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An Introduction to Intercultural Communication Ninth Edition

An Introduction to Intercultural Communication Identities in a Global Community

Fred E. Jandt

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jandt, Fred Edmund, author.

Title: An introduction to intercultural communication: identities in a global community / Fred E. Jandt.

Description: Ninth Edition. | Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE, [2018] | Previous edition: 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017029744 | ISBN 9781506361659

(paperback: acid-free paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Intercultural communication. | Intercultural communication–United States. | Communication, International.

Classification: LCC GN345 .J43 2018 | DDC 303.48/2–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029744

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

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https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029744
Brief Contents About the Author Preface Acknowledgments

PART 1. Culture as Context for Communication CHAPTER 1. Defining Culture and Communication CHAPTER 2. Barriers to Intercultural Communication

PART 2. Communication Variables CHAPTER 3. Context, Perception, and Competence CHAPTER 4. Nonverbal Communication CHAPTER 5. Language as a Barrier

PART 3. Cultural Values CHAPTER 6. Dimensions of Nation-State Cultures CHAPTER 7. Dominant U.S. Cultural Patterns Using Value Orientation Theory CHAPTER 8. Religion and Identity CHAPTER 9. Culture and Gender

PART 4. Cultures Within Cultures CHAPTER 10. Immigration and Acculturation CHAPTER 11. Cultures Within Cultures CHAPTER 12. Identity and Subgroups

PART 5. Applications CHAPTER 13. Contact Between Cultures CHAPTER 14. Future Challenges Glossary References Index

Detailed Contents About the Author Preface Acknowledgments

PART 1. Culture as Context for Communication ©iStockphoto.com/FatCameraCHAPTER 1. Defining Culture and Communication

Sources of Identity Religion and Identity National Identity Class and Identity Gender and Identity Race, Skin Color, and Identity Civilization and Identity

Culture Subculture

Ethnicity Co-Culture

American Indians Subgroup Microculture

Communication Cultural Definitions of Communication

Confucian Perspectives on Communication Western Perspectives on Communication

The Media of Intercultural Communication Human Couriers and Intermediaries Telephone Internet Social Media

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Note Readings

©iStockphoto.com/itchySanCHAPTER 2. Barriers to Intercultural Communication Anxiety Assuming Similarity Instead of Difference Ethnocentrism Stereotypes and Prejudice

Stereotypes Negative Effects on Communication Case Study: Asian-Americans

Prejudice Racism

White Privilege Case Studies

The Roma Japan and Korea

Extended Case Study of Intercultural Communication Barriers: China and the United States

Anxiety History Economy Population Regional Differences

Assuming Similarity Instead of Difference Air Space South China Sea Broadcast Media and the Internet

Ethnocentrism Status of Taiwan Tibet Human Rights and Free Speech

Stereotypes and Prejudice Energy and Sustainability Economic Issues

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

PART 2. Communication Variables Frank Bienewald/LightRocket/Getty ImagesCHAPTER 3. Context, Perception, and Competence

High Versus Low Context The Concept of Face

Perception Sensing Effect of Culture on Sensing Perceiving

Selection Japanese/English Difficulties With Speech Sounds Organization Grouping Like Objects Together Interpretation Dogs as Pets or as Food Weather Vane as Christian Cross

Case Study: Airport Security Intercultural Communication Competence

Third Culture

Multiculturalism Postethnic Cultures

Intercultural Communication Ethics Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Note Readings

©iStockphoto.com/STUDIOGRANDOUESTCHAPTER 4. Nonverbal Communication Nonverbal Behaviors Nonverbal Communication Functions Types of Nonverbal Communication

Proxemics Territoriality Kinesics Chronemics Paralanguage Silence Haptics Artifactual Communication Olfactics

Knowing Culture Through Nonverbal Messages Case Study: The Wai in Thailand

Nonverbal Misinterpretations as a Barrier Case Study: Korean-American Neighborhood Businesses

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms

©iStockphoto.com/robyvannucciCHAPTER 5. Language as a Barrier Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Development of the Hypothesis Vocabulary Grammar and Syntax

Criticisms of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Linguistic Relativism Case Study: Arabic and the Arab Culture

