Low context culture of America - Essay Example

? Low Context Culture of America The United s of America has become the most influential on the face of the earth for the last few decades. It has enjoyed the position of the strongest economy and attracted people from all nooks and corners of the world for employment (Ueltschy, Linda, Ueltschy, and Fachinelli, 107). American citizenship is a dream for middle class of almost all societies. USA is the most lucrative name when it comes to lifestyle. It is increasingly becoming international because of two main reasons. People from all over the world are migrating to USA. They all have various values, belief and cultures as well (Hall, 195). Their stay at the new place forces them to adopt the new lifestyle. The society is affected by their views as well (Larsen, Trina, Rosenbloom, and Smith, 2002). The blend of native values and the imported culture is making USA more and more diverse in its behaviours and culture (Gudykunst, William and Tsukasa Nishida, 196). Also, because of a strong economy, USA enjoys strong political position in international forums (Hall, 176). With these two strengths, it becomes the platform where rest of the countries discuss their issues for solutions. Because of increased cooperation with the powerful nations and influence in the developing nations, USA is successful in absorbing others in it (D’Anieri, 297). So accordingly, these two points pave the way for dynamism at all levels in the country. Yet, it is important to mention that USA is not diluting its culture in the imported cultures. It is rather giving birth to an international culture in which all the people find room for themselves and rigidity for traditions is over. Having a considerable population of foreigners in various states of USA, its culture has overall become a blend of all cultures. Likewise, this characteristic of American culture which gives room for all others to adjust makes it a low context culture. It is a low context culture because of the presence of highly diverse population who have different perceptions, viewpoints, lifestyles, choices, family and educational backgrounds, social systems, religions etc (Kennedy and Everest, 191). It is impossible to unite all of them under the same attitudes hence the culture has reduced its contextual rigidity and gives all of them the freedom of speech and action. The formality is replaced by informal ways which bring convenience for people to adjust. People working in low context culture need to talk clearly and pass instructions without any misunderstandings (Treven, Sonja, MatjazMulej and Lynn, 108). On the other hand in high context culture, people expect their converser to know what the message of the communication was, without being specifically told (Beer). Great importance is placed on decorum, ambience, manner of delivery and the relative status of the participants in the communication (Goman). America is a low context culture, mainly because of the variety of different cultures and nationality of people residing there. With so many people from such diverse cultural differences, the message needs to be clear, thorough and precise to be understood by all. That will be the only way to communicate effectively in the workplace (Huckins, 73). This paper is about a particular American artifact or belief and its comparison with other countries. Artifacts are defined as tangible signs of the culture (Saunders & Skinner, 14). The artifacts are common in culture and give the culture a sense of identification. The artifacts can be historical as well as recent. Among historical artifacts, there are numerous archaeological patterns and architectural styles that help identify the particular culture. For example, the sign of triangle reflects Pentagon. Artifacts can be seen in various aspects of life like household items, office fixtures, technological tools, scientific instruments, medical instruments, farm tools, calculators etc. There is an artifact known as American eagle. The paper discusses the various points of views prevailing about eagle all over the world. Eagle is the national bird of USA (Wicker, Weaver & Moore, 55). Americans consider eagle something more than just a bird. It is a sacred bird for them which in their view, is close to the Creator. It is because of its high flying altitude. People believe that the Creator lives in heavens and the high flying bird is the closest to Him. According to the Americans, the eagle is the one who drops human beings’ prayers to the Creator. They also think that seeing eagle while praying is an indication that the prayer is accepted by the Creator. Moreover, there is another perspective with which eagle can be observed in American culture. Its high altitude gives the lesson of high approach in life and is considered a symbol of victory. It is because the altitude at which eagle flies, is inaccessible by all other birds. In order to keep the national morale high, the nations tend to portray eagle. It gives psychological impact that the nation is unbeatable by any other nation of the world. Eagle is also a symbol of determination and will power. It is as it does not eat the dead animals and searches for prey on its own. It has the longest flight among all the birds and it shows its determination and commitment towards its task. In addition, there are many other prevailing views about the eagle. The soldiers of all armed forces have the batch of eagle on their uniforms. Their shields also contain the image of eagle. In the movies related to police and armed forces, eagle is always present there. Americans consider each part of the eagle as a representation of some significant facts of the world. Its two wings