Understanding High-Context and Low-Context Cultures

Posted on Aug 1, 2024 in Social sciences

High- and Low-Context Cultures

Edward Hall developed a valuable way to understand cultures by identifying their social frameworks as low-context and high-context. Low-context cultures place less emphasis on the context of communication, such as non-verbal messages or implied meaning, and they tend to rely on explicit verbal messages. In contrast to low-context cultures, high-context cultures emphasize the context of communication. High-context cultures pay much attention to implicit and non-verbal messages.

High-Context Cultures

General features of a person from high-context cultures:

1. People from high-context cultures teach their children from an early childhood to look for implied meaning. They strongly believe that what is implied is far more important than what is said.
2. They emphasize non-verbal communication. People from high-context cultures rely more heavily on non-verbal communication than people from low-context cultures. Non-verbal communication provides the context of the conversation, and that’s why it must be closely observed for effective communication to take place.
3. People from high-context cultures subordinate tasks to relationships. They imbue their children with love and preference for friendship and family relations, as illustrated in the American proverb, “Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Friendship for them is a deep commitment and devotion of years. Business people nurtured in high-context cultures carry over the importance of relationships to their transactions on the job. They tend to believe that one’s relative, who is less experienced, should be trusted more than an experienced stranger in a given job.
4. They pay great attention to collective initiative and decision-making. The collective goal is viewed as an important unit of society (Chinese proverb: “A single bamboo pole does not make a raft”). These people are taught to arrive at decisions that are beneficial for the group but not an individual.
5. They view employer-employee relationships in a humanistic rather than mechanistic way. As these relationships are so important in high-context cultures, they see employees as members of a family who work for the good of the group. Because trust is an important element in these cultures, family members are preferred over strangers.
6. People from high-context cultures rely on intuition or trust rather than facts and statistics. People in high-context cultures are guided by intuition, which is a large part of doing business in this kind of culture. Decisions would be based on a sense of the context of the message rather than be dictated by written or spoken information.
7. In high-context cultures, people prefer different writing and speaking styles. Given the emphasis on trust in high-context cultures, you may find that business writing and speaking need more time and space for establishing rapport (a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well). For example, business people can start an email or letter indirectly.
8. People from high-context cultures stick to the spirit of the law. Business people who grow up in high-context cultures generally rely less on written contracts than their counterparts in low-context cultures. People in high-context cultures assume that it is impossible to anticipate every situation that may arise. That’s why they think that arguments need to be reread periodically in light of the new circumstances.

Low-Context Cultures

A person from a low-context culture usually…

1. Relies on explicit communication. Low-context cultures prefer that messages be explicitly stated rather than simply understood by the parties involved.
2. Verbal communication is given precedence over non-verbal communication. “Say what you mean and mean what you say” is often repeated to children from low-context cultures as they are growing up. Parents pay far less attention to communicating non-verbally and ask their children to speak up. This preference for verbal communication carries over to the workplace, where business people are expected to speak up about what they mean as clearly as possible.
3. They clearly distinguish job tasks from relationships. People from low-context cultures prefer to keep their jobs separated from relationships. Even when the key person on a project leaves the company, someone can easily take their place. Individual decision-making is emphasized. They value individual achievement. Even when they work in groups, individuals think over ways to distinguish themselves.
4. A person from a low-context culture views employer-employee relationships as mechanistic. The term comes from the belief that a business can be run like a well-oiled machine with replaceable parts. Indeed, employees are viewed as a marketable commodity and can make decisions to change their jobs if they have the opportunity to improve their circumstances. Employees feel justified in leaving a job for a better-paid one.
5. They usually rely on statistics, facts, and supporting evidence. People from low-context cultures usually require facts, statistics, and other reliable data, especially in business presentations. “Numbers never lie.” Therefore, their presentations are full of tables, charts, diagrams, and numbers.
6. In writing and speaking, they use a direct style. They prefer to get right to the point of their message. This will help them stay on their time schedule and accomplish the task.
7. They adhere to the letter of the law. Business is seldom done with a handshake. The deal is not considered final until the attorney has written the document that has been agreed upon and signed by both sides.

Time

The norms and values of time from our own culture have a great influence on us. Ed. Hall introduces two patterns of time governing different cultures: the monochronic time schedule and the polychronic time schedule. Representatives of monochronic cultures pay much attention to clock-time and do one thing at a time. They use time in a linear way, employing segments to break up time into scheduled and divided allotments so that a person can concentrate on one thing at a time. The schedule is one of the most important aspects. Germany and the USA are bright examples of monochronic time cultures. For Ed. Hall, Arab, African, Latin American, Asian, and Mediterranean cultures are representatives of polychronic time cultures. The interaction of polychronic time and monochronic time persons can often lead to disagreement and misunderstandings.