Translation Problems Vocabulary Equivalence Idiomatic Equivalence Grammatical-Syntactical Equivalence Experiential Equivalence Conceptual Equivalence Human and Machine Translators Pidgins, Creoles, and Universal Languages

Pidgins

Creoles Esperanto

Language as Nationalism Kiswahili in East Africa The Spread of English

India South Africa Australia and New Zealand Canada United States

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

PART 3. Cultural Values ©iStockphoto.com/valentinrussanovCHAPTER 6. Dimensions of Nation-State Cultures

The Hofstede Dimensions Individualism Versus Collectivism

Case Study: Singapore Masculinity Versus Femininity Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Long-Term Versus Short-Term Orientation Indulgence Versus Self-Restraint

Environmental Sustainability The Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner Dimensions

Case Study: Japan as a Homogeneous Culture Geography and History Population and Economy

Cultural Patterns Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

©iStockphoto.com/kreicherCHAPTER 7. Dominant U.S. Cultural Patterns Using Value Orientation Theory

Origins of U.S. Cultural Patterns Pre-16th-Century Indigenous Americans European Enlightenment Regional Differences Resulting From Immigration

Forces Toward the Development of a Dominant Culture Value Orientation Theory

What Is a Human Being's Relation to Nature? The Individual-and-Nature Relationship

Science and Technology Materialism

What Is the Modality of Human Activity? Activity and Work Efficiency and Practicality Progress and Change

What Is the Temporal Focus of Human Life? What Is the Character of Innate Human Nature?

Goodness Rationality Mutability

What Is the Relationship of the Individual to Others? Individualism Self-Motivation Social Organization

Popular Acceptance of Dominant U.S. Cultural Patterns Forces Toward the Development of Regional Cultures

The New Regions Social Class Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Note Readings

Marco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesCHAPTER 8. Religion and Identity Hinduism Buddhism

Japan Christianity Islam

Muhammad, the Prophet The Qur'an Religious Practices

The Arab States Saudi Arabia

Geography Discovery of Oil Ruling Saud Family and Conservative Wahhabism Media Regional Instability

Dominant Cultural Patterns Human Being–Nature Orientation Activity Orientation Time Orientation Human Nature Orientation

Relational Orientation Role of Women

Communication Barriers Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

Theo Wargo/Getty ImagesCHAPTER 9. Culture and Gender Status of Women

United Nations Studies World Economic Forum Study

Health and Survival Educational Attainment Economic Participation and Opportunity Political Participation

Comparison of Individual Countries and Areas Nordic Countries Mexico China Japan South Korea India Sub-Saharan Africa Arab States

Marriage Family Units Nonbinary Gender Identities

Examples Cultural Status

Gender Expression and Communication Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

PART 4. Cultures Within Cultures SAUL LOEB/Getty ImagesCHAPTER 10. Immigration and Acculturation

A World of Migration Immigration and National Identity

Israel Europe

Muslim Immigration Refugees

Brazil First Wave Second Wave

Third Wave Recent Immigration

United States Colonial Policies on Immigration U.S. Policies on Immigration Contributing Countries Prior to 1800 Contributing Countries Since 1800

Immigration and Individual Identity Culture Shock

Stages of Culture Shock Symptoms Reverse Culture Shock

Predictors of Acculturation Effect of Media and Transportation Advances

Categories of Acculturation Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

Jonathan Bachman/Getty ImagesCHAPTER 11. Cultures Within Cultures Marginalization: The Hmong

History Cultural Patterns

Separation: Koreans in Russia Separation: The Amish

History Diversity Among the Amish Values

Worldview Activity Orientation Human Nature Orientation Relational Orientation

Indigenous Cultures Assimilation: United States

Melting Pot Concept Integration: United States

English-Speaking Cultures Spanish-Speaking Cultures

Hispanic Culture Within the U.S. Culture Values Cultural Identity and Media

Print Radio Television Spanish-Language Internet and Social Media

Spanish Language and Marketing Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

©iStockphoto.com/kali9CHAPTER 12. Identity and Subgroups Argot

Specialized Vocabulary Argot and Subgroup Identity Argot and Subgroup Boundaries Argot and Meaning

