People carry within themselves concept of the space around them, including a sense of territorial boundaries, and feelings about what areas are appropriate for different types of activities and what degrees of distance between people are appropriate in various interpersonal situations. These concept vary according to culture, situation and individual sentences. Cultural variations can cause misunderstanding, when people of different cultures interact. Because of the subconscious nature of concepts about space, the people involved often do not understand exactly why there is a conflict.
It is difficult to make general about American culture, since many very different groups make up this culture. These groups have come from all over the world, bringing with them their owns ways of dealing with interactions. Besides these differences , there are also very wide differences in social patterns in the geographical sections of the United States. The South is not exactly like the Northeast in its social interactions, for example. Nevertheless, there are some patterns which can be discussed.
Territorially is a very strong concept in American culture. Removing boundary markers or trespassing on private property are acts that are punishable by law. In fact, some Americans would even consider it their right to shoot and kill someone that they found robbing their house. To enter someone else's house without knocking and receiving permission to enter is a very serious breach of courtesy (except in the case of very close friends or relatives).
Territorially also exist within Americans homes. The kitchen is usually considered the write's territory, while the workshop, if there is one is the husband's. Some family members have their own chairs in the living room. People usually sit at the same place at the table for every meal. In addition children often have their own bedroom. Even if sibling, share, a bedroom, the room is generally divided into territories by an invisible but very real, line.
Physical privacy is considered important in America. When a person wants privacy, he or she will usually go into a room that can be considered his or her territory ad close the door. In contrast, in some cultures a person who wants privacy will not necessarily go into a room alone but will instead merely indicate by mannerisms a desire these mannerism, but often Americans, accustomed to guaranteeing privacy with physical barriers, do not recognize these signs and this can be a point of conflict.
Americans home in common with most Western style dwellings are organized spatially, with different functions being assigned to different rooms. There are rooms for food preparation, eating, socializing, sleeping and so on . Usually does not for example eat in a room intended for sleeping . Rooms are named for their function living room, bedroom, dining room, etc. As general rule people move from room to room or from one part of a room to another as activities change, rather than moving the articles associated with the activity.
Use of space in interpersonal relationships is another aspect of concepts of space that often causes misunderstanding between people of different cultures. The distances maintained between people in a given situations depends on the culture, the nature of the relationship and of the transaction , the moods of the individuals at the time and or individual are differences. Maintenance of distance is largely subconscious. It is difficult to specify why, in a given situation one might feel that another person is too far away, too close or at a comfortable distance.
Observers have described four zones of interpersonal distance: intimate, personal, social and public. The following is a description of these distance zones as they are used by most Americans. Intimate distance is from contact to 18 inches. It is the distance used for comforting, wrestling, sex, sharing secrets and so on. If the voice is not generally considered proper for use between adults in public, except in situations, Americans are very uncomfortable.
Personal distance ranges from 18 inches to four feet. It is used between close friends or family members for discussions of personal interest. Touching is possible but not unavoidable. The volume of the voice is moderate.
Social distance ranges from our to twelve feet and it is used for impersonal transactions People who work together or who are attending a casual social gathering use the close end (four to seven feet) of this zone. More formal business and social transactions are carried on in the far phase. The volume of the voice is noticeably louder than or the personal distance zone, and touching is not possible without leaning forward.
The public distance zone is twelve feet or more. It is used for public occasions. The voice must be raised in order to be heard and speech is in a rather formal style.
The distances described her are of course applicable only to Americans and even so do not apply to every subculture withing the United States. The distance zones of other culture vary widely, for example, what is considered social distance by people of some other nationalities such as Arabs or Italians. This can result in some rather amusing situation such as Italian-American described, when his uncle visiting from Italy, virtually chased an American born nephew around the room in order to get within what the uncle considered correct social distance.
As we have seen , not everyone has the same concepts of space. When dealing with people of other cultures it is important to have some understanding of their concepts of space. Sources of conflicts will be more easily recognized and solutions more easily found.
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