moving together teach the lesson of cooperation among the participants and the balance of relationship. It seems a general statement in a single thought but contains the entire philosophy of life. As mentioned earlier, American culture is a low context culture and people from all backgrounds adjust there, it is no exception that people of various backgrounds interpret eagle in their own respective style. Among the supporters of equality between the two genders, people believe that the two wings depict equality between the two genders and highlight the need of equal effort and cooperation to perform a task. The feathers of the eagle are kept at high esteem among the people of religious affiliation. They collect its feathers and place them at highly sacred places. It also happens that these feathers are guarded properly. In case a feather drops on the floor accidently, there exists a complete procedure of cleaning and restoring its worth. Clearly it can be said that people attribute high importance to the eyes and beak of the eagles. The beak is so pointed that the prey hardly gets any chance to survive. Likewise, the eyes have the strong and powerful vision which enables the eagles to look clearly from the distance. It is interesting to mention it here that America has a lot of eagles flying in its skies. There are many species of the eagle and the skies of America have many of them. Bald eagle is among the most prominent species and it is found in the skies of North America only (Lilley, 217). It is found in abundance in the skies spreading from North Mexico to Canada and Alaska. Because of this privilege, Americans consider bald eagle as an American bird that belongs to them only. Bald eagle has an impressive wing span. The male eagle has a wing span of six feet and the female’s wings are eight feet long. The full span of the wings makes the bird look so elegant. Following this further, the bald eagle is a symbol of love and sincerity as well. It is because; the bald eagle is highly committed to its mate. It has the single mate for the entire life. The average life of an eagle in 30 years, however, there are many who live even more. But the major point of concern in the species of bald eagle is about their reproduction and survivability. The bald eagle hardly lays three or four eggs in a year. It takes almost 35 days for the eggs to hatch. After four months, the baby eagles fly. They are highly sensitive to the atmospheric conditions and cannot survive in the changing condition. Because of unfavourable conditions, almost half of the eagles expire the same year of their birth. As mentioned earlier, eagle is the symbol of superiority, victory and determination. Because of these characteristics, it is used in the symbols of defence forces to motivate the soldiers. Eagle is the national symbol of America and they use it to show patriotism. There are many cue sticks of eagle symbol available in the market. People express their patriotism through those sticks. Many sticks contain the feathers of eagles as well. Pursuing this further the shop keepers offer the single stick and the complete set as well. The stick has the background image of blue sky with eagle flying at the front. It is an elegant scene motivating the viewers to develop feelings of love for the country and keep spirits high. Many people feel proud to have a set of eagle sticks. They take pleasure as well as motivation from the set. The set displayed in the lounge or the drawing room also enables the visitors to enjoy the feelings of patriotism. In a high context culture, the visuals that these sticks offer, would pass a message of patriotism and high spirits without saying or delivering any verbal message. This is a typical example of a normal everyday life of a high context culture individual (Huang, 13). Also, American eagle is a sign of patriotism and sacredness for Americans. To spread the same feelings all over America, Americans tend to promote the concept of eagle far and wide. They have branded many industries with the same concept. Below is the description of few such industries. Garments industry in America is highly influenced by the concept of eagle. There is a chain of stores named as American Eagle Outfitters (American Eagle Outfitters). American Eagle is an American airline which is rated as the largest regional airline of the world (American Airlines). Also, American Eagle is a web development company offering its hosting and design services to the customers all over the world (American Eagle). American Eagle Wheel Corporation is the market leader in the industry of aluminium wheels made for automobiles and trucks (American Eagle Wheel Corporation). Furthermore, American Eagle is a sailing service offering the people to enjoy their vacation in quite a unique way. They provide sailing services to the customers for multiple days ranging from two to nine (Schooner American Eagle). Having discussed many areas in which American culture has introduced its national symbol of American eagle; it is proved that American culture is a low context culture. The paper proceeds with comparison of this concept in other cultures which are categorized as high context cultures. Eagles are present in various countries of the world like UK, Canada, and China etc. None of these countries attribute such high importance to eagle as Americans do. It is mainly because of its being national bird. In many countries, eagle is only considered a bird like many other birds and no feelings of patriotism, sacredness, and national pride are associated with it. In China, eagle is considered as the symbol of fearlessness because of its physical features and flying habits. Chinese also link eagle