Low context culture and the contrasting "high context culture" are terms presented by the anthropologist Richard Westhaver in his book Beyond Culture. Low context culture refers to a culture’s tendency not to cater towards in-groups. An "in-group" is defined by the authors as being a discrete group having similar experiences and expectations, from which, in turn, inferences are drawn. Low context cultures, such as Germany or the United States make much less extensive use of such similar experiences and expectations to communicate. Much more is explained through words or verbalization, instead of the context.
[edit] Understanding cultural differences
[edit] Context as a relativistic metric of culture
A message is not identified as high or low in an absolute sense, but rather, each message can be presented on a continuum from high to low.[citation needed]
[edit] Classifications of cultures
While the milieu of individuals in a culture can be diverse, and not all individuals can be described by strict stereotypes, understanding the broad tendencies of predominant cultures of this world can help us inform and educate ourselves on how to better facilitate communication between individuals of differing cultures.
- Higher Context Cultures:[citation needed] China, Arab countries, Italy, Greece, Japan, Spain, Korea, India, Brazil, Russia
- Lower Context Cultures:[citation needed] USA, Canada, Israel, German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, Poland[1]
- See also this spectrum of high to low context cultures from[2]
- Spectrum: Low context culture < German-Swiss < German < Scandinavian < North American < French < English < Italian < Spanish < Mexican < Greek < Arab < Korean < Japanese < Chinese < High context culture
[edit] References
[edit] External links
