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Beyond Culture
From a renowned American anthropologist comes a proud celebration of human capacities. For too long, people have taken their own ways of life for granted, ignoring the vast, international cultural community that srrounds them. Humankind must now embark on the difficult journey beyond culture, to the discovery of a lost self a sense of perspective. By holding up a mirror, Hall permits us to see the awesome grip of unconscious culture. With concrete examples ranging from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake to the mating habits of the bowerbird of New Guinea, Hall shows us ourselves. Beyond Culture is a book about self-discovery; it is a voyage we all must embark on if mankind is to survive.
Fascinating and emotionally challenging. . . . The book's graceful, non-technical style and the many illuminating, real-life illustrations make it a delight to read. --Library Journal
Hall's book helps us to rethink our values. . . . We come away from it exhilarated. --Ashley Montagu
In this penetrating analysis of the culturally determined yet 'unconscious' attitudes that mold our thought, feeling, communication and behavior. . . . Hall makes explicit taken-for-granted linguistic patterns, body rhythms, personality dynamics, educational goals. . . . Many of Hall's ideas are original and incisive . . . [and] should reward careful readers with new ways of thinking about themselves and others. --Publishers Weekly
A fascintaing book which stands beside The Hidden Dimension and The Silent Language to prove Hall one of the most original anthropologists of our era. --Paul Bohannan
Fascinating and emotionally challenging. . . . The book's graceful, non-technical style and the many illuminating, real-life illustrations make it a delight to read. --Library Journal
Hall's book helps us to rethink our values. . . . We come away from it exhilarated. --Ashley Montagu
In this penetrating analysis of the culturally determined yet 'unconscious' attitudes that mold our thought, feeling, communication and behavior. . . . Hall makes explicit taken-for-granted linguistic patterns, body rhythms, personality dynamics, educational goals. . . . Many of Hall's ideas are original and incisive . . . [and] should reward careful readers with new ways of thinking about themselves and others. --Publishers Weekly
A fascintaing book which stands beside The Hidden Dimension and The Silent Language to prove Hall one of the most original anthropologists of our era. --Paul Bohannan
299 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
79 people are currently reading
2860 people want to read
About the author
Edward T. Hall
32 books173 followersBorn in Webster Groves, Missouri, Hall taught at the University of Denver, Colorado, Bennington College in Vermont, Harvard Business School, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University in Illinois and others. The foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions of space was laid during World War II when he served in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Philippines.
From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he worked for the United States State Department, at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), teaching inter-cultural communications skills to foreign service personnel, developed the concept of "High context culture" and "low context culture", and wrote several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues. He is considered a founding father of intercultural communication as an academic area of study.
Hall first created the concepts of proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, high and low context culture. In his book, The Hidden Dimension, he describes the culturally specific temporal and spatial dimensions that surround each of us, such as the physical distances people keep each other in different contexts.
In The Silent Language (1959), Hall coined the term polychronic to describe the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously, as opposed to "monochronic" individuals and cultures who tend to handle events sequentially.
In 1976, he released his third book, Beyond Culture, which is notable for having developed the idea of extension transference; that is, that humanity's rate of evolution has and does increase as a consequence of its creations, that we evolve as much through our "extensions" as through our biology. However, with extensions such as the wheel, cultural values, and warfare being technology based, they are capable of much faster adaptation than genetics.
Robert Shuter, a well-known intercultural and cross-cultural communication researcher, commented: "Edward Hall's research reflects the regimen and passion of an anthropologist: a deep regard for culture explored principally by descriptive, qualitative methods.... The challenge for intercultural communication... is to develop a research direction and teaching agenda that returns culture to preeminence and reflects the roots of the field as represented in Edward Hall's early research."
He died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 20, 2009.
From 1933 through 1937, Hall lived and worked with the Navajo and the Hopi on native American reservations in northwestern Arizona, the subject of his autobiographical West of the Thirties. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and continued with field work and direct experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 1950s he worked for the United States State Department, at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), teaching inter-cultural communications skills to foreign service personnel, developed the concept of "High context culture" and "low context culture", and wrote several popular practical books on dealing with cross-cultural issues. He is considered a founding father of intercultural communication as an academic area of study.
