Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans

by Edward T. Hall, Mildred Reed Hall

Nueva York. 23 cm. 196 p. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial con sobrecubierta ilustrada. Lengua inglesa .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Business, Travel, Self Help, Cultural

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1990

About the author

Born 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.

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too old, too dated. Global economy has made these observations useless in this context. I would love to see this updated without the focus on business, but on travel and experience.

[Francis Torrecer · Rating 3 out of 5]

i cant read it again D:

[Kharylle Tracy]

How do i read this? I can't open it

[Raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward T. Hall, the principal author, now deceased, is highly regarded in the field of semiotics (how people communicate by means other than language, e.g. behaviour). Based on interviews with German, French and American executives and on extensive research into intercultural relations, this book provides insights and practical advice on day-to-day transactions in international business. It is designed to help Americans, Germans and the French better understand one another's psychology and behaviour. As of Jan 2010, new & used copies were still available through Alibris & Amazon

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good one helping me to further understand what it is that I do here in Austria. Although the book does not specifically talk much about Austria, the differences in culture between the Germans (and Austrians), the French, and the Americans is really insightful. And...it's a good read. ;)

[Jamees · Rating 5 out of 5]

First culture book I've ever read. Not bad.

[Eunica]

good

[Gery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very intruiging book, although quite outdated (I was obviously aware of it beforehand).

[Nikki Ortega]

Very good