with the concept of warfare (Tan, 100). They perceive eagle as if it is a solar creature and it reflects the feelings of war, enmity, authority, killing and slaughter. In UK, a pair of eagle is perceived as a symbol of peace and serenity. In many countries, eagle is a bird of prey. Because of eagle’s high importance in the areas of USA, its symbol was used in Canadian market to boost the American trade activity. The feathers of eagle were dispersed in the market which led to an offensive act as Americans hold a clear law named as Eagle Feather Law. The Law states that feathers of eagle can be given to the people of spiritual and religious importance only. They should be regarded as national items and not the people of every culture are supposed to pay with them. In India, the symbol of eagle is used in artistic way. Many items of ceremony and daily use contain the symbol of eagle pained on it. Items like textiles goods, pottery, beadwork, basketry, shields, prayer sticks etc are commonly known for having prints of eagle on them. They produce whistles using the bones of eagle and use these whistles in the ceremonies. A strong suggestion can be made to the authorities and patriots of the United States of America. It is they should make serious efforts to preserve the species of eagle from vanishing. As mentioned previously, it is found in North America only and its reproduction is quite low. Even out of those few young eagles, half pass away before growing up. It is really an alarming situation and authorities should lend an active mind to it. Also, it is mentioned that eagles pass away because of unfavourable climate conditions and interference of foreign objects, the authorities should make sure that the eagles experience favourable situations only so that they grow well. Another important point is about efforts to increase the life span of eagles. Normally wild eagles live up to 30 years, however, the captives have more age. The authorities should make efforts to provide the supporting conditions for eagles to survive. Therefore, it is not an impossible task for the authorities to take care of the eagles. Eagles are found in specific areas and they make their living arrangements in the high trees growing near water. The authorities should focus on these areas to support the life of eagle. The institutes of wild life should take special measures to protect their national bird. As mentioned earlier, eagle is the symbol of determination and love, the authorities should learn the lesson to love it as well. They should be determined to protect its life from undue deaths. The paper started with the discussion of American culture and how it is increasingly blended with other cultures. The discussion highlighted the reasons of inter culture communication and artifacts were defined. A comprehensive analysis was made about the core artifact of American culture i.e. the national bird of eagle. The paper discussed how this artifact is appearing in the American culture. A clear light is thrown upon how this artifact relates to American belief and attitudes. It is clear from the detailed discussion that despite mingling with the various other cultures, the Americans are sensitive to their artifacts and attach a significant level of importance to them. There can be differences about regard to these artifacts but the unquestioned fact is, these artifacts are clearly visible in the American culture and the Americans are eager to promote these artifacts in other neighbouring countries like Canada as well. The comparison of eagle between American and other cultures gave an insight how the artifacts contain varying level of importance among the cultures. It also threw light upon the various perspectives with which the artifact is viewed. For example, eagle is the symbol of war, victory and other related phenomenon while the pair of eagle demonstrates peace. The features of eagle are interpreted differently in every culture. Some of them learn the lesson of bravery and commitment while others are more inclined towards the company of likeminded people and flying even higher while facing the unfavourable circumstances. Eagle teaches facing challenges bravely and strong focus upon the prey. Eagle is a bird created by nature. Though it has many species sizes and colours, yet even the same type of eagle is perceived differently in every culture. Its importance is determined irrespective of the high and low context cultures. It is honoured in the low context culture of American while no special importance is attached to it in the high context culture of China. Things derive their value because of the context and culture they are part of (O'Brien, 206). The same fact is valid about White Vengeance, a remarkable movie for Chinese but an unfocused story for the people who have no idea about the history of China. This analysis leads to the conclusion that low context culture always does not mean that it has informality in all of its aspects (Hall, 19). There are many things which are important in the low context cultures as well (Weisul, 211). People need to follow the proper procedures and codes of conduct to handle or discuss these issues (Chua and William, 187). It is interesting to conclude that in America, people of all religions survive and many social norms have become low context, yet they assign high value to the bird which they consider as national bird. Despite increased globalisation in the world, the essence of national patriotism is still alive in the low context countries as well. Works Cited Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Pasadena, CA: Salem. 2010. Print. Ashleigh Huckins, et al. 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