Value System in Intercultural Communication.docx

Value System in Intercultural Communication.docx

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ValueSysteminInterculturalCommunication

Contents

Acknowledgements3

Abstract

（English）4

（Chinese）6

ChapterIIntroduction7

1.1TheNecessityofInterculturalStudy7

1.2TheDefinitionofCulture8

ChapterIITheStructureofCulture10

2.1MaterialCulture,SocialCultureandIdeologicalCulture10

2.2OvertCultureandCovertCulture11

ChapterIIIValueSystem12

3.1Confucianismvs.Individualism&HumanRights13

3.2GoodNaturevs.EvilNature16

3.3Collectivismvs.Individualism18

3.4Powervs.Solidarity19

3.5StatusIdentityvs.FreedomofActions20

3.6WarmHumanFeelingsvs.InstrumentalityandFairPlay21

3.7PastOrientationvs.FutureOrientation24

3.8P-timevs.M-time26

3.9High-contextvs.Low-context26

ChapterIVTheImpactofValueSystemonIntercultural

Communication30

4.1TheImpactofValueSystemonIndirectness30

4.2TheImpactofValueSystemonTopicIntroduction37

4.3TheImpactofValueSystemonPrivacy-regulation38

4.4TheImpactofValueSystemontheStylesofApproachingConflicts39

4.5TheImpactofValueSystemon“Face”39

ChapterVTheApproachestoASuccessfulInterculturalCommunicat41

ChapterVIConclusion43

SelectedBibliography45

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DuringmystudyintheSchoolofForeignStudiesofAnhuiUniversityforthemaster’sdegree,Ihavelearnedalotunderthesupervisionofthoselearnedexpertsandscholarsinlinguisticsandliteraturefields.Theirindustriousworkandenthusiasticencouragementhavebeenaconstantinspirationtome.

Iwouldliketotakethisopportunitytoextendmygratitudetoallthosewhohaveofferedmetheirhelpinmystudyandinthecourseofwritingmythesis,includingProfessorHuaQuankun,ProfessorHongZengliu，ProfessorZhouFangzhu,ProfessorChenZhengfa,ProfessorLiYongfang,ProfessorHeGongjie,andDr.Stewart.

Myindebtednessisdueparticularlytomysupervisor,ProfessorZhuYue,forhisvaluablesuggestionsandinspiringcomments.Iamalsogratefultohimforhispatienthelpandpreciousadvice.Withouthisinstruction,thecompletionofmythesiswouldhavebeenimpossible.

Finally,gratefulacknowledgementsaremadetomycolleaguesandclassmateswhohavealsoofferedmegreathelp.

Abstract

ThispapermakesacontrastiveanalysisofChineseandWesternvaluesystems,attemptstostudytheimpactofvaluesystemoninterculturalcommunicationandputsforwardtwoprinciplestoachieveasuccessfulinterculturalcommunication.Itholdsthatasthecoreofculture,valuesystemplaysasignificantpartininterculturalcommunication.

Tobeginwith,thepaperdiscussesthedefinitionofculture.Differentscholarshavedefinedculturefromdifferentperspectives.Thepaper’sconcerniswithanthropologicalculture.Whenthepaperusestheword“culture”initsanthropologicalsense,itmeanstosaythatcultureisthedepositofknowledge,experience,beliefs,values,actions,attitudes,meanings,hierarchies,religion,notionsoftime,roles,spatialrelations,conceptsoftheuniverse,andartifacts（tools,pottery,houses,machines,worksofart）acquiredbyagroupofpeopleinthecourseofgenerationsthroughindividualandgroupstriving.

