High and Low Context

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The general terms "high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies.

High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. Your family is probably an example of a high context environment.

Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave.

High Context (East Asian, Arab, Southern European, Native American, Mexican, Portions of rural US)

* Less verbally explicit communication, less written/formal information
* More internalized understandings of what is communicated
* Multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others
* Long term relationships
* Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs who is considered an "outsider"
* Knowledge is situational, relational.
* Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority.

Examples:

Small religious congregations, a party with friends, family gatherings, expensive gourmet restaurants and neighborhood restaurants with a regular clientele, undergraduate on-campus friendships, regular pick-up games, hosting a friend in your home overnight.

Low Context ( US Germany, Scandinavia)

* Rule oriented, people play by external rules
* More knowledge is codified, public, external, and accessible.
* Sequencing, separation--of time, of space, of activities, of relationships
* More interpersonal connections of shorter duration
* Knowledge is more often transferable
* Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities.

Examples:

large US airports, a chain supermarket, a cafeteria, a convenience store, sports where rules are clearly laid out, a motel.

While these terms are sometimes useful in describing some aspects of a culture, one can never say a culture is "high" or "low" because societies all contain both modes. "High" and "low" are therefore less relevant as a description of a whole people, and more useful to describe and understand particular situations and environments.

Ways that High and Low Context Differ

1. The Structure of Relationship

* High: Dense, intersecting networks and long-term relationships, strong boundaries, relationship more important than task
* Low: Loose, wide networks, shorter term, compartmentalized relationships, task more important than relationship

2. Main Type of Cultural Knowledge

* High: More knowledge is below the waterline--implicit, patterns that are not fully conscious, hard to explain even if you are a member of that culture
* Low: More knowledge is above the waterline-explicit, consciously organized

The Iceberg Metaphor

The Iceberg metaphor for culture shows a cruise ship sailing close to the iceberg for a look at this foreign territory. Part of the iceberg is immediately visible; part of it emerges and submerges with the tides, and its foundations go deep beneath the surface.

Above water line:
Aspects of culture that are explicit, visible, taught. This includes written explanations, as well as those thousands of skills and information conveyed through formal lessons, such as manners or computing long division or baking bread. Also above water are the tangible aspects: from the "cultural markers" tourists seek out such as French bread or Guatemalan weaving, to the conformity in how people dress, the way they pronounce the letter "R", how they season their food, the way they expect and office to be furnished.

At the water line:
The transition zone is where the cultural observer has to be more alert: "now you see it now you don't", the area where implicit understandings become talked about, explained--mystical experiences are codified into a creed; the area where official explanations and teachings become irrational, contradictory, inexplicable--where theology becomes faith.

Below the water line:
"Hidden" culture: the habits, assumptions, understandings, values, judgments ... that we know but do not or cannot articulate. Usually these aspects are not taught directly. Think about mealtime, for example, and the order you eat foods at dinner: Do you end with dessert? With a pickle? With tea? Nuts and cheese? Just have one course with no concluding dish? Or, in these modern times, do you dispense with a sit-down meal altogether? Or consider how you know if someone is treating you in a friendly manner: do they shake hands? keep a respectful distance with downcast eyes? leap up and hug you? address you by your full name? These sorts of daily rules are learned by osmosis -- you may know what tastes "right" or when you're treated "right", but because these judgments are under-the-waterline, it usually doesn't occur to you to question or explain those feelings.