking about much more than historical events and specific dates. Granted these are important, but when we refer to history as one of the deep structures of a culture, we are also talking about a culture's formal and informal government, its sense of community, its political system, its key historical "heroes," and even its geography. All of these, working in combination, provide the members of every culture with their identity, values, goals, and expectations. For example, the history of the United States teaches young people that almost anything is possible—one can even become president. History books are full of stories about Abraham Lincoln's log-cabin background and the simple clothing-store clerk Harry Truman. Such history is deeply rooted in the American psyche.

The penetrating effect of a culture's history on perception and behavior can be seen in countless examples. The deep-seated hatred and killing in Bosnia-Herzegovina did not start in the 1990s. The roots of the conflict go back to the fourteenth century. Much of the enmity between Jews and Arabs, as well as between African Americans and the dominant culture in the United States, can be traced to a long history.