An Introduction to Intercultural Communication

Fred E. Jandt was born of second-generation German immigrants in the multicultural south-central region of Texas. After graduating from Texas Lutheran University and Stephen F. Austin State University, he received his doctorate in communication from Bowling Green State University. He has taught and been a student of intercultural communication for more than 4 decades, developing his experience through travel and international training and research projects. While professor of communication at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, his reputation as a teacher led to his appointment as SUNY′s first director of faculty development. He has retired as professor and branch campus dean after having been named outstanding professor. He has also been a visiting professor at Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand. He has extensive experience in the areas of intercultural and international communication, negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. He was one of the first scholars to introduce the study of conflict to the communication discipline with his text Conflict Resolution Through Communication (Harper & Row, 1973). He has subsequently published many other titles in this area, including the successful trade book Win-Win Negotiating: Turning Conflict Into Agreement (Wiley, 1985), which has been translated into eight languages; a casebook on international conflict management, Constructive Conflict Management: Asia-Pacific Cases (SAGE, 1996), with Paul B. Pedersen; Conflict and Communication, Third Edition (Cognella, 2025); and Negotiation and Mediation (Cognella, 2025). For several years, he conducted the training workshop “Managing Conflict Productively” for major corporations and government agencies throughout the United States. Jandt continues to train volunteers who are learning to become mediators in the California justice system and served as an elected trustee of the Desert Community College District.

This text provides a balanced, comprehensive examination of theory and practice of intercultural communication with a blend of contemporary and classic sources.

• WHY Study Intercultural Communication With This Textbook?AcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorPart 1 Culture as Context for Communication1 Defining Culture and CommunicationSources of IdentityCultureCultural Definitions of CommunicationThe Media of Intercultural CommunicationDiscussion Questions2 Intercultural Communication CompetencePerceptual Barriers to Intercultural CommunicationLearned Barriers to Intercultural CommunicationCommunicating RacismOvercoming BarriersIdentities and Intercultural CompetenceIntercultural Communication EthicsDiscussion QuestionsPart 2 Communication Variables3 How Culture Affects PerceptionSensationPerceptionHigh Versus Low ContextCommunication Between High- and Low-Context Countries: China and the United StatesCurrent Issues in Chinese–U.S. RelationsDiscussion Questions4 Nonverbal CommunicationApproaches to the Study of Nonverbal BehaviorNonverbal Communication FunctionsTypes of Nonverbals Associated With Our BodiesOther Nonverbals We Use to CommunicateNonverbals in Cultural ContextDiscussion Questions5 Language as a BarrierSapir-Whorf HypothesisTranslation ProblemsPidgins, Creoles, and Constructed LanguagesLanguage as NationalismThe Spread of EnglishDiscussion QuestionsPart 3 Cultural Values6 Nation-State Cultural ValuesMajor Models of Cultural ValuesCriticisms of and Responses to Cultural Values ResearchCultural ConstructsRelated ConstructsSingapore and Japan Case StudiesDISCUSSION QUESTIONS7 U. S. Values and IdentityOrigins of U.S. Cultural PatternsValue Orientation TheoryDISCUSSION QUESTIONS8 Religion and IdentityThe World’s ReligionsDominant Cultural Patterns in the Arab StatesSaudi Arabia Case StudyArab States and U.S. Intercultural ChallengesDISCUSSION QUESTIONS9 Culture and GenderStatus of WomenComparison of Individual Countries and RegionsNonbinary Gender IdentitiesGender Expression and CommunicationDISCUSSION QUESTIONSPart 4 Cultures Within Cultures10 Migration and AcculturationA World of Travel and MigrationCulture ShockAcculturationImmigration and National IdentityImmigration and the United StatesDiscussion Questions11 CommunitiesMarginalizationSeparationAssimilationIntegrationHispanic Culture Within the U.S. CultureDiscussion Questions12 Identity and CommunitiesCommunity Language and MediaExamples of CommunitiesSexual and Gender CommunitiesSexual and Gender Communities and OtheringRedefining Sexual and Gender CommunitiesDiscussion QuestionsPart 5 Applications13 The Impact of Cultures on Other CulturesColonialism and ImperialismDevelopment CommunicationCultural IconsGlocalizationCultural HegemonyDiscussion Questions14 Future ChallengesChallenges to Sources of IdentityFuture Challenges to IdentityA Final WordDiscussion Questions