An Analysis of American – Chinese Movie ‘Saving Face” by Using Face Negotiation Theory

Taking the first concern mentioned into consideration, we can easily relate to cross-cultural researcher, Edward T. Hall’s differentiation between high-context cultures and low-context cultures.

On the contrary, collectivist societies value conformity, and are more concerned with the success of the group as a whole (Goncalo & Staw, 2006). One of the key differences between the two is the structure of the family unit and the significance placed on maintaining close family ties. Collectivist societies follow a hierarchical system with the patriarchal figure given ultimate power and respect. The importance of family is not valued as highly in individualist societies. For example, while it would be typical for a family living under one roof to consist of many generations and extended relations in China, it would seem highly unusual if the same was to occur in a country such as the United States of America (USA) (Jyh-Shen Chiou, 2001). This is due to the heavy emphasis placed on collectivism in China. Western countries, including the USA, are traditionally viewed as individualist societies (Cai, Wilson, & Drake, 2000). As there is no clear distinction between the family unit and the individual in collectivist cultures, the reputation of the family name is closely tied to the behaviour of every person. Embarrassing one’s self would be to bring shame to the

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of culture is “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group”. Every country has its specific culture and there are some obvious cultural universals between China and America. One example of such cultural universal is the directness of American versus the humbleness of the Chinese people. Another example would be the self independence of the young Americans versus the young Chinese who tend to depend on their parents. What I would like to cover are the holidays observed by United States and China, roles played in the family by husband and wife, parenting styles and conflict management.

According to Lee Chew, a Chinese immigrant who arrived in the 1870’s , Chinese people had minimalistic life styles. They were unpretentious because they had an

Culture is defined by a construction of one's world-view, and it is transmitted by individuals and collectives through socialization and enculturation (Pederson & Ivey, 13). It contains values, beliefs, language, and perception. In studying cultural differences among members of distinct national, ethnic groups researcher have examined the concept of collectivism and individualism. People form individualistic cultures tend to view themselves as unique entities and independent form one another (Coon & Kemmelmeier, 348)

Explanation: Hofstede 's framework rates Japan and Singapore as "collectivist" and the United States as "individualistic." A collectivist cultures has a stronger group identity than an individualistic culture.

In a business perspective, the oriental and western cultures remain a huge difference. Low-context societies such as American egalitarian culture, they emphasize on logic and facts, verbal messages are more direct and concise, individualism and extremely tolerant to changes. However, high-context societies such as Chinese hierarchy culture, they prefer non-verbal methods to express meaningful communications, group-oriented, and pay more attention to interpersonal relationships during business interactions. For example, a successful business interaction will count on interpersonal relationships among businesses and government. On the other hand, business dealings can be completely transactional with Americans, without building relationships to do so.

Every nations and communities has its own cultures and they are different from each other, here are the differences in the parameters between my culture which is influenced by Vietnamese culture and the USA's culture.

Everyone, every social class and every country have their own unique values. It is the fact that value is the core of cross-culture communication and the differences of culture among countries depend on different values. Value exerts great influence on everyone’s daily life. Scores of people rely on value to obtain knowledge, master the basic skills and foster correct world outlook. China and America are two opposite countries in terms of different values. It exists in many different fields in China and America such as politics, literature and family structure. The essence of these differences actually reflects the cultural differences. The word

“Stella Ting-Toomey’s face negotiation theory helps explain cultural differences in responses to conflict (Griffin, 2009). People do not respond to conflict in the same manner. Reponses vary according to culture, goals, desires, and self-image. According to Fullerton, “a communication professor at California State University, Ting-Toomey assumes that people of every culture are always negotiating face. Face is “the projected image of one’s self in a relational situation, the way that we want others to see us and treat us” (Griffin, 2009). Simply, the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

The term “behavior” refers one’s acts dominated by ideology in response to certain situations. Behavior derives from the long development of culture in which people are defined what is supposed to act based on the identity given. In other words, one’s behavior sometimes is the demonstration of one’s identity. Living in a multi-culture world, people from various cultures may behave totally different toward a situation or stimulus. Western and eastern cultures typically reflects the point of behavioral differentiations among distinct cultures. The United States, as a superpower established in last hundreds of years, possesses distinguishing features of western culture such as open and liberty. Meanwhile, China is an eastern country with an ancient civilization stands for conservative culture. Therefore, as represents of these two cultures, the United States and China are appropriate examples to explore the behavioral differentiations, and the differences in behavior can be well demonstrated through daily behaviors like classroom, driving and dining.

The Face-Negotiation theory suggests there are three goals that any conflict will revolve around; content, relational and identity, or rather, needs, interests or goals. Based on M. Afzalur Rahim’s work, Dr. Ting-Toomey and later John Oetzel, identified eight distinct responses to conflicting situations based on an incompatibility (Griffin

This essay will discuss the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior. A cultural dimension is defined as a perspective of a culture based on its values and cultural norms. In particular, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism vs. collectivism will be discussed. Individualism vs collectivism is defined as the preference of a person only being concerned about oneself and looking after oneself, compared to a person who wants to remain in a closely knitted network. These are some terms with definitions which will be used in this essay: the Asch paradigm, which refers to the studies conducted by Solomon Asch, in which he showed his participants different lines and asked them to verbally judge and respond as to what the length of the

The United States and China boast the two largest economies in the world but, despite this fact, these two countries have very little in common. At first glance, this may seem very obvious to most people but, what exactly is it that makes these two countries so different? How is it that such different perspectives and approaches can both lead to great success? Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture are an attempt to answer these questions and more. Dr. Geert Hofstede, studied employees of the computer firm IBM in over fifty different countries. When he examined his findings he found “clear patterns of similarity and difference along the four dimensions” (Manktelow, Jackson Edwards, Eyre, Cook and Khan, n.d.). The fact that he focused his research on solely IBM employees allowed him to eliminate company culture as a differentiating factor and “attribute those patterns to national and social differences” (n.d.). He used his findings to originally identify four dimensions, later expanded to six, that could “distinguish one culture from another” (n.d.). The six dimensions all on a scale from 0 to 100 are:

What are some of the salient characteristics and differences between high and low context cultures?