Hall first created the concepts of proxemics, polychronic and monochronic time, high and low context culture. In his book, The Hidden Dimension, he describes the culturally specific temporal and spatial dimensions that surround each of us, such as the physical distances people keep each other in different contexts.
In The Silent Language (1959), Hall coined the term polychronic to describe the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously, as opposed to "monochronic" individuals and cultures who tend to handle events sequentially.
In 1976, he released his third book, Beyond Culture, which is notable for having developed the idea of extension transference; that is, that humanity's rate of evolution has and does increase as a consequence of its creations, that we evolve as much through our "extensions" as through our biology. However, with extensions such as the wheel, cultural values, and warfare being technology based, they are capable of much faster adaptation than genetics.
Robert Shuter, a well-known intercultural and cross-cultural communication researcher, commented: "Edward Hall's research reflects the regimen and passion of an anthropologist: a deep regard for culture explored principally by descriptive, qualitative methods.... The challenge for intercultural communication... is to develop a research direction and teaching agenda that returns culture to preeminence and reflects the roots of the field as represented in Edward Hall's early research."
He died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 20, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
March 28, 2013
I've always found Hall's books to be interesting and relevant to my life from business to spirituality and this book has lived up to that same expectation. In this book Hall, discusses inter-cultural communication patterns and raises up concerns about the tendency to focus toward using external resources as opposed to examining and utilizing internal, behavior skills. I find this relevant in an age where more than ever the focus is on using technology to communicate, with all the inherent problems that brings, especially when relying on text only to interact. This is a useful book for exploring cross cultural communication and examining the increasing role of technology in communication.
November 23, 2008
When I bought Beyond Culture, I thought that this book is good to begin cross-cultural studying with. I didn't expect to get any practical use of it. I was wrong. Besides expanding my knowledge of communicative linguistics and other related science, I learned how to recognize cultural issues in my everyday work, I got deeper understanding of behavior of my colleagues from other countries. I really found this book very helpful. However, Beyond Culture is not a how-to sort of books. I'd say, this is a why-guidance to cross-cultural communication, it explains why misunderstanding happens, why miscommunication occurs. Edward T. Hall helps to take a fresh look at routing things. He teaches distrust the common sense demonstrating that it is not so common.
January 28, 2019
Fascinating. I read this in grad school and actually kept my copy so I could re-read it, which I'm finally doing. I did remember that the first time I read it, I kept being thrown by his constant referral to "man" when he means "people." It's jarring enough that I finally understood all the fuss about "he/she." And I think some of his theories would now be considered naive or overly generalized, but they are thought-provoking nonetheless.
July 28, 2010
This is one of those books everyone who wants to understand society adn cultural differences ought to read. Well written and insightful, it explains how culture is created and maintained and how it shapes the very worldview of the group it represents via customs, lannguage, and history. Why people of different cultures have difficulty understanding the other is explained and this is the first step to managing relations between cultures, races, and nations much more effectively. Our world is in such a mess and we must find ways to understand, hear and cooperate or we are not going to make it as a species beyond the next few years. This book gives us some important insights into the issues, if not solutions.
Visit my writing website www.authorsden.com/malcolmwatts my novel, poetry, commentary, reviews and more.
Visit my writing website www.authorsden.com/malcolmwatts my novel, poetry, commentary, reviews and more.
August 12, 2012
When I read this book it blew my mind. Part of this book discusses some major differences in cultures such as communication and values that explain why certain cultures have difficulty with one another. It goes 'beyond culture' in the sense that it delves into science discussing things like communication, language, perception etc.
The book was written some time ago and I feel that global cultures have changed and evolved since it was written but the examples show you the root of the cultures we see today. The book taught me a lot about human psychology and just how different the world can be perceived.
The book was written some time ago and I feel that global cultures have changed and evolved since it was written but the examples show you the root of the cultures we see today. The book taught me a lot about human psychology and just how different the world can be perceived.