Subgroup Media and Values Examples of Subgroups

British Punk Corporate Cultures

Case Study: Southwest Airlines Case Study: Google

Homosexuality Worldwide Attitudes About Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage Cultural Bases for Attitudes

Sexual Orientation as a Basis for Subgroups Sexual Orientation and Othering Consequences of Othering Media and Othering Rejecting All Labels From Separation to Assimilation

Evidence of Separate Status Integration or Assimilation of Subgroups

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

PART 5. Applications ©iStockphoto.com/DannCardiffCHAPTER 13. Contact Between Cultures

Colonialism Hawai'i Australia

Cultural Imperialism Development Communication

Opinion Leadership and Change Agents Adopters Change Agent Ethics

Case Study: Quality Circles Case Study: Vietnamese Nail Technicians

Cultural Icons

Cultural Hegemony Japanese Icon in Mexico

U.S. Cultural Icons Coca-Cola® Disney McDonald's KFC SPAM® Nike

Adapting the Message Case Study: Marketing Gerber Baby Foods Worldwide Case Study: Religious Missionary Work in New Guinea

Adapting U.S. Icons Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Readings

© iStockphoto.com/porcorexCHAPTER 14. Future Challenges Religion Class Gender Race, Skin Color, and Ethnicity Civilization Nation

Threats to Culture Threats to the Environment Threats From Immigration

The Promise of New Media A Final Word Summary Discussion Questions Readings

Glossary References Index

About the Author

Fred E. Jandt Fred E. Jandt was born of second-generation German immigrants in the multicultural south- central region of Texas. After graduating from Texas Lutheran University and Stephen F. Austin State University, he received his doctorate in communication from Bowling Green State University. He has taught and been a student of intercultural communication for more than 40 years, developing his experience through travel and international training and research projects. While professor of communication at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, his reputation as a teacher led to his appointment as SUNY's first director of faculty development. He has retired as professor and branch campus dean after having been named outstanding professor. He has also been a visiting professor at Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand. He has extensive experience in the areas of intercultural and international communication, negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. He was one of the first scholars to introduce the study of conflict to the communication discipline with his text Conflict Resolution Through Communication (Harper & Row, 1973). He has subsequently published many other titles in this area, including the successful trade book Win-Win Negotiating: Turning Conflict Into Agreement (Wiley, 1985), which has been translated into eight languages, and a casebook on international conflict management, Constructive Conflict Management: Asia- Pacific Cases (SAGE, 1996) with Paul B. Pedersen. For several years, he conducted the training workshop “Managing Conflict Productively” for major corporations and government agencies throughout the United States. Jandt continues to train volunteers who are learning to become mediators in the California justice system and serves as an elected trustee of the Desert Community College District.

Preface

Why Study Intercultural Communication? When a student asks, “What is this class about?” I have two answers. If it's a short hallway conversation I say something like “to learn to become a more effective communicator with peoples of diverse cultural backgrounds.” If we have time for a sit-down discussion, I start by talking about identities—the identities each of us accepts to be known by in the world. We then discuss what goes with that identity—​everything from what we wear, to the language we speak, to the values we use to guide our behavior. It then becomes obvious that diverse identities can be at the root of many communication ​barriers. At this point students see the broader challenges and raise the issues of immigration, treatment of women, clash of religions and terrorism, corporate influence over local cultures, and countries exerting unwelcome influence over other countries.

In order to live, work, and play in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, we all need to communicate effectively with people of diverse cultural backgrounds. We need to be aware of how our language and nonverbal communications might be understood by people whose frame of ​- reference is different than ours. We also need to understand how the historical relationships between cultures inform how they interact today. The aim of this book is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to be competent and confident intercultural communicators. In each chapter the book guides students through key concepts and helps readers connect intercultural competence to their own life ​- experiences in order to increase understanding.

The core objectives of this book have not changed with the ninth edition: We continue to promote the skills of intercultural competence by developing an understanding of cultures to better appreciate the opportunities and challenges each culture presents to its people, developing a better understanding of how people become who they are, becoming less threatened by those of different backgrounds, and becoming better able to select and perform communication behaviors appropriate to various settings.

