Intercultural Communication As A Trading of Cultural Stereotypes Essay

Intercultural Communication As A Trading of Cultural Stereotypes - Essay Example The mass media is especially responsible for repeatedly promoting negative and distorted images of different cultural groups until those images and stereotypes often become very difficult to overcome. A few isolated incidents of bad conduct from members of a group, and the entire group is often perceived as being the same, that is because when people stereotype, they don’t feel a need to consider the individuals that make up a group after placing that group in a determined category. Stereotyping serves the purpose of allowing people in one group to claim superior characteristics to those in another group. By attributing characteristics that bear a negative connotation, stereotyping becomes a way that people gain a sense of control about the unknown. This phenomenon not only exists between ethnic cultural groups, but among others as well, such as gender groups, economic groups, educational groups, and generational groups. This is particularly true when one considers the response a younger culture often receives from an older one. There are differences of opinion when it comes to language and culture. Some say that language defines a culture because it affects and molds what we believe and what we think, yet others say that language is only reflective of what goes on inside of a culture. When we talk about people, our intent is to make a specific point, and that point dictates the language and word choices that we make. If we want to portray someone in a positive light, we might refer to them as beautiful, trustworthy, enterprising or as a pillar of society. We would show respect by referring to them as Sir, Miss or Ma’am. On the other hand, if we want to portray someone in a less favorable light, we might call them by their last name only, use words such as shady or dubious.