Abstract
Jan Blommaert (1991), a specialist in pragmatics, has asked a key question for the study of intercultural interaction: ‘How much culture is there in intercultural communication?’. Even though it is impossible to answer the question definitively, it is clearly essential to consider first what culture is. This chapter explores this issue from a multidisciplinary perspective.
All people are the same […] It’s only their habits that are different.
Confucius
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Suggestions for further reading
Ferraro, G. P. (2005) The Cultural Dimension of International Business, 5th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. This book takes an anthropological approach. It provides excellent descriptions of ways in which cultures may differ, drawing particularly on the frameworks of Hall and of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, and explains their relevance for working internationally, especially in business.
Holliday, A., Hyde, M. and Kullman, J. (2004) Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge. This book takes a constructionist approach to culture, and focuses on three key themes: identity, otherization and representation.
Lane, H. W., Distefano, J. J. and Maznevski, M. L. (2006) International Management Behavior: Text, Readings and Cases, 5th edn. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Part 1 of this book deals with many of the issues covered in this chapter. It describes Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s orientations and discusses their implications for international management. It includes a reading by Hofstede and another reading on the dangers of stereotyping.
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© 2009 Helen Spencer-Oatey and Peter Franklin
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Spencer-Oatey, H., Franklin, P. (2009). Unpacking Culture. In: Intercultural Interaction. Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244511_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244511_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-8631-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-24451-1
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