What I strive to do is to provide information that is balanced and up-to-date in a manner that is accessible and interesting. It has been my objective from the first edition of this book to make it readable, engaging, and thought provoking while at the same time flexible enough to support individual ​instructors' approaches to the content theories.

After reading this book, students will become effective intercultural communicators by developing the following skills and knowledge:

expanding the range of verbal and nonverbal communication skills becoming able to communicate effectively in unfamiliar settings recognizing the influence our own culture has had on the way in which we view ourselves expanding knowledge of different cultural traditions

It has been my pleasure to have worked with thousands of students face-to-face and online through the years. I consider this book's readers to be part of that group and have received many questions and comments from them via e-mail that have helped improve each edition. Thank you for reading this book and for participating in this learning community to appreciate and to become more effective in intercultural encounters.

New to the Ninth Edition The world has changed dramatically in the past few years: Attitudes toward immigration and refugees, attitudes toward gender identifications, awareness of social class identity, and awareness of religious identity are just a few of the changes our society has experienced in recent years. This edition addresses these shifts throughout the text.

As before, the major regulators of human life—religion, nation, class, gender, race, and ​civilization— are the core themes that run throughout the book. Chapter content is up-to-date with current

international developments and communication challenges. Each chapter also includes materials on social media.

Pedagogical Features Many of the most successful features from previous editions—those that really enhance student engagement and learning—are still here, updated for the new edition. These include the following:

Focus on Skills boxes that challenge students to apply the key concepts they have learned in each chapter to a “real-life” intercultural communication scenario Focus on Technology features that explore contemporary examples of intercultural communication on the Internet, social media, and mobile devices Focus on Theory boxes that call students' attention to communication theories Focus on Culture features, which help students understand cultural practices within their own and other cultures Global Voices boxes that use brief, provocative quotes to introduce students to a range of ​- perspectives on global intercultural communication Learning Objectives at the start of each chapter that identify what students should expect to know or be able to do after engaging with the chapter material Charts, graphics, and photos that convey information in a visually engaging way Maps that help readers better understand the geographical and cultural locales discussed Case studies of specific cultures that connect key concepts to real-world examples Discussion Questions that spark in-class conversation and encourage students to reflect critically on what they have learned in each chapter Glossary with Key Terms highlighted in each chapter Readings at the end of each chapter that connect the chapter to resources in Intercultural ​- Communication: A Global Reader, which may be used alongside this text

Digital Resources Additional digital materials further support and enhance the learning goals of this edition.

http://edge.sagepub.com/jandt9e

SAGE edge offers a robust online environment you can access anytime, anywhere, and features an impressive array of free tools and resources to keep you on the cutting edge of your learning experience.

SAGE edge for Students provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment.

Mobile-friendly eFlashcards strengthen your understanding of key terms and concepts. Mobile-friendly practice quizzes allow you to independently assess your mastery of course ​- material. Chapter summaries with learning objectives reinforce the most important material. Video and multimedia links appeal to students with different learning styles. Chapter exercises for both classwork and homework give instructors creative ways to reinforce the chapter material and help students apply the concepts from the text to their lives. EXCLUSIVE! You now have access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully chosen to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter.

SAGE edge for Instructors supports your teaching by making it easy to integrate quality content and create a rich learning environment for students.

Test banks provide a diverse range of prewritten options as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert your own personalized questions to assess students' progress and understanding. Sample course syllabi for semester and quarter courses provide suggested models for structuring your courses. Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multi​- media presentation for your course. EXCLUSIVE! You now have access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter. Video and multimedia links appeal to students with different learning styles. Lecture notes summarize key concepts by chapter to help you prepare for lectures and class ​- discussions. Chapter-specific discussion questions help launch engaging classroom interaction while ​- reinforcing important content. Chapter exercises for both classwork and homework give instructors creative ways to reinforce the chapter material and help students apply the concepts from the text to their lives.

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A course cartridge is included for easy LMS integration.

Acknowledgments

Through the years many people have reviewed previous editions, and I have thanked them in each and every edition. That list has grown so that I can only thank previous reviewers collectively and list the new reviewers for this edition. This group of reviewers has provided extensive critical comments that have made this the best possible edition.