Secondly,thispaperanalyzesthestructureofculture.Thestructureofcultureisoneofthemostimportantaspectsininterculturalstudy.Unlesswehavebeenfamiliarwiththestructureofculture,itisnotlikelythatweknowthefocusofinterculturalstudy.Culturecanbeclassifiedintoovertcultureandcovertculture.Thecoreofcovertcultureisvaluesystem.Valuesare,accordingtoRokeach（1973:

161）,“alearnedorganizationofrulesformakingchoicesandforresolvingconflicts.”These“rules”andguidepostsarenormativeandteachuswhatisuseful,useless,good,bad,right,wrong,whattostrivefor,howtoliveourlife,andevenwhattodiefor.Thispaperholdstheviewthatvaluesystemshouldbethefocusofinterculturalstudy.

Thirdly,thispapermakesacontrastiveanalysisofdifferentvalueorientationsinChinesecultureandWesternculture,includingthefollowingaspects:

Confucianismvs.individualismandhumanrights,goodnaturevs.evilnature,collectivismvs.individualism,powervs.solidarity,statusidentityvs.freedomofactions,warmhumanfeelingsvs.instrumentalityandfairplay,pastorientationvs.futureorientation,P-timevs.M-time,andhigh-contextvs.low-context.

Fourthly,thispaperdiscussestheimpactofvaluesystemonindirectness,topicintroduction,privacy-regulation,thestylesofapproachingconflictsand“face”.Basedondifferentvalueorientations,ChinesepeopleandWesternpeoplehavedifferentcommunicativestylesandwaysofperception.Thus,misunderstandingsandevencommunicationbreakdownsfrequentlyoccurininterculturalcommunication.

Finally,thispaperputsforwardtwoprinciplestoachieveasuccessfulinterculturalcommunication.Thefirstprincipleofinterculturalcommunicationisthateachparticipantshouldunderstandtheother’svaluesystem.Andthesecondoneisthateachparticipantshouldadapthisorhercommunicationtotheother’svaluesystem.

Ofcourse,cultureisneverstatic.Oneshouldbecautiousinmakingstaticgeneralizationonsocialbehaviorofthepeopleofaparticularculture.

KeyWords:

culturevaluesysteminterculturalcommunication

摘要

本文认为，作为文化的内核，价值系统在跨文化交际中起着至关重要的作用。

本文对中西方文化中不同的价值系统进行了对比分析，探讨了价值系统对跨文化交际的影响，并且提出两个成功地进行跨文化交际的原则。

首先，本文讨论了文化的定义。

不同领域的学者从不同的角度对文化进行了定义。

本文所关注的是人类学的文化。

本文在使用“文化”这个概念时，指一个大的人群在许多代当中通过个人和集体的努力获得的知识、经验、信念、价值、态度、角色、空间关系、宇宙观念的积淀，以及他们获得的物质的东西和所有物。

第二，本文分析了文化的结构。

文化的结构是跨文化研究中最重要的方面之一。

如果不了解文化的结构，就不可能知道跨文化研究的重点。

文化可以分为公开文化和隐蔽文化。

隐蔽文化的核心是价值系统。

价值观通常是规定性的，告诫人们什么是好的和坏的，什么是正确的和错误的，什么是真实的和虚假的，什么是正面的和反面的，等等。

最重要的是文化价值观指导人们的看法和行为。

本文认为价值系统应该是跨文化研究的重点。

第三，为了研究价值系统，本文试着对中西方文化中不同的价值取向进行了对比分析，它们包括：

儒家思想，个人主义与人权；性本善，性本恶；群体主义，个人主义；权势，平等；地位身份，行为自由；情感型，工具型；以过去为取向，以将来为取向；多元时间制，一元时间制；强语境，弱语境。

