Intercultural communication is the study of communication across various cultures and social groups; and how the culture alters communication. This is a prompt for scholars and practitioners to indulge in more research. Through cross-cultural relations, people can help improve how they know about other people, their cultures, cultural history, and promote less discrimination. Hence, the focus will mainly be on the need to study intercultural communication, which will be illustrated as below.
The Self-Awareness Imperative
As indicated in the above context, there is a great need for self-awareness on the expertise of
cross-cultural communication. The world is fused through money, and the only way a person can gain
power in changing and reshaping it is through the economic prestige (Alex, 2011). One way of gaining
this is through fostering good negotiation skills, and this is by conducting business with a
different category of people from various cultural backgrounds with the help of technology that has
helped fasten the process.
Self-awareness is one of the critical promoters of cross-cultural management. It increases the level of understanding of our own cultural know how, the background and the changing dynamics. According to Peter (1975), the mixing of cultures starts through communication that is a determinant of human destiny. Learning other people’s culture widens your ways of seeing things. It helps people appreciate what they have in their culture, and promote the family unit.
Learning new cultures and interacting with different people is hard. Sometimes it gets tight and uncomfortable because the encounters make people cultures feel more superior to others. This makes people selfish and, thus, unable to accommodate other cultures. As a result, they are unable to emulate and tolerate each other, therefore leading to conflict and enmity. Indeed, self-awareness is actualized through learning about intercultural means political, based on economic and historical systems, which require carefulness and better understanding.
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The Demographic and Economic Imperative
Demographic and economic imperative are population characteristics. They include things like class,
age, and sex and orientation ability. The world is increasing its diversity. Carnevale &
Fry(2000) inform that inschools, it can be noted in the increased number of students with different
ethnicity, race, religion, and nationality, hence, it has led to universities and colleges becoming
more diversified where the percentage of enrollment in 1995 was 29.4%, and the number had risen to
37.2% in 2015(Flashcard, 2018)
Another industry growing in numbers regarding diversity is the sports industry, for example, men’s
basketball. Indeed, a group of 76 international players featured in the NBA seasons who came from 31
different countries. This has also extended to women’s sport where the top players of LPGA players
come from different countries of the world.
Also, other countries have not been left behind. Most of them have different workforce from diversified ethnicity groups. The United States is one of the leading nations in the diversified workforce, where, Jeffrey’s research indicates that the country is composed of the whites, Hispanic, blacks and Asians. In 2005, the number of whites was projected be at 67%, 14% for Hispanic, 13% for blacks and 5% for the Asians in the U.S (Jeffrey&D’vera, 2005).
The changing immigration patterns are another source of demographic transformation. Immigration process has changed significantly compared to the late 70s, where most of the immigrants to the United States came from Europe. In 2006, a third (30.8 %) of the foreigners came from other countries likeMexico and South Africa totaling 24.8% and 23.6% from Asia. On the economic imperative, globalization is a common subject. Businesses gaining international influence and operating on an international level has been one of the principal promoters of economic growth through the creation of world markets in goods, services, labor, capital and technology (Friedman, 2005). Some economist argues that globalization has considerable influence on the prices of consumer goods which affects the average person. Therefore, there is a need to be more considerate of other people’s cultures and practices.
The Study of Intercultural Communication
After seeing the rationale of conducting the study, we now focus on the ways on how it is conducted
on the early development of the discipline the main ways of conducting the study was through the use
of non-verbal communication, application of theory, emphasis on international settings and
interdisciplinary focus. There are ways in which intercultural communication can be approached.
First, the social science approach, the interpretive approach, and the critical approach.
Culture, Communication, Context, and Power
Culture is very critical to intercultural communication, and the study helps to focus on how
cultural groups differentiate from one another. Communication occurs whenever someone attributes
meaning to another person words or action. Culture and communication are interrelated and
reciprocated, and culture plays a vital role in influencing communication. Context is the solid
angle of the situation at which communication occurs.
Understanding Intercultural Transitions
Perspective on transitions reveals the tension between the individual and societal level of cultural
adaptation. The modes of host migrant relationships are assimilation, separation, integration, and
hybridist
Popular Culture and Intercultural Communication
Through popular culture, it is easy to learn about other cultures. Popular culture is known for its
broad area coverage and access to many people. It is produced by culture industries and mainly
serves social functions and can serve asa public forum. Most of the cultural groups are often
presented to play in stereotypes.
Conclusion
From the above context, there is a need to study cross-communication that will enhance effectiveness
in the above-defined ways. For instance, an individual will be aware of the values and abilities
that other people possess and respect them. Therefore, most people will avoid discriminating others
and embrace diversity. As a result, people will have the zeal for togetherness and peace that will
enable them to create healthy ties with other subcultures.
References Dor, D. (2004). From Anglicization to imposed multilingualism: Globalization, the Internet, and the political economy of the linguistic code. Public Culture.16 (1), 97-118. Evanoff, R. J. (2004). Universalist, relativist, and constructivist approaches to intercultural ethics. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 28(5), 439-458. Flashcard Machine. Create, study and share online flash cards. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2018, from https://www.flashcardmachine.com/intercultural-communication.html