Mo Bahk, California State University, San Bernardino Joseph A. DeVito, Hunter College, City University of New York Shinsuke Eguchi, University of New Mexico Catherine Levitt, College of the Desert Ané Pearman, Tidewater Community College Aimee L. Richards, Fairmont State University Ralph Webb, Purdue University

Over the years, the professional staff at SAGE has done so much to make this book such a success. Matthew Byrnie, associate director, guided the revisions for the seventh and eighth editions with sensitivity and foresight. Karen Omer, speech communication acquisitions editor, enthusiastically took over that role for this new edition. Anna Villarruel, associate development editor, provided valuable feedback and acted as a guide for the new edition. Jennifer Jovin, content development editor, shepherded the project through production and supervised the development of the digital materials for this edition. Sarah ​Dillard provided needed and much-appreciated assistance throughout manuscript development. Thanks to Sarah Duffy, copy editor for this edition, and very special thanks to Tracy Buyan, senior project editor, who guided this manuscript and others for me through the production process with such experience and attention. The team at SAGE has done so much to make this edition the best, and I am deeply appreciative.

Part 1 Culture as Context for Communication

Chapter 1 Defining Culture and Communication

LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

Explain the regulators of human behavior and identity. Understand the meanings and connotations of the terms culture, subcultures, co-cultures, subgroups, and microcultures. Describe how communication is defined by different cultures, and understand how people of diverse cultures communicate differently. Describe the relationship between culture and media.

©iStockphoto.com/FatCamera

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Sources of Identity Religion and Identity National Identity Class and Identity Gender and Identity Race, Skin Color, and Identity Civilization and Identity

Culture Subculture

Ethnicity Co-Culture

American Indians Subgroup Microculture

Communication Cultural Definitions of Communication

Confucian Perspectives on Communication Western Perspectives on Communication

The Media of Intercultural Communication Human Couriers and Intermediaries Telephone Internet Social Media

Summary Discussion Questions Key Terms Note Readings

Have you ever considered why there's not just one human culture rather than many cultures? Biologists Rebecca Cann, Mark Stoneking, and Allan C. Wilson (1987) studied genetic material from women around the world and contend that all humans alive today share genetic material from a woman who lived some 200,000 years ago in sub-Saharan Africa. Their African “Eve” conclusion is supported by linguistic observations. Cavalli-Sforza, Piazza, Menozzi, and Mountain (1988) have shown that considerable similarity exists between Cann's tree of genetic relationships and the tree of language groups, which hypothesizes that all the world's languages can be traced to Africa.

The languages that vary the most from other languages today can be found in Africa. This suggests that these African languages are older. Africa's Khoisan languages, such as that of the !Kung San, use a clicking sound that is denoted in writing with an exclamation point. Such evidence, along with genetic evidence, suggests that all 7 billion of us alive today share ancestry from one group in Africa. Yet among the 7 billion of us there are diverse ways of understanding the world, of languages, of beliefs, and of ways of defining our identities. In this chapter you'll first read about the regulators of human behavior and identify. Then you'll read about the related concepts of culture, subculture, co-culture, subgroup, and microculture. Finally, you'll read about the concept of communication as something that is itself a product of culture, meaning that how communication as a concept is defined and how communication is performed are very much part of each cultural group—so much so that it has been said culture and communication can only be understood together.

Sources of Identity How, then, did so many distinct human identities develop? Climate changes and other pressures led to migrations out of Africa. The first wave may have been along the coastline of southern Asia through southern India into Australia. The second wave may have traveled to the Middle East, and from there, one branch went to India and a second to China. Those who left the Middle East for Europe may have actually traveled first through Central Asia and then throughout the world to other parts of Asia, Russia, the Americas, and Europe (Wells, 2002). Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio (2010) contends that our world, our environment, is so complex and so varied on the planet that diverse social networks developed to regulate life so that we could survive. Centuries of geographical separation lead to the development of diverse social network regulators of human life. These social network regulators of human life over the history of humanity have been the basis for ways of understanding the world, for beliefs, and for shared individual identities, which at times resulted in confrontations and conflicts between groups. Understanding these identities and the resulting confrontations explains our past, provides insights about the present, and predicts our future. Sir David Cannadine (2013) posits six forms of regulators of human life and identity: religion, nation, class, gender, race, and civilization.