December 29, 2017
Fascinating. From understanding rituals through to how your culture influences the way you walk, I enjoyed this book because it helped me broaden my thinking and was a great reminder that we all view the world through a cultural lens that shapes our perceptions. If we could all take the time to better understand not only other cultures, but reflect on our own cultural bias, we’d certainly live in a more tolerant world.
June 28, 2012
A remarkable, illuminating, and happily readable read. One can find points of interest peppered continuously along this delightful ride, and enjoy a work where abstract concepts are probed in simple, understandable language. A classy piece of scholarship.
January 24, 2018
3.5
I have a bit mixed feeling about this book. Definitely I would recommend it to everyone. At the same time I can say that basing on reviews on Goodreads I expected more from this book.
The main idea of the book is how unaware we can be about cultural unconscious inside us. Currently we can see a lot of conflicts in the world both on the borders of states and inside any state among different ethnic groups as well. There are many talks about necessity of having common ground in understanding the basic principles of liberties like religious freedom, political freedom, racial freedom, etc. Many do not stop repeating how important is to withdraw all prejudices and just try to understand each other, to have a good will for consensus. But Hall investigates a very interesting and complex thing which always comes as a hurdle for such kind of initiatives. The same way as we move without paying any attention to how we do this we have a set of patterns to how we react to any external actions, what we expect as a reaction to our own actions, how we sense a space and a time, what we mean as normal and what we mean as outrageous. These are deep inside us and they have roots in a culture to which we belong. They are unconscious. We're not aware of them unless we bump into a situation when we do not find an expected response. And a person has to be well prepared to such situations in order not to consider a miscommunication as an offence but rather as a source of information about counterpart's culture and, what is even more important, about own culture. So many things are taken for granted and self-obvious that in most situations we even are not able to assume that it's our own patterns may be, well, if not wrong then at least different.
Hall provides plenty of examples from his own reach experience in intercultural contacts like those with Japanese, with Hopi and Navajo Indians, with Spanish Americans and other. He accompanies his own discoveries with those made by other anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists. For example, I was really amazed with the fact that while communicating face-to-face with any person we unconsciously do some movements, and these movements are synchronized with the movements of your interlocutor making this way sort of a dance. But these movements are different depending on culture. For example, people of northern countries have a less visible 'dance', a bit restrained, while Latin Americans, for example, or Africans 'dance' in more manifested way. And even within the same country different cultures may have different dances like white Americans and black Americans within US. This, again, happens unconsciously. And not finding expected synchronicity in the 'dance' makes us anxious, worried. Which may explain at least in some part a fact of tensions between people of the same origin, same language, and same country but different ethnicity. And of course this means that everyone when aware of this can and should make a correction in his/her behavior in order to not allow such 'gut feeling' to gain a priority over a conscious analysis of a particular personal contact. When we do not find synchronicity on a physical level a conscious mind should not be fooled with this.
The structure of the book, though it exists, is not obvious. For example in the very first chapter Hall starts talking about Extension Transference: a phenomenon when some system developed in order to extend some human abilities starts living on its own in a way restricting and even subduing a human (very obvious example is a bureaucracy, little less obvious is a grammar of a language, etc). Basically our entire culture can be described as a set of extensions, and many of them incurred extension transference. And as soon as I expected that Hall was going to elaborate this exceptionally interesting theme, in the next chapter he switched to examples of how we can be lost in another culture. And so on.
Maybe I'm just a lazy reader. Or maybe this book's introduction lacks some clear guidline talking not as much about problems the world is facing now but a bit on a main focus of the book.
Someone here mentioned that this is not a 'how-to' kind of book. Hall reveals problems, describes them and explains. But you are not going to find any suggestions from him though he has worked so much in different cultural environments and definitely must have some ideas. Well, this doesn't diminish the value of the book. But you can't get rid of this feeling while reading.
I have a bit mixed feeling about this book. Definitely I would recommend it to everyone. At the same time I can say that basing on reviews on Goodreads I expected more from this book.
