Chapter 6: The Sociorelational Context

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Compare and contrast the nature of group membership and group behavior across cultures

2. Define and discuss the concept of role relationships across cultures

3. Compare and contrast sex and gender roles across cultures

4. Compare and contrast families and family roles across cultures

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

All human beings, regardless of culture, belong to groups. Although some cultures (like the United States) promote individuality and independence, our survival depends on our interdependency and cooperation with other humans. This, of course, requires human communication. In many ways, intercultural communication is a group phenomena experienced by individuals.

In other words, when people from different cultures come together to interact, they typically view each other not as unique individuals, but as members of a different cultural group. Think about your own communication experiences with strangers from different cultures. When we meet a stranger from a different culture, we see that person as a member of a cultural group that is different from our own.

Even intraculturally; that is, within our own culture, when we meet strangers, we typically see them in terms of the groups to which they belong, (e.g., sex, race, age, etc). In fact, there is no other way to describe a stranger than by the groups to which he/she belongs. The socio-relational context, then, refers to how group memberships affect communication.

Whenever people from different cultures come together to interact, their verbal and nonverbal messages are defined by, and filtered through, their group memberships.

The social relationship they develop is significantly influenced by the groups to which they belong, hence the term socio-relational context.

Attachment:- The Sociorelational Context.rar