Generational transmission of important cultural rituals provides cultural continuity through the ages.

©iStockphoto.com/pushlama

Religion and Identity Cannadine (2013) argues that religion is the oldest source of human identity and conflict. Religion can clearly be a regulator of how we live our lives and provide a clear sense of identity. Religious wars are those clearly caused or justified by differences in religious beliefs exclusive of other issues. Even with that restrictive definition, religious wars have resulted in tens of millions of deaths. The Crusades of the 11th through 13th centuries against the Muslims were blessed as a bellum sacrum (“holy war”) by Pope Urban II. In the 16th century there was a succession of wars between Roman Catholics and Protestants known as the French Wars of Religion. The Nigerian Civil War (1967– 1970) pitted Islam against Christianity, as does ongoing violence in the Central African Republic. In the early 1990s, Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks in the former Yugoslavia were divided along Orthodox, Catholic, and Muslim lines. In Iraq, Muslims are divided between Sunni and Shiite. At other times, of course, religious groups have coexisted without conflict.

Global Voices The Hindu faces this way, the Muslim the other. The Hindu writes from left to right, the Muslim from right to left. The Hindu prays to the rising sun, the Muslim faces the setting sun when praying. If the Hindu eats with the right hand, the Muslim with the left. … The Hindu worships the cow, the Muslim attains paradise by eating beef. The Hindu keeps a mustache, the Muslim always shaves the upper lip.

—Words of a Hindu nationalist addressing the conflict with Indian Muslims (Jacoby, 2011)

Let's look in more detail into Cannadine's remaining five sources of human identity and conflict.

National Identity The nation-state may be the most significant political creation of modern times. For much of humanity from the 18th century on, national identity has superseded religious identity as a primary identity in many parts of the world. It has become common practice today to equate nation-state identity with cultural identity. In most cases, this is largely true. Ladegaard (2007), for example, demonstrated that in a large global corporation employing some 8,500 people in nearly 40 countries, employees perceive their nation-states as the frame of reference or identity while any conceptualization of a global identity is perceived as a hypothetical construction. An individual born and raised in Spain who has worked for years for the Swedish technology company Ericsson at its service center in India most likely self-identifies as Spanish.

National identity is not descriptive when arbitrarily drawn political boundaries do not reflect peoples' identities. For example, in Europe there are several examples of popular support for secessionist states. In the United Kingdom, a vote for independence for Scotland was held in 2014. In a hotly contested election, nearly 45% voted for independence. While the referendum failed, British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged reforms granting Scotland greater autonomy. Catalonia is a region of about 7.5 million people in northeastern Span with its own culture and language. In late 2014, more than 80% of voters in Spain's Catalan region voted to support secession in an unofficial, nonbinding poll. Against Spain's government's objections, the region's parliament has begun the process of separating from Spain. In Belgium, Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north have pressed for separation from the French- and German-speaking Walloon population in the south.

Just as religious identity has been the basis for conflict, obviously national identity has been the basis for millions and millions of deaths from conflicts. Cultures provide diverse ways of interpreting the environment and the world as well as relating to other peoples. To recognize that other peoples can see the world differently is one thing. To view their interpretations as less perfect than ours is another.

How differences can lead to conflict can be seen in the evolution of the connotative meaning of the word barbarian from its initial use in the Greek of Herodotus to its meaning in contemporary English (Cole, 1996). To better understand the origins of hostilities between the Greeks and the Persians, Herodotus visited neighboring non-Greek societies to learn their belief systems, arts, and everyday practices. He called these non-Greek societies barbarian, a word in Greek in his time that meant people whose language, religion, ways of life, and customs differed from those of the Greeks. Initially, barbarian meant different from what was Greek.

