Communication Disorders: Understanding Culture

What is Culture?

• Culture is a set of values, beliefs, norms, and social practices that socially define a group of people and affect their behaviors.
• It involves beliefs, values, norms, and social practices.

Culture Involves

• Beliefs: Tenets or convictions that people hold to be true.
• Values: Cultural values reflect what a society believes is right or wrong, and portray the standards that a society would like to live up to.
• Norms: Perceived informal, mostly unwritten, rules that define acceptable and appropriate actions within a given group or community, guiding human behavior.
• Social practices: Predictable behavior patterns that members of a culture typically follow.

What is Race?

• Refers to certain physical similarities that are shared by a group of people.
• A political and societal term that was invented to justify economic and social distinctions, and can form the basis for biased and discriminatory communication.

What is Ethnicity?

• The social definition of groups of people based on shared ancestry and culture.
• Includes race and factors such as customs, nationality, language, and heritage.

Culture is a Filter

• Influences people's actions and expectations of themselves.
• Impacts people's perceptions and expectations of others.

Cultural Variables that Influence Behaviour

• Age:
  • Resistance to change
  • Power dynamics
  • Cultural preservation
  • Aging is perceived differently around the world
• Gender:
  • Gender roles
  • Power dynamics
  • Emotional expression
  • Division of labour
  • Stereotype: Speech therapy is stereotypically seen as a female occupation
• Education:
  • Transmitting values and beliefs
  • Language and communication
  • Cultural diversity and inclusion
  • Shaping societal norms and values
• Socioeconomic status:
  • Education
  • Consumption patterns
  • Social networks and relationships
  • Health and healthcare access

Why Does Culture Exist?

• Passes on knowledge, beliefs, and traditions from one generation to another.
• Helps individuals to form their identity and sense of belonging.
• Provides a framework for social interaction and communication.
• Helps shape values and norms within a society.
• Helps maintain social cohesion and unity within a community.

What Maintains a Culture?

• Language and communication are vital for preserving culture.
• Education systems transmit cultural norms, behaviors, and skills across generations.
• Arts, literature, music, and media contribute to cultural preservation.
• Institutions like museums and libraries play a key role in preserving and promoting culture.

Cultural Diversity

• The existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society.
• Cultural diversity recognizes the existence of broad cultural groups within a culture.
• Monocultural individuals: Those who identify exclusively with a single cultural group.
• Bicultural individuals: Those who are fully proficient and comfortable with values and behaviors of two or more different cultures.
• Acculturation: When individuals adopt the cultural practices, beliefs, and customs of another society but not at the expense of their own culture.
• Assimilation: When individuals replace their cultural practices, beliefs, and customs with another culture.