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High-context culture and the contrasting low-context culture are terms presented by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book ''Beyond Culture''. It refers to a culture's tendency to use high-context messages over low-context messages in routine communication. This choice between speaking styles indicates whether a culture will cater to in-groups, an in-group being a group that has similar experiences and expectations, from which inferences are drawn. In a higher-context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Words and word choice become very important in higher-context communication, since a few words can communicate a complex message very effectively to an in-group (but less effectively outside that group), while in a low-context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important. == Context as a relativistic metric of culture == A cultural context does not rank as "high" or "low" in an absolute sense because each message can be presented on a continuum from high to low. Likewise, a culture (French Canadian) may be of a higher context than one (English Canadian) but lower context than another (Spanish or French). Likewise, a stereotypical individual from Texas (a higher-context culture) may communicate more with a few words or use of a prolonged silence, than a stereotypical New Yorker who is being very explicit, although both being part of a culture which is lower context overall. Typically a high-context culture will be relational, collectivist, intuitive, and contemplative. They place a high value on interpersonal relationships and group members are a very close-knit community. In one article, one sociologist from Japan and two from Finland argued that Japan and Finland are high-context cultures, although both, especially Finland, are becoming lower-context with the increased cultural influence of Western nations. The authors also described India as a relatively low-context culture, arguing that Indians' communication style, while observant of hierarchical differences as is standard for higher-context societies, is much more explicit and verbose than those of East Asians. While the milieu of individuals in a culture can be diverse, and not all individuals can be described by strict stereotypes, understanding the broad tendencies of predominant cultures can help inform and educate individuals on how to better facilitate communication between individuals of differing cultures. The following spectrum of levels of context in various cultures was determined in 1986 by Copeland & L. Griggs: ;Lower-context culture * Australian * Dutch * English Canadian * French Canadian * English * Finnish * German * Israeli * New Zealand * Scandinavia * Switzerland * United States ;Higher-context culture * Afghans * African * Arabic * Brazilian * Chinese * Filipinos * French * Greek * Hawaiian * Hungarian * Indian * Indonesian * Italian * Irish * Japanese * Korean * Latin Americans * Nepali * Pakistani * Persian * Portuguese * Russian * Southern United States * Spanish * Thai * Turkish * Vietnamese * South Slavic * West Slavic 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「High- and low-context cultures」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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