An Introduction to Intercultural Communication. Fred E. Jandt
one speaks of a person as having attributes independent of circumstances or of personal relations. This self is a free agent who can move from group to group, from setting to setting, without significant changes. But in high-context cultures, the person is connected, fluid, and conditional. Participation in relationships makes it possible to act; completely independent behavior usually isn’t possible or even desirable (Nisbett, 2003).
Focus on Technology 3.2 Web Design in Low- and High-Context Countries
Würtz (2005) compared McDonald’s websites in high- and low-context countries. She demonstrated that websites in high-context countries use more animation, images that promote collectivism, products shown in use by individuals, links that promote an exploratory approach to navigation on the website, and sidebars and menus that open new browser windows. The websites in low-context countries use less animation and fewer images that promote individualism or portray lifestyles of individuals; navigation is clear and redundant, and there are few sidebars and windows.
Later, Kim, Coyle, and Gould (2009) compared the design features of South Korean and U.S. websites and found consistent results. The Dongsuh Corporation is a major food manufacturer and importer. Like many South Korean sites, the Dongsuh site at the time of their study included animation, streaming video, clickable images, rollover navigation bars, and pop-under windows. An embedded video of a man and woman enjoying a cup of coffee rotated continuously. Five animated circles grew larger when rolled over, and one of these circles included circles within it that also grew larger when rolled over. The navigation scheme included two navigation bars and two pop-under windows. Compared to the Dongsuh site, the Procter & Gamble (P&G) site at the time of their study had much less animation, and the animation was much more subdued. Unlike the Dongsuh site, the P&G site relied on static navigation bars. The P&G site did not utilize pop-up windows, streaming audio, or streaming video.
After their analysis of 200 South Korean and U.S. corporate websites, Kim and colleagues concluded that low-context countries, such as the United States, relied more on less arbitrary textual formats and that high-context countries, such as South Korea, relied more on more ambiguous visual formats.
The Concept of Face
High-context cultures place great emphasis on relationships, and in those societies, the concept of face is critical to understand. In Chinese culture, Face is conceptualized in two ways: lien (face) and mien or mien-tzd (image). While these are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings. Hsien Hu (1944) defines lien as something that “represents the confidence of society in the integrity of ego’s moral character, the loss of which makes it impossible to function properly with the community,” whereas mien “stands for the kind of prestige that is emphasized in this country [United States], a reputation achieved through getting on in life, through success and ostentation” (p. 45). Masumoto, Oetzel, Takai, Ting-Toomey, and Yokochi (2000) define Facework as the communicative strategies one uses to enact self-face and to uphold, support, or challenge another person’s face.
Raymond Cohen (1997) provides examples of ways one can lose face:
A rebuffed overture
Exposure to personal insult
Exposure to a derogatory remark or disregard for one’s status
Being forced to give up a cherished value
Making what may later be seen as an unnecessary concession
Failure to achieve goals
Revelation of personal inadequacy
Damage to a valued relationship
High-context societies tend to be more hierarchical and traditional societies in which the concepts of shame and honor are much more important than they are in low-context societies. High-context cultures thus avoid direct confrontation or use communication strategies to maintain harmony and reduce the possibility of conflict. Vargas-Urpi (2013) has shown in one study that Chinese communicators use forms of smiles and other nonverbal behaviors to avoid or to soften uncomfortable situations that will threaten a participant’s face.
Communication in high-context cultures such as China is hence more indirect or implicit. For example, people raised in high-context cultures “expect more of others than do the participants in low-context systems” (E. T. Hall, 1976, p. 98). A high-context communicator expects that the listener already knows critical information, and therefore does not have to be specific. The high-context communicator is more likely to use intermediaries. Social harmony and face maintenance are crucial, so communication through intermediaries is especially functional because using intermediaries eliminates face-to-face confrontation and reduces the risk of losing face.
In interviews conducted in central China, Ringo Ma (1992) confirmed that unofficial mediation is common in situations involving interpersonal conflict. The mediator is usually a friend of the two parties in conflict or an elderly person respected by both. Intervention by the friend or respected elder is either self-initiated or in response to a request by a person not connected with the competing parties. Impartiality and face maintenance are considered the two key factors in successful mediation.
In low-context societies, individuals are guided more by personal responsibility than by shaming one’s group. Ting-Toomey (1985) has proposed that low-context cultures, such as the United States, with a greater concern for privacy and autonomy, tend to use direct-face negotiation and express more self-face maintenance, whereas high-context cultures, such as China, with a greater concern for interdependence and inclusion, tend to use indirect-face negotiation and express more mutual-face or other-face maintenance.
Case Study of Communication Between High- and Low-Context Countries—China and the United States
In the last section, you read about Hall’s description of high- and low-context cultures and how context affects how we communicate and how we think about ourselves and others. China was described as an example of a high-context culture, and the United States was described as an example of a low-context culture. A 2016 Pew survey of the Chinese public showed U.S. power and influence as the top international threat facing their country (Wike & Stokes, 2016). Neither country has especially positive views of the other. People in the United States were most concerned about the amount of U.S. debt held by China, the loss of jobs to China, cyberattacks, and human rights. Most Chinese believed the United States was trying to hold their country back from becoming as powerful as the United States. By 2019, some columnists were saying that trust between the two countries is at its lowest point in 30 years.
In this section, you’ll explore some of the ways that context has affected communication between the two countries. First you’ll review some of the communication barriers between high-context and low-context cultures. Then, after a review of Chinese history, you’ll use these barriers, the barriers to intercultural communication identified in the previous chapter, and your understanding of how context affects perception to analyze issues between China and the United States.
Global Voices
Excerpts from Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere
“A Notice from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s General Office”
April 22, 2013
Currently, the following false ideological trends, positions, and activities all deserve note:
1 Promoting Western Constitutional Democracy: An attempt to undermine the current leadership and the socialism with Chinese characteristics system of governance.
Western Constitutional Democracy has distinct political properties and aims.… Their goal is to use Western constitutional democracy to undermine the Party’s leadership, abolish the People’s Democracy, negate our country’s constitution as well as our established system and principles, and bring