Chapter One: Understanding Culture
Introduction

The central focus here is on the relationship between culture in the abstract--the underlying values and assumptions of a society--and culture in the flesh--the specific behaviors that derive from those values. It is important for you to understand that what people do and say in a particular culture, whether it be yours or that of your host country, are not arbitrary and spontaneous, but are consistent with what people in that culture value and believe in. By knowing people's values and beliefs, you can come to expect and predict their behavior. Once you can do that, once host country people are no longer catching you off guard with their actions, you are well on your way to successful cultural adjustment.

Moreover, once you accept that people behave the way they do for a reason, whatever you may think of that reason, you can go beyond simply reacting to that behavior and figure out how to work with it. Knowing where host country behavior is coming from doesn't mean that you have to like or accept it, but it should mean that you're no longer surprised by it--and that is a considerable step toward successful cultural interaction.

Finally, in this chapter, you discover what this workbook is not going to be about--that is, the universal behaviors that are common to all cultures and the personal behaviors that are specific to every individual. These are important topics, but they are beyond the scope of this book--except to remind you that because of universal behaviors, you may not be surprised nor confused by many of the ways host country people act, while because of individual differences, you may not expect nor understand what someone says or does even after you've learned about the host country culture in general.