User:Beingjordan/sandbox

According to the American Management Association (AMA) Dictionary of Business and Management, “high-context culture is a society in which feelings or emotions are not openly expressed. Verbal communication can be understood only within the cultural context and their meaning is tied to its cultural nuances”. On the other hand, the Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice suggests that “low-context cultures are distinguished by interactions and events that place a greater focus on tasks than on recognizing and building long-term relationships”.

Ramos suggests that "in low context culture, communication members’ communication must be more explicit. As such, what is said is what is meant, and further analysis of the message is usually unnecessary." This implies that communication is quite direct and detailed because members of the culture are not expected to have knowledge of each other's histories, past experience or background. Because low-context communication concerns more direct messages, the meaning of these messages is more dependent on the words being spoken rather than on the interpretation of more subtle or unspoken cues.

The Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice states that, "high context defines cultures that are relational and collectivist, and which most highlight interpersonal relationships. Cultures and communication in which context is of great importance to structuring actions is referred to as high context." In such cultures, people are highly perceptive of actions. Furthermore, cultural aspects such as tradition, ceremony, and history are also highly valued. Because of this, many features of cultural behavior in high-context cultures, such as individual roles and expectations, do not need much detailed or thought-out explanation.

According to Watson, "the influence of cultural variables interplays with other key factors – for example, social identities, those of age, gender, social class and ethnicity; this may include a stronger or weaker influence." A similarity that the two communication styles share is its influence on social characteristics such as age, gender, social class and ethnicity. For example, for someone who is older and more experienced within a society, the need for social cues may be higher or lower depending on the communication style. The same applies for the other characteristics in varied countries.

Croucher’s study examines the assertion that culture influences communication style (high/low context) preference. Data was gathered in India, Ireland, Thailand, and the United States where the results confirm that "high-context nations (India and Thailand) prefer the avoiding and obliging conflict styles more than low-context nations (Ireland and the United States), whereas low-context nations prefer the uncompromising and dominating communication style more than high-context nations."

In addition, Hall identified countries such as Japan, Arabic countries and some Latin American Countries to practice high-context culture; “High context communication carries most of its information within physical acts and features such as avoiding eye contact or even the shrug of a shoulder.” On the other hand, he identified countries such as Germany, the United States and Scandinavia as low context cultures. These countries are quite explicit and elaborate without having prior knowledge to each member’s history or background.