Linear Time

For an American, time is truly money. In a profit-oriented society, it is very essential and considered to be a precious commodity. Time flows fast, and those who want to benefit from its passing have to move simultaneously with it. So these are people of action; the past is over for them, and the present is something they see as part and parcel of the future. Switzerland, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, and Austria have a linear vision of time. In this way, more things get done more efficiently. It is something connected with religion. Being Protestants, they equate working time with success. Linear time cultures prize schedules, focus on the future, and measure time in small units. Appointments are made in small segments—from 10 to 20 minutes. Laziness is criticized because it distracts from schedules. Punctuality is valued; promptness is considered basic courtesy. Time is so valued by members of linear cultures that they study how to get more done every day. This can be proved with the help of such expressions as “Time is money,” “Don’t waste time,” “Use time wisely,” “He who hesitates is lost,” “Strike while the iron is hot,” etc.

Multiactive Time

Southern Europeans are multiactive rather than linear active. They don’t value schedules and punctuality as much as members of linear time cultures do. To this group belong Italians, Armenians, etc. One can describe them as talkative and emotional; they will ignore the passing of time if it means that the conversation will be left unfinished. For them, the best way to invest time is by completing human transactions.

For example, Germans are time and regulation motivated, and this influences their watch industry. Cultures are unwilling to strictly measure and control time if they view it as flexible. Interruptions are highly accepted, to say nothing of clustering or multitasking. For flexible time cultures, relationships are much more important than schedules, and they are more concentrated on the present. Emphasis on relationships: Meetings will not be rushed or cut short for the sake of the schedule; communication is not controlled by clock-time. Time is the master of those who have no master. Focusing on the present: For flexible time cultures, the past is valuable, they disbelieve in the future, and they focus on the present.

Cyclic Time

Both linear active and multiactive cultures are sure to manage their time in the best way possible. Eastern cultures are viewed as cyclic. Ordinary things happen all the time—each day the sun rises and sets, the seasons follow each other, people get old and die, but their children continue the process, etc. Americans, Swiss, and Germans feel satisfied at the end of the day because all the things have been done. Most Asians prefer to circle around for a few days or weeks instead of solving problems instantly. In Buddhism, life moves around the circle—generations follow each other, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other catastrophes reoccur, etc.

Cyclical time cultures tend to understand linkages and connections which show the completeness of life and allow contrasts and contradictions to exist. They view logic as cyclical and philosophical, not linear or flexible. Decisions are made carefully with reference to the past. They also have their contextual background and are made long-term.

Since their focus is on the unity of human experience, with the whole of life, planning is very long-term. There is also a belief that many links and connections can be found in the past. Members of cyclic time cultures believe in fate and are very fatalistic.

Past, Present, Future Orientation

Past orientation means that people value its role in explaining where we are now. This is typical for both Europeans and Asians. For example, they will restore buildings, invest in museums, and teach history at school. History, rituals, traditions, and religion have an essential part in these cultures. It is believed that the past plays a great role in making decisions and determining the truth.

For example, Great Britain highly appreciates its traditions, including the continuation of the monarchy, and is very conservative, resists any change, and tries to preserve its historical achievements. This attitude also depends on individual psychological traits.

Present orientation—these cultures value the immediate moment because the future is doubtful and unknown, and the past is not so important. They try to get pleasure from each moment of life. Latin Americans and Filipinos are present-oriented.

In contrast, future orientation is related to the view that people can master nature and the future can somehow be predicted. Future-oriented cultures, such as Canadians and the US, put great emphasis on what is going to happen. Because whatever they are doing is not quite as good as what they could be doing, they believe that things will be better in the future. Like many other orientations, a person’s view of time is related to a host of other values. For example, due to their view of the future, Americans are more optimistic: “If at first, you don’t succeed, try and try again.” In contrast, the view of the past and present makes people more pessimistic.

Reactive Cultures

For example, Japan belongs to a group of reactive cultures or listening cultures. What is peculiar to these cultures is that members rarely initiate actions or take part in discussions without listening. Being patient, silent, a good listener, and respectful is typical for representatives of reactive cultures (Turkey, China, Korea, Finland, etc.).

Closure Cultures

For example, Americans are eager to achieve what psychologists call “closure.” This means that the task must be completed; otherwise, it is perceived and considered wasted.

Time Heal Cultures

Cultures are separated into two groups: cultures in which time heals and cultures in which it doesn’t heal. In time-heal cultures, things that happened before those now living are not held against the currently living. If time doesn’t heal, the past will keep dominating the present.