Question

An important theoretical construct used to differentiate among cultural communication styles involves the continuum of low-context to high-context cultures. High and low context cultures differ in the degree to which one must attend to interpersonal and contextual cues in the situation in order to understand what is taking place and what is being communicated.  

What country is an example of a high-context culture? How does a high-context culture differ from a low-context culture?

Answer 1

ANSWER 1-

Japan, China, Arab countries are some example of a high-context culture.

ANSWER2-

Cultures can be separated with regards to communication i.e, high context cultures such as Japan, China, Arab countries and Low context cultures such as The United States Of America, United Kingdom, Northern European countries. This is an idea originated by an ecologist named Edward T. Hall, he stated that society in this world can be separated into two orientations the high context and low context culture.

High context countries like China, Japan, Arab countries. This is a culture where people speak implicitly which means they don't say all they want to say this could be because of two reasons 1.because they have a high level of shared information so they don't have to restate it again as people do understand each other very well. 2. secondly because they have a very strong relationship which they have grown over a long period of time so they understand each other by just looking at the faces, they also use a lot of non-verbal communication, for example, facial expression, emotions, gestures, silence and pauses. People in this culture also emphasises on who you are or what you can do or what is your accomplishment and they care about your background and for example, if they found that you also belong to the same background then you can easily get into their in-group. People of this culture are polychronic that means they cant do many things at once.

On the other hand low-context cultures which can be found in The United States of America, United Kingdom and most of the northern European countries, they speak explicitly which means they say what they want to say and exactly what they want to say, they are very straightforward. They look very clear with their thoughts and do a lot of clarification, they send a message directly to the point where they want to and this helps them in smooth functioning of business as well. People in this culture follows all rules and regulations very strictly and they do things in a very organized way. For examples in a meeting they will be on time, they are very punctual and they follow the schedule strictly.

Conclusion-

High context culture uses non-verbal communication, they speak implicitly, they value relationships and they are polychronic. And on the other hand Low context cultures uses direct communication, they speak explicitly, they use a lot of verbal communication and they are monochronic.