Overview

Imagine introducing yourself to someone new. What do you say first—your name, your job, where you’re from? Each choice reveals something about how you see yourself and how you want others to see you. But identity isn’t fixed; it shifts depending on context, relationships, and social norms. You may act one way at school, another at work, and another around family. This doesn’t make you inauthentic—it shows that identity is communicative and relational. (MLO1)

In this chapter, we’ll explore how our sense of self is shaped by both personal experience and social interaction. From childhood, we receive messages—both subtle and direct—about who we are and where we belong. These messages influence how we understand our identities and how we express them through communication, including how we manage impressions and disclose personal information. (MLO2, MLO3)

We’ll also examine how social categories such as race, gender, class, and ability shape whose identities are affirmed or marginalized in different contexts. By understanding the influence of systems of power on identity, we can become more self-aware and culturally sensitive communicators. (MLO4)

The Influence of Culture on Communication

To begin unpacking how culture affects our communication, we first need to establish what culture is and how it functions in society. Understanding the dynamic, learned, and patterned nature of culture provides a foundation for analyzing its role in shaping human interaction.

Culture can be a complicated word to define. There are at least six common ways the term is used in the United States. For our purposes, we will define culture as the ongoing negotiation of learned and patterned beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors. This definition highlights several key ideas. First, culture is not fixed; it is negotiated and dynamic. Cultural norms shift over time, and these changes can be traced and analyzed to better understand how our society evolves. Second, culture is learned. We acquire cultural knowledge through socializing institutions like family, school, peers, religion, and the media. Third, culture is patterned. There are widespread similarities within a cultural group that create a sense of shared meaning. At the same time, individuals and subgroups often resist or deviate from these patterns, which contributes to cultural change.

Finally, culture shapes what we believe to be true or false, what we value as right or wrong, and even what we like or dislike. It influences how we behave and how we interpret the behavior of others. In this way, culture plays a central role in how we form our identities and communicate with the world around us.

Now that we’ve defined culture and explored its dynamic, learned, and patterned features, we can look more closely at the building blocks that give culture its shape, namely, norms, values, and symbols. These core elements help communities develop shared meaning and influence how individuals understand themselves and others.

Cultural Norms, Values, and Symbols

Culture is the shared system of meaning that shapes how we understand the world and interact with others. Three core elements—norms, values, and symbols—play a central role in shaping how members of a society communicate.

Norms are the shared rules and expectations that guide behavior in specific situations. They tell us what is considered appropriate or inappropriate in a given context. For example, norms influence how we greet others, how close we stand when speaking, and even how we express emotions. These behavioral patterns help create predictability in communication, making social life smoother and more coordinated.

Values represent a culture’s deeply held beliefs about what is important, good, or desirable. While norms shape how we act, values shape why we act that way. A culture that values individual achievement, for example, may emphasize assertive communication and personal expression, whereas a culture that values group harmony may promote more indirect or deferential styles of speaking.

Symbols are objects, words, images, or gestures that carry particular meanings recognized by people who share a culture. Language is perhaps the most powerful symbol system, allowing people to express thoughts, emotions, and abstract ideas. But symbols also include flags, religious icons, clothing styles, and even emojis, each carrying shared meanings that influence how messages are sent and received.

Together, norms, values, and symbols shape how communication happens. They influence how we interpret messages, what topics feel appropriate, and how we navigate relationships within our social world.

Connecting Communication to Society and Culture

To better understand communication as a social process, we need to look at the broader social forces that shape our everyday interactions. This is the role of sociology in understanding communication. Sociology gives us the tools to analyze how our words, silences, and behaviors are influenced by the larger society we live in and by our cultural values, social institutions, and shared expectations. By understanding these influences, we can become more aware of how our communication both reflects and reinforces the social world around us.

Sociology is the scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies, and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups. A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture is what sociologists call a society.

Sociologists study all aspects and levels of society. Sociologists working from the micro-level study small groups and individual interactions, while those using macro-level analysis look at trends among and between large groups and societies. For example, a micro-level study might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups, such as among teenagers or business professionals. In contrast, a macro-level analysis might research how language use has changed over time or in social media outlets. From a sociological perspective, culture includes a group’s shared practices, values, and beliefs, shaping both everyday interactions and broader patterns of social life.

Sociologists often study culture using the sociological imagination, which pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills  (2000, [1959]) described as an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choices and perceptions. It’s a way of seeing our own and other people’s behavior in relation to history and social structure. One illustration of this is a person’s decision to marry. In the United States, this choice is heavily influenced by individual feelings. However, the social acceptability of marriage relative to the person’s circumstances also plays a part.

