low-context culture

See also: low context culture

English

Alternative forms

• low context culture

Etymology

Coined by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture

Noun

low-context culture (plural low-context cultures)

1. A culture in which communication tends to be explicit, with little reliance on context or shared understandings to convey meaning.
   • 2005, Yunxia Zhu, Written Communication Across Cultures, →ISBN, page 15:

     The style in a high-context culture may appear to be indirect or inappropriate to someone from a low-context culture, and vice versa.

   • 2008, John F. Cragan, David W. Wright, Chris R. Kasch, Communication in Small Groups, →ISBN, page 145:

     Persons socialized in low-context cultures (Americans, many Europeans) are more open and expressive and may find it difficult to take the perspective of their team members from high-context cultures

   • 2013, Marieke de Mooij, Global Marketing and Advertising, →ISBN, page 85:

     In advertising, argumentation and rhetoric are found more in low-context cultures, whereas advertising in high-context cultures is characterized by symbolism or indirect verbal expression.