Culture: the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. The way of life of a group of people.

Cultural Relativism: understanding people’s cultural behavior from their view

Ethnocentrism: judging other peoples’ values and standards by one’s own culture

Mainstream Culture: the most accepted, dominant culture in a society

Culture is like an iceberg:

Surface Level Culture: decorations, art, touristy stuff, clothing, food, music, architecture, sports, etc.

Internal Level Culture interpretation of events, beliefs and values, norms of behavior, patterns of thinking, cultural assumptions about age, gender, status, wealth, etc.

Stages of "Cultural Shock"(when one is exposed to a different culture)

1) Honeymoon Stage

2) Depression/Flight StageExtreme case: “Paris Syndrome”

3) Acceptance Stage

4) Reverse Culture Shock

Stages of Cultural Competence(“Bennett Scale” by Dr. Milton Bennett)

Stage 1: Denial of cultural differences (i.e. “People around the world are all the same.”)

Stage 2: Denigration of other cultural differences and defense of one’s own (i.e. “Russians never smile because they are mean people, unlike here in the US.”)

Stage 3: Minimization of differences [usually surface level culture] (i.e. “Sure, Chinese people eat different food, but they are pretty similar to Americans.”

Stage 4: Acceptance of behavior and value differences [internal culture] (i.e. “Devout Muslims and Christians will always have a difficult time cooperating because they both have different ideas about how to live life.”)

Stage 5: Adaptation of skills for interacting/communicating (i.e. “I spent a 3 years in Brazil, and now I speak Portuguese and understand Brazilian cultural norms.”)

Stage 6: Integration of intercultural competence (i.e. “I have lived 10 years in England and 15 years in the US, and now I feel like an English/American combination!”)