From high-level business negotiations to casual conversations among friends, every interpersonal interaction is shaped by cultural norms and expectations. Seldom is this more clearly brought to light than in encounters between people from different cultural backgrounds, when dissimilar communication practices may lead to frustration and misunderstanding. This thought-provoking text presents a new framework for understanding the impact of culture on communication and for helping students build intercultural communication competence. With illustrative examples from around the globe, the book shows that verbal and nonverbal communication involves much more than transmitting a particular message--it also reflects each participant's self-image, group identifications and values, and privacy and relational needs. Readers learn to move effectively and appropriately through a wide range of transcultural situations by combining culture-specific knowledge with mindful listening and communication skills. Throughout, helpful tables and charts and easy-to-follow guidelines for putting concepts into practice enhance the book's utility for students.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

C. S. Lewis compared the task of ethical inquiry to sailing a fleet of ships; the primary task is avoiding collisions. When introducing cultural change, such collisions are inevitable. Bruce Bradshaw provides expert instruction for navigating these cultural clashes. Bradshaw contends that lasting change comes only through altering the stories by which people live. The Bible is the metanarrative whose altering theme of redemption forms a transcultural ethical basis. Aspects of God's redemption story can change how local cultures think and behave toward the environment, religions, government, gender identities, economics, science, and technology. However, effective change takes place only in a context of reconciliation, Christian community, and mutual learning. A must read for anyone engaged in or preparing for cross-cultural ministry, relief, or development work. The book is also relevant to students of ethics, philosophy, and theology. Numerous real-life examples illustrate the inevitable tensions that occur when cultures and narratives collide.

A new textbook exploring communication in international management. Provides a comprehensive overview of the field, summarising the key theoretical perspectives and introducing students to the multi-cultural 'big picture' in which global business operates. Experts provide a wealth of cases and other learning and teaching resources.

This important multivolume work sheds light on current—and future—research on cultural universals and differences in personality in their evolutionary, ecological, and cultural contexts. How does culture impact personality traits? To answer that question, the three volumes in this set address current theory and research on culture and personality in an effort to determine how people differ—and how they are alike. Detailed chapters by scholars from around the world unveil a fascinating picture of the relationship between culture and important aspects of personality. They also address the accuracy or meaningfulness of trait comparisons across cultures and the methods and limitations of research on the subject. As most psychological research is conducted on participants from Western industrialized countries, a work that includes a wide range of cultures not only fosters a more complete understanding of human personality, but also broadens perspectives on value systems and ways to live. Each of the three volumes concentrates on distinct areas of research, exposing the reader to the diverse theoretical and empirical approaches and topics in the field. Volume 1 focuses on the cross-cultural study of personality dispositions or traits. Volume 2 examines the relationship between culture and other important aspects of personality, including the self, emotions, motives, values, beliefs, and life narratives, as well as aspects of personality and adjustment associated with biculturalism and intercultural competence. Volume 3 looks at evolutionary, genetic, and neuroscience perspectives on personality across cultures along with ecological and cultural influences. In addition to providing readers with a thorough analysis of current and future directions for research, this unrivaled work brings together multiple perspectives on personality across cultures, thereby promoting a more integrative understanding of this important topic.

Writing Across Cultures invites both new and experienced teachers to examine the ways in which their training has—or has not—prepared them for dealing with issues of race, power, and authority in their writing classrooms. The text is packed with more than twenty activities that enable students to examine issues such as white privilege, common dialects, and the normalization of racism in a society where democracy is increasingly under attack. This book provides an innovative framework that helps teachers create safe spaces for students to write and critically engage in hard discussions. Robert Eddy and Amanda Espinosa-Aguilar offer a new framework for teaching that acknowledges the changing demographics of US college classrooms as the field of writing studies moves toward real equity and expanding diversity. Writing Across Cultures utilizes a streamlined cross-racial and interculturally tested method of introducing students to academic writing via sequenced assignments that are not confined by traditional and static approaches. They focus on helping students become engaged members of a new culture—namely, the rapidly changing collegiate discourse community. The book is based on a multi-racial rhetoric that assumes that writing is inherently a social activity. Students benefit most from seeing composing as an act of engaged communication, and this text uses student samples, not professionally authored ones, to demonstrate this framework in action. Writing Across Cultures will be a significant contribution to the field, aiding teachers, students, and administrators in navigating the real challenges and wonderful opportunities of multi-racial learning spaces.

