The document discusses different perspectives on culture from authors Levi-Strauss and Hofstede. Levi-Strauss was interested in structuralism and the differences between cultures. He believed cultures should remain distinct from one another. Hofstede analyzed business cultures and categorized them into symbols, heroes, rituals, and values. He identified four dimensions of national cultural variation: power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. When interacting with those from other cultures, it is important to understand these cultural dimensions and not force our own values, but rather be respectful of different perspectives and find common values to effectively communicate.

1. 100 word response to the folowing:
Must use Chicago style citing and the textbook: Jandt, Fred E.
(editor) Intercultural Communication: A Global Reader.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 2004. Part I Cultural Values
Culture has many different meanings anywhere from historical
perspectives to behavioral perspectives to different traditions
that have been passed down from generations to generations.
Levi Strauss was interested in structuralism which he defined as
“the search for unusual harmonies” (pg 1 Jandt). “There are
many more human cultures than human races”, human cultures
are counted by the thousands and human races are divided up by
units.
The collaboration between cultures is trying to compare the old
world with the new world. “No society is intrinsically
cumulative. Cumulative history is the way of life of cultures
and how they get a long together. All cultural contributions are
divided into two groups; isolated acquisitions or features, the
features are important but at the same time they are limited. The
second group is systemized contributions which is how each
society has chosen to express human aspirations. According to
Strauss the true contribution of a culture is its difference from
others.
Geert Hostede looks at business cultures and states that culture
may be divided into four categories symbols, heroes, rituals and
values. “Understanding people means understanding their
background from which their present and future behavior can be
predicted”. There are also four national cultural differences:
1.power distance-the population from equal to extremely
unequal 2. Individualism -people have learned to act as
individuals rather than in a group 3.masculinity- assertiveness
or masculine values prevail over the feminine ones
4.uncertainty avoidance- people in a country prefer structured
over unstructured situations.
References:

2. Jandt, E. Fred. Intercultural Communications. Thousand Oaks;
Sage Publications. 2004. Print.
100 word response to the folowing:
Must use Chicago style citing and the textbook: Jandt, Fred E.
(editor) Intercultural Communication: A Global Reader.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 2004 Part I Cultural Values
Our culture is something that has been ingrained in us from an
early age, and is largely unconscious. Levi-Strauss says that
while certain biological traits were selected for us in the
beginning of evolution, as soon as culture came into being,
those biological traits were influenced by the dynamics of
culture (Jandt, p. 6). Essentially, we are not able to separate
ourselves from culture, and to do so would be to ruin what is
wonderful and unique about each culture. According to
Hofstede, all cultures have their processes, and their values.
While things like symbols and rituals in a culture vary greatly,
he says; “Values represent the deepest level of culture. (Jandt,
p. 9)”
Because culture is deeply ingrained in us, all of the variants
that Levi-Strauss and Hofstede discussed must be taken in
account when dealing with another culture. Levi-Strauss warns
that cultural differences are strong, and should remain strong,
but that too close of an interaction between cultures will cause a
clash (Jandt, p. 7). When dealing with someone from another
culture we need to be respectful of where they are coming from,
rather than trying to force them or ourselves to conform to alien
social values. Being aware of the five dimensions that Hofstede
uses to classify broad cultural differences can help us to
understand where our differences lie so that we don’t become
frustrated in communication. Understanding that the values that
are being expressed in communications from another culture are
not contrary, but rather ingrained, can help us to understand and
work with someone much better. Conversely, if we are mindful
of the cultural values that are guiding someone from another
culture, we can better understand responses that might at first

3. seem unreasonable to us. By communicating our needs and
values to someone from another culture in a way that they can
find relevant, we are better able to make our point clearly and
effectively.
References
Jandt, F. E. (2003). Intercultural communication: A global
reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.