The main idea of the book is how unaware we can be about cultural unconscious inside us. Currently we can see a lot of conflicts in the world both on the borders of states and inside any state among different ethnic groups as well. There are many talks about necessity of having common ground in understanding the basic principles of liberties like religious freedom, political freedom, racial freedom, etc. Many do not stop repeating how important is to withdraw all prejudices and just try to understand each other, to have a good will for consensus. But Hall investigates a very interesting and complex thing which always comes as a hurdle for such kind of initiatives. The same way as we move without paying any attention to how we do this we have a set of patterns to how we react to any external actions, what we expect as a reaction to our own actions, how we sense a space and a time, what we mean as normal and what we mean as outrageous. These are deep inside us and they have roots in a culture to which we belong. They are unconscious. We're not aware of them unless we bump into a situation when we do not find an expected response. And a person has to be well prepared to such situations in order not to consider a miscommunication as an offence but rather as a source of information about counterpart's culture and, what is even more important, about own culture. So many things are taken for granted and self-obvious that in most situations we even are not able to assume that it's our own patterns may be, well, if not wrong then at least different.
Hall provides plenty of examples from his own reach experience in intercultural contacts like those with Japanese, with Hopi and Navajo Indians, with Spanish Americans and other. He accompanies his own discoveries with those made by other anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists. For example, I was really amazed with the fact that while communicating face-to-face with any person we unconsciously do some movements, and these movements are synchronized with the movements of your interlocutor making this way sort of a dance. But these movements are different depending on culture. For example, people of northern countries have a less visible 'dance', a bit restrained, while Latin Americans, for example, or Africans 'dance' in more manifested way. And even within the same country different cultures may have different dances like white Americans and black Americans within US. This, again, happens unconsciously. And not finding expected synchronicity in the 'dance' makes us anxious, worried. Which may explain at least in some part a fact of tensions between people of the same origin, same language, and same country but different ethnicity. And of course this means that everyone when aware of this can and should make a correction in his/her behavior in order to not allow such 'gut feeling' to gain a priority over a conscious analysis of a particular personal contact. When we do not find synchronicity on a physical level a conscious mind should not be fooled with this.
The structure of the book, though it exists, is not obvious. For example in the very first chapter Hall starts talking about Extension Transference: a phenomenon when some system developed in order to extend some human abilities starts living on its own in a way restricting and even subduing a human (very obvious example is a bureaucracy, little less obvious is a grammar of a language, etc). Basically our entire culture can be described as a set of extensions, and many of them incurred extension transference. And as soon as I expected that Hall was going to elaborate this exceptionally interesting theme, in the next chapter he switched to examples of how we can be lost in another culture. And so on.
Maybe I'm just a lazy reader. Or maybe this book's introduction lacks some clear guidline talking not as much about problems the world is facing now but a bit on a main focus of the book.
Someone here mentioned that this is not a 'how-to' kind of book. Hall reveals problems, describes them and explains. But you are not going to find any suggestions from him though he has worked so much in different cultural environments and definitely must have some ideas. Well, this doesn't diminish the value of the book. But you can't get rid of this feeling while reading.
October 3, 2018
I had to read this for a graduate intercultural communication class - I ended up liking it.
March 4, 2021
The book is definitely more theoretical than I expected. The author presents some great ideas and theories in this book, but they somehow seem to get lost in his scientific language. I would recommend Beyond Culture to anyone who already has studied cultures and intercultural communication, with a decent background in this area and wants to go even deeper.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2019
This book has been diluted by time - I imagine when it was published it was a bombshell, but so many ideas here have diffused out into our wider culture that it's sometimes amusing to read ideas here that have now become commonplace. Still, it's worth reading for Hall's analysis and anecdotes.
The basic concept of the book is that like an iceberg (and our minds), culture has a small visible portion and a much larger submerged portion we don't realize - concepts of time, respectfulness, personal space, posture, etc. These things we don't see are as or more important than the visible aspects of culture, but because they are invisible and we are immersed in them, we wrongly universalize them, causing a great deal of undiagnosable cultural conflict. In fact, it is only intercultural difference that allows us to see the invisible parts of our culture. Hall carries this idea very far and in many different directions. The concepts can be somewhat abstract but he always uses practical examples whenever possible, so it's a quite smooth read.
