Conflict Theory. Law 5450.

1
Conflict Theory. Law 5450.

• Fall 2007
• Professor Richard C. Reuben
• October 9, 2007

2
Culture

• The ways in which social groups organize
  themselves on the basis of shared language,
  habits, customs, and modes of thought.

3
Patterns ApproachCommon dimensions of cultural
difference

• Individual vs. collectivist cultures
• Will vary on importance of preserving
  relationships
• High-context and low-context cultures
• High context relies on indirect communication
  because meaning drawn from context
• Low context relies on direct communications
  because meaning drawn from words
• Egalitarian vs. hierarchical cultures
• Hierarchical greater concern about rank,
  privilege, status
• Egalitarian less concern about rank, privilege,
  status
• Differences in perceptions of time
• Will vary on urgency

4
High Context vs. Low Context
5
Ethnicity

• A particular type of culture, in which the basis
  of organization or identification is primordial
  in nature and which draws in particular on common
  geographic origin, religious beliefs and
  practices, language, ancestry and shared history.
  
• Distinguished from race, which focuses more on
  biological characteristics
• Volkan, Bloodlines, 1997

6
What is a stereotype?

• A person or thing that conforms to an
  unjustifiably fixed, usually standardized, mental
  picture.
• Oxford American Dictionary, 1999

7
Benefits of Stereotypes
8
What are some stereotypes of Americans?
9
Burdens of Stereotypes
10
Recommendations for Dealing With Cross Cultural
Issues

• Recognize when the conflict that you are in, or
  that you are analyzing, has a cultural component.
  
• If you look hard enough, you will probably find
  it
• Try to learn about Os culture before you need to
  take action.
• Use stereotypes as a hypothesis to be tested
  against the reality of your actual data.
• Take communication seriously, and work hard at it