Mcluhans Theoty of Mass Communication

Anna Valitskaya

Theories and Models of Communication

Professor Ernest Hakanen

5 November, 2013

Paper #2 Face Negotiation Theory

Sometimes I find myself thinking how much more studying in America makes me expose myself to other cultures. I am a Russian girl, dating an Arab guy, working at the Indian restaurant, where the chef is from Honduras. Three years ago I would not even imagine this life, but now it seems so casual and normal. I come from very central part of Siberian region, where there is almost no diversity. People get confused when seeing a black person, or a girl in hijab because they do not match mental templates of many russians. Also, when the reaction is unknown, and there is almost no chance to meet anyone from another culture, then there is less concern on understanding the intercultural communication rules. However, now, living away from home, and educating myself little by little more about the diverse world, I start getting more and more curious of how people perceive themselves depending on their culture. The Face Negotiation Theory by Stella Ting-Toomey is a great way to learn more how to deal with people depending on their cultural background.

The very first thing when I came to the USA was cultural shock. It came from misunderstanding of the whole American system, as well as from being lonely. In Russia, we are more of a group oriented society, where people always want to surround themselves with friend, and have very little time by their own. In America it is mostly opposite. That is a difference of collectivistic versus individualistic cultures defined in the theory. Ting- Troomey says “culture are always negotiating face”, and it can be explained as the cultural values will play a big role of the self-image, and the relations between people. There is a saying “ Russians have Western mind, but Eastern heart.” So, then I would identify Russia as a collectivistic culture. However, it cannot be true for the whole country, but only for...