Later, the Greeks began to use the word barbarian to mean “outlandish, rude, or brutal.” When the word was incorporated into Latin, it came to mean “uncivilized” or “uncultured.” The Oxford English Dictionary gives the contemporary definition as “a rude, wild, uncivilized person,” but acknowledges the original meaning was “one whose language and customs differ from the speaker's.” Conflict between nations often begins with the judgment that how others live their lives is in some ways less perfect than how we live our own.

Class and Identity Marx and Engels (1850) claimed that identities were not created by religions or countries, but in the relationship to the means of production, that is, the capitalists who own the means of production and the proletariat, or “working class,” who must sell their own labor. The opening sentence of The Communist Manifesto is “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle” (Marx & Engels, 1850). In this understanding of class, conflict is inevitable. The collapse of Communism, though, has demonstrated that this understanding of class is not pervasive nor an all- encompassing source of identity (Cannadine, 2013). Max Weber believed that social class was determined by skill and education rather than by one's relationship to the means of production. Following this, class refers to one's economic position in a society. Basically, this is the basis of today's use of the terms upper, middle, and lower class.

The drama television series Downton Abbey depicted aristocratic and domestic servant life in the post-Edwardian era. British society was characterized by marriage within one's class and hereditary transmission of occupation, social status, and political influence. Today, social status in the United Kingdom is still influenced by social class, with other factors such as education also being significant.

PBS/Photofest

While classes may exist in any society, how clearly defined they are and how much they are a source of identity varies. When asked to identify an example of social classes, some think of British television drama series such as Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, two of the most widely watched television dramas in the world, which depicted the lives of servants and masters. Others identify the Indian Hindu caste system as one of the oldest and most rigid. Based on heredity, castes ranked from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya, to the Vaishya caste of artisans, farmers, and merchants, to the lower castes of Shudra and Ati-shudra laborers. Below these were the Dalits (formerly known as Untouchables), who continue to experience social and economic marginalization 70 years after India's constitution outlawed caste-based discrimination. Additionally, there were a large number of subcastes.

In France, the States-General established in 1302 provided a legislative assembly ranking members by hereditary class. The First Estate were the highborn sons of families who had devoted themselves to religion. The Second Estate were the highborn sons devoted to war. The Third Estate were the richest members of the bourgeoisie. The rigidity of the French hereditary system was one cause of the French Revolution. The United Kingdom's Parliament reflected the European class structure. In the 19th century the term Fourth Estate was used to identify the press.

While in many countries it is not popular to accept that class is a regulator of human life and provides identity, a system of social classes that divides people, assigns values to differences, and is a source of identity can lead to conflicts.

Global Voices The one thing my sons are always amazed by when they visit India is the condescension displayed toward entire groups of people. They hate the way people speak to their maids, their drivers, their waiters—anybody Indians consider socially inferior. I try to explain to them that India has been independent for only 60-odd years and the U.S. for more than three times as long and that while India has made great progress in pursuing democracy, it hasn't yet translated into social and economic equality.

—Mehta (2014, p. 37)

Gender and Identity According to feminists like Germaine Greer, gender identity is more significant than religion, nation, or class. In The Whole Woman, Greer (1999) wrote, “Before you are of any race, nationality, religion, party or family, you are a woman” (p. 11). However, Cannadine (2013) contends it is difficult to substantiate that there is a unifying identity solidarity among all women.

For at least the past half-century, various scholars have attempted to demonstrate fundamental differences between the genders. Rather than review that research and argue for separate gender identities, one chapter in this text is devoted to how nations treat genders differently. How a nation deals with gender reveals much about that nation's values. Gender identity may be influenced more by one's national identity and other factors than by one's biology alone.

Race, Skin Color, and Identity While class and gender may not have the same strength of regulation of human life and of identity creation as national identity, some would argue that race and skin color do. Race has been defined from two perspectives: biological and sociohistorical.

Why are we more aware of skin color than of other variables that distinguish each of us? For example, how aware are you of having detached or attached ear lobes?

