The Cultural Iceberg — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:04[Music]
2. 0:27when we compare culture to an iceberg
3. 0:30who can begin to understand a very
4. 0:33important quality that all cultures have
5. 0:35in common the most significant feature
6. 0:39of an iceberg
7. 0:40is that most of it is under the water
8. 0:41and you can only see about ten to
9. 0:44fifteen percent above the surface from
10. 0:47above the rest of it is a bit of a
11. 0:50mystery we know it's there we just can't
12. 0:52observe it easily when we look at a
13. 0:55culture we find the exact same
14. 0:57characteristic when you visit another
15. 1:00country for the first time you will
16. 1:02notice lots of small differences in how
17. 1:05people dress the food they eat the music
18. 1:08they listen to and generally how they
19. 1:11behave and how they do things these are
20. 1:14the aspects of a culture that we can
21. 1:16observe and experience
22. 1:17easily using our five main physical
23. 1:20senses let's look at some examples of
24. 1:24the types of things we find above the
25. 1:26surface first of all there will be the
26. 1:29language you might not understand it but
27. 1:32you can hear it and see it so it is
28. 1:35obviously there next come all the
29. 1:38different forms of art including music
30. 1:41dance cinema painting sculpture theater
31. 1:45and architecture cultures are maintained
32. 1:48through their traditions customs and
33. 1:51rituals
34. 1:54closely linked to these are the
35. 1:56different religions which are associated
36. 1:58with particular cultures food is more
37. 2:02often than not central to our region's
38. 2:05identity and what people eat and how
39. 2:07they eat it and who they eat it with can
40. 2:10give us an insight into their ways of
41. 2:12life how people from other places
42. 2:15dressed differently is also very
43. 2:17noticeable at first although maybe less
44. 2:21now than in previous eras above the
45. 2:25surface we can also see a cultures
46. 2:27institutions which include its
47. 2:29organizations and societies and its laws
48. 2:32and practices lastly on this iceberg we
49. 2:37can see Manus which basically refers to
50. 2:40the ways in which people can be polite
51. 2:42and show respect to the people around us
52. 2:47tourists on their holidays interact with
53. 2:50foreign cultures at this level which is
54. 2:52perfectly fine but for a deeper
55. 2:54understanding of a culture then we must
56. 2:56take the plunge and find out what's
57. 2:59going on down below language is a
58. 3:01fundamental part of culture and in this
59. 3:04situation is the link between above and
60. 3:07below the surface as we begin to descend
61. 3:10we find the things that people think
62. 3:12about and can probably describe or
63. 3:15explain using the words of their
64. 3:17language we have five examples on our
65. 3:21iceberg which are beliefs ideals norms
66. 3:27roles and concepts when we talk about
67. 3:32beliefs we aren't just talking about
68. 3:35religion religion is the institution
69. 3:38that we can experience above the surface
70. 3:41the belief systems of a culture are
71. 3:44fundamental to how it views such things
72. 3:47as education science history politics
73. 3:51and all its other institutions in
74. 3:53general
75. 3:57a coach's ideals are they generally
76. 4:00agreed upon understanding of what is
77. 4:02best for the individual and for the
78. 4:05society as a whole
79. 4:07a good example of this is the American
80. 4:09Dream which is a somewhat vague yet very
81. 4:12compelling idea about working hard and
82. 4:15taking social responsibility in order to
83. 4:18achieve financial political and social
84. 4:21freedom for the individual and the
85. 4:23family
86. 4:28the norms of a culture are basically the
87. 4:31behaviors and actions of people which
88. 4:34are considered by the society as normal
89. 4:36and not unusual human beings are
90. 4:38naturally conservative in many ways and
91. 4:41throughout our history anything unusual
92. 4:43or out of the ordinary have likely to
93. 4:46mean danger
94. 4:53everybody within their lifetime will
95. 4:55take on many different roles for example
96. 4:57every man will play the role of a son
97. 5:00many will go on to become husbands
98. 5:03fathers and then grandfather's society
99. 5:06offers countless roles that individuals
100. 5:08work towards and take on as part of
101. 5:11their identity our gender ethnicity
102. 5:14economic status job or career and
103. 5:17personality determine which kinds of
104. 5:20roles we will take on
105. 5:27the concepts of culture are its ideas
106. 5:30and general ways in which people think
107. 5:33about things it is an endless list but
108. 5:36includes concepts about the importance
109. 5:38of family what it means to be a good
110. 5:40friend the importance of individuality
111. 5:43and privacy and how to be happy
112. 5:45along with more abstract ideas about
113. 5:48innovation time and life itself
114. 5:53lastly we come to myths in many context
115. 5:57these days the word myth has come to
116. 6:00mean stories that are probably not true
117. 6:02but real myths are much much more than
118. 6:05this a myth is a very old story that
119. 6:08wealth may not be 100% physically true
120. 6:12contains a meta truth this is a truth
121. 6:15that is vital to our reality but on a
122. 6:18level beyond descriptive factual
123. 6:21language myths provide us with a link to
124. 6:24the deepest depths of the iceberg
