culture, become part of your way of seeing the world. The late African American
author Maya Angelou employed an eloquent metaphor to reinforce this point:“The
plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as smoothly and quietly and
invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase
in our bloodstreams.”^47 We add that only individuals can purge those microbes from
their bodies.Power
Much of our previous discussion reveals that prejudice and racism have roots in issues
related to power. Power has played a significant role in relations among people, cul-
tures, nations, and civilizations throughout history. Spears, guns, bombs, language, ter-
ritory, money, and even historical memory have been—and continue to be—used to
acquire and maintain power over others. The reason is apparent even though not
wholly justifiable—power enables people to achieve their will regardless of the rela-
tionship. The integral position of power in all human relations was made clear when
British philosopher Bertrand Russell observed,“the fundamental concept in social
science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept
in Physics.”^48 Granted that there are
many kinds of power (e.g., physical, psy-
chological, spiritual, political, economic)
that occur in a wide variety of contexts
(e.g., interpersonal, organizational, gov-
ernmental), we will focus on power in the
intercultural context.Power Defined
In general, humans tend to seek power whenever they can, but why? Perhaps the
answer lies in its definition. German philosopher Max Weber considered power as the
ability to exert your will even in the face of opposition.^50 More broadly viewed, power
is the ability to cause things to happen, to control what happens, and to prevent things
you do not want to happen.^51 It is this idea of enabling you to control not only your
own life but also the lives of others that makes power an important dimension in inter-
cultural communication. In many cultures, the use of power enables people to pursue
their own self-interests and to disregard the well-being and aspirations of others.
The methods of power are as diverse as they are widespread. Power is present in
nearly every human experience, from global politics to contact between the dominant
culture and co-culture members, and even in interpersonal interactions with friends
and family members. As a result, the dynamics of power greatly influence all phases
of intercultural communication. The historical memory that each party brings to any
intercultural communication exchange carries an element of power. For instance, the
tensions between African Americans and the police in Ferguson, Missouri, during the
summer of 2014 were filled with different power issues—the history of racial segrega-
tion in the United States, local political authority, level of community unemploy-
ment, police appearance and perception of being abusive, and many others. On a
global scale, official exchanges between China and the United States are colored
by existing economic considerations, availability of military force, the memory ofREMEMBER THIS
The concept of power is absolutely central to any understand-
ing of society.^49398 CHAPTER 11• The Challenges of Intercultural Communication: Managing Differences
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