The most interesting idea in the book is extension transference: "extensions" are anything humans use outside of themselves, e.g. language, tools, institutions, culture itself. Extension transference is a tendency to incorrectly see the extension as the primary and more real thing, when in reality it is a lesser model of something within ourselves, e.g. taking writing to be the true form of language, or language to be the basis of thought. Extension transference crops up again and again as a cause of cultural problems, intra and inter. The unanswered question is, why does extension transference exist? Most other issues in the book are a consequence of the invisibility of culture. This is only causes issues when differing cultures meet, but extension transference seems always bad and yet unavoidable. What function does it serve? Is it merely a relic of our past that was once harmless due to our fleeting oral history, but now entrenches itself over generations? Does it serve some unknown purpose? Hall doesn't even ask. A little disappointing, but he has a lot to cover. I've also yet to see this come up elsewhere, even though nearly every other high level idea in the book was vaguely familiar to me.
The book does get a little psychoanalytic toward the end, and I found the opening a little offputting (the words "darwinian (Dionyisan)" together might be enticing in another context, but not here), but overall it was well worth the read.
The basic concept of the book is that like an iceberg (and our minds), culture has a small visible portion and a much larger submerged portion we don't realize - concepts of time, respectfulness, personal space, posture, etc. These things we don't see are as or more important than the visible aspects of culture, but because they are invisible and we are immersed in them, we wrongly universalize them, causing a great deal of undiagnosable cultural conflict. In fact, it is only intercultural difference that allows us to see the invisible parts of our culture. Hall carries this idea very far and in many different directions. The concepts can be somewhat abstract but he always uses practical examples whenever possible, so it's a quite smooth read.
The most interesting idea in the book is extension transference: "extensions" are anything humans use outside of themselves, e.g. language, tools, institutions, culture itself. Extension transference is a tendency to incorrectly see the extension as the primary and more real thing, when in reality it is a lesser model of something within ourselves, e.g. taking writing to be the true form of language, or language to be the basis of thought. Extension transference crops up again and again as a cause of cultural problems, intra and inter. The unanswered question is, why does extension transference exist? Most other issues in the book are a consequence of the invisibility of culture. This is only causes issues when differing cultures meet, but extension transference seems always bad and yet unavoidable. What function does it serve? Is it merely a relic of our past that was once harmless due to our fleeting oral history, but now entrenches itself over generations? Does it serve some unknown purpose? Hall doesn't even ask. A little disappointing, but he has a lot to cover. I've also yet to see this come up elsewhere, even though nearly every other high level idea in the book was vaguely familiar to me.
The book does get a little psychoanalytic toward the end, and I found the opening a little offputting (the words "darwinian (Dionyisan)" together might be enticing in another context, but not here), but overall it was well worth the read.
November 15, 2012
I read the first sentence to myself. Ungodly. Then I read it to Taylor.
He commented, "Y'know what's especially funny? If that's the first sentence, you know he must have spent a lot of time on it and be really proud of it."
Then I returned the book to the library, remembering why I was not a humanities major.
He commented, "Y'know what's especially funny? If that's the first sentence, you know he must have spent a lot of time on it and be really proud of it."
Then I returned the book to the library, remembering why I was not a humanities major.
March 4, 2013
A great and accessible start to intercultural studies. He only gets too opaque in a few chapters.
Some of the theories are since dated, and I found his tone to be questionable at times, but this is essentially one of the foundations of the field. Read it for an understanding of the concepts and jargon, and then move on to more recent writings.
Some of the theories are since dated, and I found his tone to be questionable at times, but this is essentially one of the foundations of the field. Read it for an understanding of the concepts and jargon, and then move on to more recent writings.
February 25, 2009
I hope to read more from Hall. He complex and confusing aspects of human behavior in such a clear, cogent and engaging way. His sections on bureaucracy, education, irrationality and identity were a treat!
June 17, 2017
A rich anthropological research on culture. Hall investigates the manner by which culture does not only mean a set of beliefs, religions, ways of thinking etc., culture is also a shape that makes use of extensions that one is either aware or unaware of.
Read
April 19, 2020Thought I already wrote something.