125. 6:26because down here language is not
126. 6:29capable of completely describing the
127. 6:32abstract nature of what we find at the
128. 6:36deepest levels of the cultural iceberg
129. 6:38are the emotions and feelings that
130. 6:40people generally have because of the
131. 6:43limitations of language here cultures
132. 6:45must rely on the Arts
133. 6:47to give us insights and clues to help us
134. 6:49understand what is going on and to help
135. 6:52us explore the meaning of such things as
136. 6:55values desires assumptions tastes and
137. 7:00attitudes
138. 7:04let's begin with the core values of the
139. 7:07culture by values we mean the feelings
140. 7:10people have towards the most important
141. 7:13aspects of humanity so how valuable is
142. 7:16friendship is it worth more than family
143. 7:18or loyalty to your employer is success
144. 7:22and wealth more important than
145. 7:24generosity the values of a culture
146. 7:27include evaluations of honesty courage
147. 7:31integrity humility and many other
148. 7:34qualities
149. 7:37what do people want at a superficial
150. 7:40level we would all probably want to win
151. 7:43the lottery
152. 7:43so does this mean all we desire is money
153. 7:46of course not we desire the things that
154. 7:49money can bring such as safety power
155. 7:52convenience and let's be honest
156. 7:54the hot sexy girl or guy of our dreams
157. 7:57but there are also the things that money
158. 7:59can't always help us with like
159. 8:01friendship respect health and peace of
160. 8:04mind
161. 8:07most intercultural and communication
162. 8:10courses warned us that we shouldn't
163. 8:13assume anything but in reality this is
164. 8:16impossible
165. 8:17we all make countless assumptions every
166. 8:19minute of every day we assume the light
167. 8:23will come on when we flick the switch
168. 8:24that the bus will come not too late that
169. 8:27a good performance will be rewarded or
170. 8:30that our kindness will be returned maybe
171. 8:33it is how we react to situations when
172. 8:36our assumptions are not met that is
173. 8:38really important here
174. 8:42our attitude toward something is how we
175. 8:45have decided to think and feel about it
176. 8:48it can be positive or negative and
177. 8:51influenced by our emotions having a bad
178. 8:54attitude having an attitude out of step
179. 8:57with other people within the culture can
180. 9:00make life very uncomfortable for the
181. 9:02individual concerned and for everyone
182. 9:05else that comes into contact with them
183. 9:09the word taste is mostly associated with
184. 9:13food but in the broader sense it simply
185. 9:16means the things that people like and
186. 9:18dislike so people can have different
187. 9:20tastes in almost everything including
188. 9:22stories fashion music movies and even
189. 9:26other people
190. 9:30finally there are the things that
191. 9:32influence the culture from the outside
192. 9:35these are the things over which the
193. 9:38culture has no control to appreciate how
194. 9:42much climate and geography influence a
195. 9:44culture just imagine a cold mountainous
196. 9:47village somewhere in the middle of a
197. 9:49vast continent then compare it to a
198. 9:52coastal city in the tropics and think
199. 9:55about the differences in the challenges
200. 9:57their populations face every day
201. 10:00demographics is concerned with the
202. 10:03details of a population including how
203. 10:05many people there are the percentages of
204. 10:08each gender the amount of people in each
205. 10:11age group and the location of each of
206. 10:14these right now in the early part of the
207. 10:1721st century the world has never seen
208. 10:19such powerful mediums of communication
209. 10:23undoubtedly there is fierce competition
210. 10:25to control the flow of information which
211. 10:29in turn has a huge impact on the
212. 10:31direction and development of our
213. 10:33cultures certainly in the modern world
214. 10:36and perhaps throughout history most
215. 10:39cultures have had little control over
216. 10:41the economics that affect them it is
217. 10:43fair to say that richer more powerful
218. 10:46cultures have always exerted influence
219. 10:48over the others whether by accident or
220. 10:52design the export of American culture
221. 10:55over the last 100 years or so is a good
222. 10:58example since the very first human
223. 11:01beings began using stone tools the rate
224. 11:03of human innovation has gathered pace
225. 11:06exponentially it is reasonable to
226. 11:08suppose that the dizzying rate of
227. 11:11technological advances so far this
228. 11:13century will continue to develop ever
229. 11:16more quickly into the future so it is
230. 11:18also reasonable to wonder how human
231. 11:21cultures will cope with such rapid
232. 11:23changes
233. 11:25to summarize an iceberg makes for a very
234. 11:29useful metaphor because of its hidden
235. 11:32depths in relation to culture the top of
236. 11:35the iceberg that we can observe easily
237. 11:38is all about the things people do their
238. 11:40behaviors and their practices but we
239. 11:44find that most of a culture is below the
240. 11:46surface and that these are the things
241. 11:48that we can't observe so clearly these
242. 11:52are the parts of a culture that come
243. 11:54from people's thoughts and feelings and
244. 11:57are therefore much more difficult to
245. 12:00identify and understand
246. 12:04[Music]
247. 12:32[Music]