Chapter 2 Culture and Communication

When you speak or listen, you’re doing so as a member of a particular and unique culture—you’re greatly influenced by the teachings of your religion, your racial and national history, the social expectations for your gender, and a host of other factors. This chapter explores this topic of culture and its relationship to human communication. As mentioned in the previous chapter, culture permeates all of communication. Here we look at the nature of culture (and answer the question, “What is culture?”), explain some major cultural differences, and look at intercultural communication and how we might improve it.