I'm getting pretty tired of how sloppy this site is, it's part of the Amazon cancer after all, you'd think it would be easier to use, seeing as we're all writing free book reviews for the marrow sucker.
I'm getting pretty tired of how sloppy this site is, it's part of the Amazon cancer after all, you'd think it would be easier to use, seeing as we're all writing free book reviews for the marrow sucker.
July 22, 2015
Fantastic book by a very perceptive man.
April 16, 2022
Ultimately, I found sections of this book insightful and others unusable. High-Context vs. Low-Context cultural differences are an important aspect in how we view culture and communicate with individuals different than us. Hall's analysis of education and childhood do speak to unsolved problems in American society. As a teacher, I respected his desire to decrease class size, understand students on an individual basis, and differentiate resources. Hall also expands upon key concepts of external transference (when someone takes their inner thoughts and processes them through a written or verbal medium), and how individuals can hide important aspects of communication.
However, Hall emphasizes unconscious thoughts/cultures too much throughout this book. By relying on Freudian psychoanalysis Hall is unable to remain current with his work. Much of Freud's concepts of unconscious thought are being disproved or remain to be proven. We remain unable to establish how much our minds rely on unconscious thoughts, and this pokes a few holes in Hall's assertion that culture is primarily an unconscious construct of our inner selves. I also think Hall over-simplified the influence culture has on everyday life. It appears that culture influences every aspect of life. I do not know if this is the case. Culture may be a component of our lives, but it also is not the most important aspect of who we are. Finally, this book is overly wordy in its analysis. Many times, an author will hide behind overly complicated word choice instead of letting the argument speak for itself. This book contains elements of this behavior.
Overall, this book is good to have on a shelf for its insightful analysis of intercultural dialogue. However, you will need to approach this book with a keen eye and a skeptical heart if you want to get the most out of it.
However, Hall emphasizes unconscious thoughts/cultures too much throughout this book. By relying on Freudian psychoanalysis Hall is unable to remain current with his work. Much of Freud's concepts of unconscious thought are being disproved or remain to be proven. We remain unable to establish how much our minds rely on unconscious thoughts, and this pokes a few holes in Hall's assertion that culture is primarily an unconscious construct of our inner selves. I also think Hall over-simplified the influence culture has on everyday life. It appears that culture influences every aspect of life. I do not know if this is the case. Culture may be a component of our lives, but it also is not the most important aspect of who we are. Finally, this book is overly wordy in its analysis. Many times, an author will hide behind overly complicated word choice instead of letting the argument speak for itself. This book contains elements of this behavior.
Overall, this book is good to have on a shelf for its insightful analysis of intercultural dialogue. However, you will need to approach this book with a keen eye and a skeptical heart if you want to get the most out of it.
January 27, 2024
BUDAYA BUKAN SEKADAR BUDAYA.
Ia membentuk manusia. Ia melekat. Ia menjadi kepribadian. Namun dewasa ini, dimana batas-batas geografis menjadi semakin pudar, pertukaran budaya semakin banyak dialami oleh masyarakat di dunia.
Pertama-tama perlu disadari, bahwa budaya itu berbeda-beda. Dengan ini kita bisa saling menghargai dan memahami tindak-tanduk seseoerang mupun kelompoknya.
Kedua, sebagai seorang perantau dari asia ke eropa seperti saya, mengadopsi beberapa hal dari budaya lokal yang sama sekali berbeda dengan budaya saya justru bermanfaat bukan hanya untuk saya pribadi tapi juga orang lain yang bergaul dan berinteraksi dengan saya.
Ada kebutuhan untuk beradaptasi -jika tidak ingin disebut mengalah- bagi setiap warga dunia global dalam menjalani hidup dimana ia tinggal dan menetap. Bukan berarti budaya asal kita lebih buruk, tetapi lebih kepada agar terciptanya komunikasi yang lebih baik antar sesama, tak hanya soal faktor komunikasi verbal tetapi juga komunikasi dalam kesepakatan dan pandangan dalam menilai sesuatu.
