Hall Flashcards
What is Hall famous for?
Being the founder of the study of intercultural communication
What was Halls methodology?
Study the human use of space, time and the importance of the context surrounding a conversation
What did Hall conclude regarding the context of a conversation?
Context is everything
What are the two subgroups of context?
High Context and low context
the context is extremely important. Ones relations with the people in the room when having a meaning might be even more important than the actual topic that is to be discussed. The people are more oriented by their feelings when taking decisions. This context is specially found in Asian and Arab countries. If a company from western Europe wants to send a business man to negotiate with a business in an Arab country, it is important that they obtain a good relationship. If not, the Arabs might not be interested in making business.
High Context
are not as focused on the context surrounding the conversation, and they are often driven by a previous stated agreement to how the conversation should take place. For people in low context cultures, the results are the most important, and they do not care to much of making acquaintance with the people they work with. The way they work is through thinking strategically, in order obtain goals in the most efficient way. Examples are Germans, Scandinavians and Swiss.
Low context
What are the subgroups of time?
Monochronic and Polychronic
cultures takes one thing at a time. Work comes first, and it is utterly important to never miss a deadline, or be late to a meeting. Extended planning is also an important aspect of the way monochronic people work. They are low context, and will therefore be dependent on giving information verbally as they are not good at reading body language. People in these cultures value privacy, and will seldom borrow and lend from each other. Examples are people from the US, Scandinavia and Germany.
Monochronic
cultures are used to multi-tasking. Work is not more important than relationships, and they are therefore also high context. Their relations to the people they work with is important, and work and leisure can often be mixed. People of this culture will not need long verbal explanations as they are good at reading body language. Planning and deadlines are not as important, and they are often not very punctual. Its the idea that everything has its time, and that people follow their own time. Polychronic people will often borrow and lend from each other, and their intimate circle will often extend from family to friends and business associates. Examples of this are Mexico, India, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Russia.
Polychronic
The study of human use of space
proxemics
What are the four spaces that Hall found?
- Intimate
- Personal
- Social
- Public
According to Hall, who would have a cultural clash due to different interpretations of physical space?
German and an American would have a cultural clash due to different uses of physical space. An American would think that one would have to enter ones personal space in order to have conversation, while a German see it as offensive if one enters ones line of sight, and does not try to further conversation.