Remember, though, that culture is a product of the people in a society. Sociologists take care not to treat the concept of “culture” as though it were alive and real. The error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence is known as reification (Sahn, 2013). This perspective helps sociologists better understand how communication behaviors are shaped by social groups, cultural expectations, and institutional pressures. What may seem like a personal choice—how to speak, whom to address, or what to share—often reflects larger cultural patterns and societal norms.

Intercultural Communication and Challenges

Intercultural communication refers to the exchange of messages between people from different cultural backgrounds. These interactions can be enriching and eye-opening, but they also come with challenges. Differences in language, values, nonverbal cues, power dynamics, and communication styles can all lead to misunderstanding. At the heart of these challenges is the reality that culture and identity influence every aspect of how we interpret and respond to others. Navigating these complexities requires a willingness to learn, reflect, and adapt. In this section, we begin with an exploration of why difference matters in intercultural communication.

A key issue in intercultural communication is how we respond to differences. While encountering diversity can enrich our worldview, it can also challenge our assumptions and lead to communication barriers. To better navigate these interactions, we need to understand why difference matters and how it affects power, perception, and privilege in everyday communication.

Difference Matters

Whenever we encounter someone, we notice similarities and differences. While both are important, it is often the differences that are highlighted and that contribute to communication troubles. We notice differences not just on an individual level, but also by placing people into in-groups and out-groups based on perceived traits. This can lead to responding to people based on stereotypes rather than individuality, increasing the risk of prejudice in communication (Allen, 2011). Learning about differences and why they matter will help us be more competent communicators. The flip side of emphasizing difference is to claim that no differences exist and that you see everyone as a human being. Rather than trying to ignore differences and see each person as a unique individual, we should know the history of how differences came to be so socially and culturally significant and how they continue to affect us today.

Culture and identity are complex. You may be wondering how some groups came to be dominant and others non-dominant. These differences are not natural, which can be seen as we unpack how various identities have changed over time in the next section. There is, however, an ideology of domination that makes it seem natural and normal to many that some people or groups will always have power over others (Allen, 2011). In fact, hierarchy and domination, although prevalent throughout modern human history, were likely not the norm among early humans. So, one of the first reasons difference matters is that people and groups are treated unequally, and a better understanding of how those differences came to be can help us create a more just society. Difference also matters because demographics and patterns of interaction are changing.

In the United States, the population of people of color is both increasing and becoming more diverse, while visibility for gay and lesbian individuals, as well as people with disabilities, has also grown. Using a Diversity Index (DI) calculation, researchers found that the probability of two randomly selected individuals being from different racial or ethnic groups rose from 54.9 percent in 2010 to 61.1 percent in 2020 (Jensen et al., 2021). Looking ahead, racial and ethnic minorities are projected to make up about one-third of the U.S. population by 2030 (Allen, 2011). In parallel, legal and social advancements have fostered a more open environment for sexual minorities and individuals with disabilities. These demographic and cultural shifts have a direct impact on our interpersonal relationships. One context where this is especially evident is the workplace, where evolving demographics are prompting many organizations to adopt policies aimed at ensuring equal access and opportunity. Beyond meeting legal requirements, some organizations are working to cultivate inclusive climates that value diversity not only for ethical reasons but also for the interpersonal and economic benefits it can bring.

We can now see that difference matters due to the inequalities that exist among cultural groups and due to changing demographics that affect our personal and social relationships. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles that may impede our valuing of difference (Allen, 2011). Individuals with dominant identities may not validate the experiences of those in nondominant groups because they do not experience the oppression directed at those with non-dominant identities. Further, they may find it difficult to acknowledge that not being aware of this oppression is due to the privilege associated with their dominant identities. Because of this lack of recognition of oppression, members of dominant groups may minimize, dismiss, or question the experiences of non-dominant groups and view them as “complainers” or “whiners.” Recall from our earlier discussion of identity formation that people with dominant identities may stay in the unexamined or acceptance stages for a long time. Being stuck in these stages makes it much more difficult to value differences.

Members of nondominant groups may have difficulty valuing differences due to negative experiences with the dominant group, such as not having their experiences validated. Both groups may be restrained from communicating about differences due to norms of political correctness, which may make people feel afraid to speak up because they may be perceived as insensitive or racist. All these obstacles are common, and they are valid. However, as we will learn later, developing intercultural communication competence can help us gain new perspectives, become more mindful of our communication, and intervene in some of these negative cycles.