`This book is not an arcane tome restricted for use by specialists in cross-cultural psychology. It deals directly with what it sets out to do: How can social psychology both address and incorporate what is known about cultural constants and variations in human thought and behavior? In achieving this, the authors have delivered in spades. Their book is a must for social psychologists, whether in their roles as teachers or researchers. Importantly, it is also a valuable text for advancing students of social psychology and should be required reading for any who propose to undertake postgraduate psychological research' - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology `It is useful in informing interactions with those of similar or different cultures and in understanding how cultural misunderstanding can occur. For these reasons I believe it is worth reading and would recommend' - The Psychologist `This will be my favourite text for recommending to graduate students who want to know what cross-cultural psychology is about. I wished all of their professors had read it. For example, I never saw levels of analysis explained so clearly. I was comforted by the statement in the book that many studies in the published literature don't clearly state their level of analysis - so failing to understand those articles is not only my problem! The book is impressively comprehensive and broad, yet very readable, up-to-date and practically oriented. Every source cited has been read critically and put into context. A masterpiece' - Geert Hofstede `The authors of this gracefully-written text have a vision of their field that incorporates but far transcends the experimental social psychology familiar to Americans. Using concepts and data from a range of cultures, they address problems in developmental, personality, and applied psychology, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural interactions and global change. Not since Roger Brown's classic has a text made social psychology so interesting!' - Robert R. McCrae `This book is one of the best available texts on cross-cultural psychology. It reviews a large amount of cross-cultural studies and covers a wide range of perspectives on culture.... It reveals what is unique to cross-cultural psychology and reminds us that culture is central to the advancement of psychology as a discipline' - Patricia M Rodriguez Mosquera, Brunel University `The concept for this book is excellent. As a global society we have many pressing problems. It is wonderful to see these leading cross-cultural psychologists make a highly sophisticated effort at applying the resources of social psychology to the needs of cultures throughout the world' - Jim Nelson, Valparaiso University, USA Illustrating ways in which culture shapes psychological processes across a wide range of social contexts, Understanding Social Psychology Across Cultures examines the strengths and limitations of the key theories, methods and instruments used in cross-cultural research. The book contains a broad range of pedagogical devices including: further reading and discussion questions at the end of each chapter; chapters on culture-level studies, personality and developmental issues, and a glossary of key terms.

This updated text helps students develop the global management knowledge and skills required to work anywhere in the world. Based on a new learning model, the text is supported by a set of engagement activities and teaching materials that enable managers to effectively pursue their job responsibilities in the global workplace.

This book offers global perspectives from Mediterranean, Asian, Australian, and American cultures on sacred sites and their related stories in regional history. Contemporary society witnesses many travelers visiting sacred sites (temples, mountains, castles, churches, houses) throughout the world. These visits often involve discovery of new historical facts through the origin stories of the associated tribe, region, or nation. The transmission of oral tradition and myth carries on the significant meaning of those religious sites. This volume unveils multi-angle perspectives of symbolic and mystical places. The contributors describe the religio-political experiences of each regional case, and analyze the religiosity of local people as a lens through which readers can re-examine the concept of iconography, syncretism, and materialism. In addition, contributors interpret the growth of new religions as the alternative perspectives of anti-traditional religions. This new approach offers significant insight into comprehending the practical agony and sorrow of regional people in the context of contemporary history.