第四，本文讨论了价值系统对以下五个方面的影响：

间接性，话题导入，隐私规则，冲突解决方式和面子。

由于不同的文化价值取向，中国人与西方人的交际风格明显不同，因而在跨文化交际中会经常产生误解，甚至交际失败。

最后，本文提出两个成功地进行跨文化交际的原则。

首先，每一个跨文化交际的参与者必须了解对方的价值观；其次，必须使自己的交际适应对方的价值观。

当然，文化并不是静止的。

因此，我们在对某一具体文化中人们的社会行为做一般概括时必须谨慎。

关键词：

文化，价值系统，跨文化交际

ValueSysteminInterculturalCommunication

ChapterIIntroduction

1.1TheNecessityofInterculturalStudy

Inrecentyears,thegrowthinforeigntravelforbusiness,studyandpleasure,theexpansionofinternationaltradeandthemigrationofpeopleseekingworkinthemulti-nationalcompanieshavenaturallyledtoaconcomitantincontactsacrossnationalandethnicborders.Technologyhasacceleratedinterculturalcontactbyspurringdevelopmentintwoareasofhumanendeavor:

transportationsystemsandcommunicationsystems.

Todaytourismisoneofthefast-growingindustriesintheworld.Tripsoncetakingdaysarenowmeasuredinhours.Supersonictransportscanplaceatouristanywhereintheworldwithinhours.Vacationingtouristsarenottheonlyonesenjoyingtheincreasedmobilitybroughtaboutbytechnicaladvancesintransportationsystems.BusinessexecutivesandgovernmentofficialscannowattendabreakfastmeetinginSanFranciscoandadinnerconferenceinParisduringthesameday.Oneresultoftheseexpandedtravelopportunitiesisthatpeopleareencounteringculturesthatsometimesseembizarreandevenmysterious.

Newandadvancedcommunicationsystemshavealsoencouragedandfacilitatedculturalinteractionduringthepastdecade.Communicationsatellites,sophisticatedtelevisiontransmissionequipment,anddigitalswitchingnetworksnowallowpeoplethroughouttheworldtoshareinformationandideasatthesametime.Itisreportedthattheworldnowhas1.2billiontelevisionsetsand180millionpersonalcomputers.ThedevelopmentofcommunicationsatellitehasalsoledtotheexpansionoftheWorldWideWebandtheInternetcomputernetwork.TheinformationrevolutionbeganintheUnitedStates,andtheInternetisgraduallyspreadingitaroundtheworld.Inthelasttwoyears,theInternethasmorethantripledinsize.Computereducationforchildrenisontheriseworldwide.Childrenarebeingeducatedinwaysneverconceived.Theyarelinkedacrosstheglobethroughcomputerliteracy.Somewillgrowupneverknowingatimetheydidnotusethecomputer.Asaresultofthesecomputerlinks,manychildrenmayrelatemoretotheirglobalpeersthantotheirlocalcounterparts.

Whentherearesignificantdifferencesinbackgroundknowledge,eventhesamemessagemaybeinterpreteddifferentlybydifferentindividuals.Thismaycausetroubleinanysituationofcontactbetweenthem.

Therearetwogroupsofculturalanthropologistsmakingastudyofinteractionbetweenindividualsrepresentingdifferentcultures.Thefirstgroupofresearchers,whomtheylabel“culturaldialogists”,emphasizetheneedtodevelopahumanisticviewofcommunicationtheoryandpracticethatwouldpromoteworldunderstanding.Thesecondschool,referredtoas“culturalcriticism”,isguidedbytheprincipleofconflictandtriestoidentifypointsofconflictbetweenindividualculturesasresearchableissues.Althoughthesestudiesacknowledgetheroleoflanguageinthemanifestationofculturaldifferences,theunderlyingassumptionisthatculturalproblemsaremoresignificantthanlinguisticproblems.

Thesuccessfulinterculturalunderstandingisbasedonrecognizingthewaysinwhichtwoculturesresembleoneanotheraswellasthewaysinwhichtheydiffer.Thecomparisonoftwocultureswillprovideabasisforbetterunderstandingofapersonfromotherbackgrounds.Culturalanthropologistshavegraduallymovedfromanatomisticdefinitionofculture,describingitasamoreorlesshaphazardcollectionoftraits,toonewhichemphasizespatternandconfiguration.

1.2TheDefinitionofCulture

Culturei