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Low context culture and the contrasting ‘high context culture’ are terms presented by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his book Beyond Culture. Low context culture refers to a culture’s tendency to cater towards in-groups. An "in-group" is defined by the authors as being a discrete group having similar experiences and expectations, from which, in turn, inferences are drawn. Low context cultures, such as Germany or the United States make much less extensive use of such similar experiences and expectations to communicate. Much more is explained through words or verbalization, instead of the context. In contrast, in a high context culture many more things are left unsaid, and it is expected that they are implicitly understood; in effect, the culture itself explains them, leaving outsiders at much more of a loss.

Contents 1 Understanding cultural differences 1.1 Context as a relativistic metric of culture 1.2 Classifications of cultures 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Understanding cultural differences

[edit] Context as a relativistic metric of culture

A message is not identified as high or low in an absolute sense, but rather, each message can be presented on a continuum from high to low. Likewise, a culture (French Canadian) may be of a higher context than one (English Canadian) but lower context than another (Spanish or French). Likewise, a stereotypical individual from Texas (a higher context culture), may communicate more with a few words or use of a prolonged silence, than a stereotypical New Yorker who is being very explicit, despite both being part of a culture which is overall of lower-context.

[edit] Classifications of cultures

While the milieu of individuals in a culture can be diverse, and not all individuals can be described by strict stereotypes, understanding the broad tendencies of predominant cultures of this world can help us inform and educate ourselves on how to better facilitate communication between individuals of differing cultures.

• Higher Context Cultures: Arab countries, Italy,Greece, Japan, Spain, Korea
• Lower Context Cultures: USA, Canada, German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, France

• See also this spectrum of high to low context cultures from Copeland & L. Griggs (1986)
  • Spectrum: Lower < German-Swiss < German < Scandinavian < American < English Canadian < French Canadian < French < Italian < Spanish < Mexican < Greek < Arab < Chinese < Japanese < Higher

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• A cross-cultural analysis of websites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures

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