Cultural Communication Competence

Co-Cultural Communication

We are engaged in intercultural communication when we are communicating with people of different races, ages, and genders than our own.  When you are communicating with what you perceive as a different co-culture than your own, here are some things to keep in mind.

Age or Generational Differences

Age or generational differences appear in family life, classrooms, and workplaces. For example, teenagers and their parents or grandparents may hold very different views on many topics. For example, the phrase “OK, Boomer,” popularized in 2019, illustrates generational tensions in communication, highlighting how age-related norms shape expectations in different contexts. Consider how certain behaviors or words might feel dismissive or demeaning to people from a different generation.

Race

Sometimes individuals don’t communicate with people of different races because they haven’t experienced such friendships before, and so there is uncertainty. Engaging in conversations with people from different racial backgrounds can foster understanding. Listen actively, acknowledge their experiences without minimizing them, and reflect on how privilege may shape your own perspectives. Even things as simple as the emoji for a thumbs up tend to be first in a white skin tone, but brown skin tone emojis exist as well. Know that bias can creep into conversations, but understand that, apologize for it, and make a commitment to change behaviors.

Gender

Think critically about your own attitudes toward gender roles. Just because a woman takes on traditionally feminine roles in a relationship doesn’t mean it’s wrong, unless it goes against her choice. Similarly, in a situation like a movie, a man may cry while a woman does not. Self-expression varies for each person and should not be judged by gender stereotypes.

Differing Abilities

People who have a disability should be addressed as you would address anyone else. If someone appears to have cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, and has an attendant with her to help facilitate communication, converse, and make eye contact with the person using the wheelchair, not with the attendant.  When someone who you perceive to have Down syndrome orders food at a restaurant, ask that person, not others, what he or she wants. Expect people with a disability to be able to function independently until they ask for help.  When someone who is blind is walking down the hall, don’t grab their arm. Rather, if it appears that they need help, ask them if they need it. With communicating with a person who is deaf, make lots of eye contact, and feel free to write something down on paper if other ways of communicating aren’t working. Sign language interpreters often help in larger-group situations; however, once again, make eye contact and converse with the person who is deaf, not with the interpreter.

Developing Intercultural Communication Competence

The best intercultural communicators are open-minded people who are genuinely interested in other cultures, who take the time to learn about other cultures and co-cultures, and who take the opportunity to engage with and listen to others. Intercultural communication competence is a combination of attitudes, knowledge, understanding, and skills applied that allows us to:

• understand and respect people who are perceived to have different cultural affiliations from ourselves,
• interact appropriately, effectively, and respectfully with them,
• establish positive and constructive relationships, and
• understand our own multiple cultural affiliations and how these affiliations may affect our own attitudes and behaviors.

Taking the time to learn about other cultures can improve intercultural competence. Many people begin by asking questions or doing research on a particular culture or co-culture. Food is also a great way to find out about a culture, so consider visiting international restaurants.  Find out if an international club exists at your college and, if so, join it.  Participating in study abroad programs is yet another way to learn about different cultures.

Discussion

Now that you’ve explored how culture shapes the way we communicate, from the values we hold to the symbols we use, take a moment to reflect on your own experiences. Have you ever encountered a cultural difference that affected how a message was understood or misunderstood? Think about a situation where cultural norms, values, or symbols shaped the outcome of a conversation. In the discussion forum, share your story and consider how cultural context influenced both the message and its interpretation.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Culture influences not just what we say, but how we say it—and how it’s understood. In this chapter, we examined the deep connections between culture, communication, and identity. By learning to recognize cultural norms, values, and symbols, we can better understand both our own communication habits and those of others. This awareness is the foundation of empathy and more inclusive communication.

Check Your Understanding

References

Allen, B. J. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity (2nd ed.). Waveland.

Jensen, E., Jones, N., Rabe, M., Pratt, B., Medina, L., Orozco, K., & Spell, L. (2021, August 12). The chance that two people chosen at random are of different race or ethnicity groups has increased since 2010. The U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/2020-united-states-population-more-racially-ethnically-diverse-than-2010.html

Mills, C. W. (2000 [1959]). The sociological imagination. 40th ed. Oxford University Press.

Sahn, R. (2013). The dangers of reification. The Contrary Perspective. http://contraryperspective.com/2013/06/06/the-dangers-of-reification/