Communication Between Cultures

example, the desire to be part of nature and not control it has always been strong

among American Indians. Even today, many tribes practice conservation of natural

resources and protest the disruption of ancestral lands.

Mastery of Nature. At the other end of the scale is the view that compels us to con-

quer and direct the forces of nature to our advantage. This orientation is characteris-

tic of the Western approach, which, as noted earlier in the chapter, has a long

tradition of valuing technology, change, and science. Americans have historically

believed that nature was something that could and had to be mastered. Even our lan-

guage reflects this orientation. Early Western European immigrants to North America

encountered a vast, unforgiving wilderness that they set about to“tame,”and modern

astronauts are working to“conquer”space. People with this orientation see a clear

separation between humans and nature.

Time Orientation

People’s obsession with time and the power they afford it are obvious, and as you would

expect by now, cultures vary widely in their perspective toward time. The greatest differ-

ences are in the respective values placed on

the past, present, and future and on how

each influences interaction. This section

will highlight some of the major cultural dif-

ferences in how time is viewed as it applies

to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s taxonomy.

Many cultures instill

in their members a

desire to live in

harmony with nature.

REMEMBER THIS

Cultures characterized by the practice of rich traditions usually

have a strong orientation toward the past.

Courtesy of Robert Fonseca

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value Orientations 217

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).