Cultural Norms And Scripts Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Cultural norms are sometimes defined as “the way we do things around here,” but that merely describes the custom and practice processes or interactions within a particular environment. It does not explain why things are done in that way, how those norms gain authority, or what mechanisms ensure that relative compliance occurs. Cultural norms are important because they are the generally accepted way that a society or culture guides and regulates the behaviors of its members. Without them, a societal group would be wholly subject to the self-interest of each individual member.

Many societies share commonalities in respect of the types of behavior that are subject to governance by social standards, but this is by no means universal. Cultural norms are often divided into four main categories with differing degrees of importance: “conventions” or “folkways” are codes of social conduct or a standard of etiquette that is expected but is not morally significant, for example, not taking food from another person’s plate; “mores” are more strongly held and breaches carry greater sanctions, for example, one does not walk down the street naked; “taboos” are behaviors that are actually forbidden by a culture, like murder or incest in many societies, and are often enshrined in legislation; “laws” are formalized norms backed by the power of government, containing virtually all taboos, but only the more significant mores. What falls into each category and the prescribed penalties for breaches varies between countries or even within the same country, an example being state variance in U.S. legislation.

For a society or group to function, the majority of participant members must agree upon what is “normal” and desire to conform to the rules. These are invariably internalized through the socialization processes taught to children and reinforced through the educational system. Where an individual or group fails to conform, social control mechanisms are utilized in order to encourage conformity, enforce adherence to rules, and in extreme cases, exclude or segregate those who have broken laws or serious taboos. Social control ranges from disapproval at one end of the spectrum to imprisonment or even execution at the other.

Interestingly, there often tends to be more social acceptance of certain infringements than others: While theft and exceeding the driving speed limit are both illegal in many countries, the former usually carries significantly more disapproval than the latter, in the same way that imbibing too much alcohol (an addictive substance) or smoking cigarettes is often deemed by many people to be more acceptable than using certain drugs.

Within a culture may exist “countercultures,” wherein the norms of a group or subgroup differ or run counter to those of the prevailing social group. These often, but not always, manifest themselves in the espoused values, behaviors, dress, and musical preferences of younger members of society, or the norms of those with orientations “other” than those of the societal majority. Examples in Western society from the 1960s onward include Beatniks, hippies, and punks. Norms exist within these groups, but they may not be aligned with recognized and ratified societal norms. This is different from an absence of norms, sometimes referred to as “anomie.” It is suggested that a state of anomie is categorized by societal breakdown and psychological dissonance.

Cultural norms are by no means universally similar within the global context. Variance is evidenced not only in external manifestations such as art and music, but in behaviors, nonverbal communication, and eye contact. This is also said to influence how individuals from different countries interact with others and with their environment. Theories exist that explore national cultural dimensions. Some suggest that people may have a “national” tendency, possibly embedded through socializing processes, toward certain orientations and preferences; for example, adherence to rules, respect for authority, assigning of power, emotionality, collectivism, and individuality. These dimensions may be seen in folkways, mores, taboos, and laws, in varying degrees.

Organizations can be deemed to have cultures, influenced by factors including age, type, leaders, demographics, sector, and size. Although few would attempt to change or merge all aspects of national cultures, this is frequently attempted at the organizational level. Culture change strategies should focus upon creating norms that support desired behaviors and allow for individual choice; therefore, culture change efforts should be directed at making those behaviors norms.

Cultural Scripts

It is generally accepted that speech communities have different ways of speaking, not just in respect to the specifics of language, but also in the form of the interactions. These differences reflect the assumptions that people have about social interaction in that particular environment or the contextual “nuancing” that people bring with them to the interaction. These assumptions influence the form but not the content of the interaction, for example, the degree of formality, directness, and cooperation. While most languages have “universal” words in common, including words for I, there, and and, other aspects of the language are context-specific or culturally nuanced conventions, which may reflect the cultural norms of a country. “Cultural scripts” can be viewed as rules of interpretation and evaluation that indicate more than just the semantic meaning of the actual words. Cultural scripts are not intended to provide an account of real-life social interactions, but are descriptions of commonly held, societal assumptions regarding how members of a particular group think about social interaction, the “norm,” and how this transfers into communication.

Changes in speech patterns can often reflect shifts in cultural values or norms. An example of this would be where a country has a language with an informal and formal address: tu and vous in French; du and Sie in German. Should there be a decline in the use of the formal address and an increase in the use of the informal, this may indicate within that particular society, a change in how individuals interact with each other, reflecting a move toward a more classless informality.

Bibliography:

Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions, and Organisations Across Nations (Sage, 2003);
Richard D. Lewis, The Cultural Imperative: Global Trends in the 21st Century (Intercultural Press, 2003);
Pallab Paul, Abhijit Roy, and Kausiki Mukhopadhyay, “The Impact of Cultural Values on Marketing Ethical Norms: A Study in India and the United States,” Journal of International Marketing (v.14/4, 2006);
David C. Thomas and Kerr Inkson, Cultural Intelligence: People Skills for Global Business (Berrett-Koehler, 2004).

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