©iStockphoto.com/Soubrette

It was popularly believed that differences between peoples were biological or racial. From the popular biological perspective, race refers to a large body of people characterized by similarity of descent (Campbell, 1976). From this biologically based definition, your race is the result of the mating behavior of your ancestors. The biologically based definition is said to derive from Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, physician, and taxonomist, who said in 1735 that humans are classified into four types: Africanus, Americanus, Asiaticus, and Europeaeus. Race became seen as biologically natural and based on visible physical characteristics such as skin color and other facial and bodily features. In the 19th century the “racial sciences” rank ordered distinct races from the most advanced to the most primitive. Such science became the basis for hospitals segregating blood

supplies, Hitler's genocidal Germany, and South Africa's apartheid state.

While some physical traits and genes do occur more frequently in certain human populations than in others, such as some skull and dental features, differences in the processing of alcohol, and inherited diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis, 20th-century scientists studying genetics found no single race-defining gene. Popular indicators of race, such as skin color and hair texture, were caused by recent adaptations to climate and diet. Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) took global ultraviolet measurements from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer and compared them with published data on skin color in indigenous populations from more than 50 countries. There was an unmistakable correlation: The weaker the ultraviolet light, the fairer the skin. Most scientists today have abandoned the concept of biological race as a meaningful scientific concept (Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, & Piazza, 1994; Owens & King, 1999; Paabo, 2001).

The second way to define race is as a sociohistorical concept, which explains how racial categories have varied over time and between cultures. Worldwide, skin color alone does not define race. The meaning of race has been debated in societies, and as a consequence, new categories have been formed and others transformed. Dark-skinned natives of India have been classified as Caucasian. People with moderately dark skin in Egypt are identified as White. Brazil has a history of intermarriage among native peoples, descendants of African slaves, and immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but no history of explicit segregation policies. So in Brazil, with the world's largest Black population after Nigeria, and where half of the population is Black, there are hundreds of words for skin colors (Robinson, 1999), including a census category parda for mixed ancestry (see Focus on Culture 1.1).

Focus on Culture 1.1

U.S. Census Bureau Definitions of Race Information on race has been collected in every U.S. census, beginning with the first in 1790, but what the U.S. Census Bureau considers as a racial category has changed in almost every census.

Racial categories on the U.S. Census have varied over the years. This question is from the 2010 census.

U.S. Census Bureau

For example, according to Gibson and Jung (2002), from 1790 to 1850, the only categories used were “White and Black (Negro), with Black designated as free and slave.” In 1890 categories included mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Chinese, and Japanese. The 2010 survey raised some concerns in that it included the term Negro in addition to Black and African- American.

During decades of high immigration, Irish, Italians, and many central European ethnic groups were considered distinct races. “Armenians were classified as white in some decades, but not in others” (Hotz, 1995, p. A14).

In the 1930 census, there was a separate race category for Mexican; later, people of Mexican ancestry were classified as White and today as Hispanic but who could be of any race.

Immigrants from India have gone from Hindu, a religious designation used as a racial category, to Caucasian, to non-White, to White, to Asian Indian.

Michael Omi, an ethnic studies expert at the University of California, Berkeley, described the resulting confusion: “You can be born one race and die another” (quoted in Hotz, 1995, p. A14).

A recent study showed that 9.8 million people in the United States changed their race or ethnicity identity response from the 2000 census to the 2010 census (Lieblier, Rastogi, Fernandez, Noon, & Ennis, 2014).

The biologically based definition establishes race as something fixed; the sociohistorically based definition sees race as unstable and socially determined through constant debate (Omi & Winant, 1986). People may be of the same race but of diverse cultures: Australia and South Africa have very different cultures that include individuals of the same ancestries. People can be of the same culture

but of different ancestries: The United States, for example, is a country of people of many ancestries.

Civilization and Identity Cannadine's (2013) final form of identity is civilization. Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee believed civilizations to be the most significant determinant of identity but also believed that civilizations were largely self-sufficient and sealed off from one another.

In the 19th century, the term culture was commonly used as a synonym for Western civilization. The British anthropologist Sir Edward B. Tylor (1871) popularized the idea that all societies pass through developmental stages, beginning with “savagery,” progressing to “barbarism,” and culminating in Western “civilization.” It's easy to see that such a definition assumes that Western nations were considered superior. Both Western nations, beginning with ancient Greece, and Eastern nations, most notably imperial China, believed that their own way of life was superior.

In his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel P.