Ia membentuk manusia. Ia melekat. Ia menjadi kepribadian. Namun dewasa ini, dimana batas-batas geografis menjadi semakin pudar, pertukaran budaya semakin banyak dialami oleh masyarakat di dunia.
Pertama-tama perlu disadari, bahwa budaya itu berbeda-beda. Dengan ini kita bisa saling menghargai dan memahami tindak-tanduk seseoerang mupun kelompoknya.
Kedua, sebagai seorang perantau dari asia ke eropa seperti saya, mengadopsi beberapa hal dari budaya lokal yang sama sekali berbeda dengan budaya saya justru bermanfaat bukan hanya untuk saya pribadi tapi juga orang lain yang bergaul dan berinteraksi dengan saya.
Ada kebutuhan untuk beradaptasi -jika tidak ingin disebut mengalah- bagi setiap warga dunia global dalam menjalani hidup dimana ia tinggal dan menetap. Bukan berarti budaya asal kita lebih buruk, tetapi lebih kepada agar terciptanya komunikasi yang lebih baik antar sesama, tak hanya soal faktor komunikasi verbal tetapi juga komunikasi dalam kesepakatan dan pandangan dalam menilai sesuatu.
March 13, 2022
Although I borrowed this book as part of my research literature, expecting it to be old, and somehow out-dated. But I was totally wrong !
This book, not only helped me a lot in understanding Hull’s concept of intercultural communication, but also helped me reflect my own cultural identity and grasp the grip of conscious/unconscious cultures.
This book is truly timeless and considered a major well respected reference for cultural studies.
I am definitely buying this book and adding it to my physical library.
This book, not only helped me a lot in understanding Hull’s concept of intercultural communication, but also helped me reflect my own cultural identity and grasp the grip of conscious/unconscious cultures.
This book is truly timeless and considered a major well respected reference for cultural studies.
I am definitely buying this book and adding it to my physical library.
December 31, 2020
An extremely challenging read - think 10 pages per hour for understanding... a far cry from beach reading.
(It was a text in my International Relations Masters program)
The concepts relating to not only intercultural communication - and related ideas such as culture, society, individuality, perception etc - but the “filtering mechanisms” every human uses in different ways, are fascinating.
Gave your tea and light classical music at hand fur this one.
Well worth it.
(It was a text in my International Relations Masters program)
The concepts relating to not only intercultural communication - and related ideas such as culture, society, individuality, perception etc - but the “filtering mechanisms” every human uses in different ways, are fascinating.
Gave your tea and light classical music at hand fur this one.
Well worth it.
January 16, 2022
The key message in this book:
From the way we talk and walk to how we resolve conflicts and view the world, our cultural backgrounds determine how we behave. By interacting with people from different cultures, we’re better able to recognize and understand contrasting behaviors and communicate with individuals of all backgrounds.
From the way we talk and walk to how we resolve conflicts and view the world, our cultural backgrounds determine how we behave. By interacting with people from different cultures, we’re better able to recognize and understand contrasting behaviors and communicate with individuals of all backgrounds.
January 16, 2024
I came across Mr Hall while listening to a lecture of Marshall McLuhan. After reading only a couple chapter of this book I could clearly see that these two have influenced each other interchangeably.
I can’t recommend this book enough to those who are interested in McLuhan’s ideas of medium & in general the hidden forces that govern so much of what shapes our reality.
I can’t recommend this book enough to those who are interested in McLuhan’s ideas of medium & in general the hidden forces that govern so much of what shapes our reality.
Read
July 28, 2023this took me around 2 years to finish but genuinely so good. you can tell that many of the ideas in here are critical to a lot of other works produced in the 90s. it's more personable than some other nonfics. big fan of unconscious culture that absolutely rules our world.
November 23, 2017
Superb. I am devouring all of his books. Very enlightening. Read this book to understand the world around you and you.
January 4, 2018
A bit dense and academic, but worth a read if this is a topic of interest. It gave me a lot to think about.
March 16, 2018
One of the foundational books of the field of intercultural communication.
July 10, 2018
Disappointing
November 4, 2018
nicccccce
June 29, 2020
An interesting review about cultural differences in the work place everyone should read this
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