The Comparative Study of Privacy between China and Western Countries 英语专业毕业论文.doc

the comparative study of privacy between china and western countries by a thesispresented to college of humanities and foreign languagesxian university of science and technologyin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofbachelor of arts thesis supervisor: june 2012abstractwith the deepening of global economic integration, the field of intercultural communication gradually extends to all aspects of social life. due to different history and cultural traditions and social customs in countries and ethnic, intercultural communication is facing a lot of communication barriers. for privacy issue, china and english-speaking countries have different perception, thus it is hard to ignore it in intercultural communication. with the introduction of group privacy view and individual privacy view observed by different cultures, this paper compares the specific manifestation of these two different privacy view in verbal, nonverbal and other behaviors. verbal behaviors includes the greeting, age and income. nonverbal behaviors includes the difference in space and time. other behaviors includes correspondence, hospital, public area and personal emotion.based on a collection of theoretical results of the chinese and western privacy research and exploration of the reasons behind privacy issues, this study provide the reference and ideas for avoiding the communication conflicts.key words: privacy; intercultural communication; chinese and western culture摘 要随着全球经济一体化程度的加深，跨文化交际的领域也开始逐步扩展到社会生活的方方面面。可是由于不同国家和民族之间不同的历史文化传统和社会习俗，跨文化交际面临着许多交际障碍。隐私问题在中西方文化中差异甚大。对于强调个人隐私的西方文化和强调集体隐私的中国文化，隐私问题已经成为中西方文化交流中一个难以忽视的交际障碍。本文通过了对群体隐私观和个体隐私观的引入，对比这两种不同的隐私观在言语行为，非言语行为以及其他行为下的具体表现。言语行为包括问候语、年龄、收入上的不同，非言语行为包括时间空间上的不同，其他行为则涵盖了信件，医院，公共场合以及个人感情的不同。最后通过探究中西方隐私问题背后的原因，为交际的顺利进行提供可参考的意见和建议。关键词：隐私；跨文件交际；中西方文化contentsabstract.i摘 要.iiiintroduction1ii. an overview of studies on privacy32.1 general conception of privacy32.2 studies on privacy42.2.1 studies on privacy in china42.2.2 studies on privacy in western countries52.3 privacy and intercultural communication62.3.1 intercultural communication62.3.2 privacy in intercultural communication7iii. differences in privacy between china and western countries83.1 views on privacy83.2 privacy in verbal behaviors93.2.1 privacy in greetings93.2.2 privacy in income103.2.3 privacy in age103.3 privacy in nonverbal behaviors113.3.1 privacy in space113.3.2 privacy in time123.4 privacy in other behaviors133.4.1 privacy in correspondence133.4.2 privacy in hospital133.4.3 privacy in public area143.4.4 privacy in emotion14iv. reasons for the different privacy view between china and western countries154.1 collectivism and individualism154.2 high context culture and low context culture164.3 agricultural culture and industrial culture16v. conclusion18bibliography19acknowledgments2019iintroduction personal life has been changed a lot with the the popularization of globalization, the development of modern communication technology and the increasing diversity of media networks. intercultural communication are becoming increasingly frequent. at the same time, cultural differences breed a large number of communication errors, barriers and conflicts so that peoples psychological distance is growing faster and faster. the main reason is not just the interests and territory competition or political and ideological differences, but more is the huge gap in the culture and values. for this reason, privacy as an important part in the intercultural communication has often bring about communication barriers. differences in geographic regions, historical traditions, social customs, values, specific cultural background, and ways of thinking make contribution to the difference of privacy view between china and western countries as well as potential obstacles to intercultural communication, inefficient communication and misunderstanding. therefore, the study on the difference of privacy view between china and western countries can minimize a variety of communication barriers and unnecessary misunderstandings in intercultural communication. the whole thesis is organized as follows:the first part is an introduction which states the reason and purpose of privacy study in intercultural communication. and the main content of the whole thesis is briefly introduced.the second part is an overview of studies on privacy. apart from the general concept of privacy, this paper introduces separately the different definitions and research results of privacy in china and western countries. meanwhile, the following paragraph mainly elaborates some basic concepts of intercultural communication as well as the great influence of privacy study on the intercultural communication. the third part provides the detailed analysis of differences existing in privacy view between china and western countries and those in verbal behaviors ,nonverbal behaviors and other behaviors.the fourth part investigates the possible causes for different privacy perceptions.the fifth part is a conclusive part, which summarizes the content of whole thesis and concludes the main findings of this study. meanwhile, it puts forward some suggestions for lubricating intercultural communication involved privacy issue.ii. an overview of studies on privacythe term privacy has been experiencing a very long process of the change in definitions and connotation for different countries with diverse cultural backgrounds. in a modern society characterized with frequent and convenient intercultural communication, privacy certainly owns some new features. 2.1 general conception of privacygenerally speaking, privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. the boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes. therefore, privacy has different meaning among countries with different values and customs. the paper focuses on the difference in china and english-speaking countries.the basic features of privacy can be divided into two different parts. first, it is characterized with both objectivity and subjectivity. objectivity refers to that the privacy is a kind of real existence and never be transferred by peoples mind. subjectivity means that the attitude towards privacy could be varied with different people. as long as someone want to hide some private information, privacy concept will be established. since the standard of privacy is uncertain, individuals attitude affect the definition of privacy. second, its purpose and paradox. for the different group of people, individual will choose appropriate group to disclose the privacy. meanwhile, in spite of protecting the privacy, people also have the psychological need to keep in touch with others in the social networks,in specific, privacy may be divided into four categories (1) physical: restriction on others to experience a person or situation through one or more of the human senses; (2) informational: restriction on searching for or revealing facts that are unknown or unknowable to others; (3) decisional: restriction on interfering in decisions that are exclusive to an entity; (4) dispositional: restriction on attempts to know an individuals state of mind. in general, the right to be free from secret surveillance and to determine whether, when, how, and to whom, ones personal or organizational information is to be revealed(alan 1970). 2.2 studies on privacy2.2.1 studies on privacy in chinathe name privacy could be paraphrased as the wordyin siin chinese under some circumstances. actually, china doesnt have the totally equal conception of privacy. according to the modern chinese dictionary, yin si means “the personal information that are intended not to tell others and just kept secret”. in traditional view, chinese culture emphasizes more on individuals obligation rather than the personal right, so yin sioften convey a kind of negative meaning on the social public occasion. yin si first entered the chinese language in the early times of zhou dynasty, but it referred to the coverings of body-clothes. in ancient chinese evolutionary history, yin si is the most significant feature differing from the barbarian and animal. however, as time went by, yin siwas regarded as the sexual organs of humans body, which cannot correspond with chinese traditional values, so the word yin si gradually disappeared in chinese cultural context. until recently, from the 1990s, some leading experts in civil law in china began to develop their own definition of privacy, especially the privacy right. professor tong wrote:the right to privacy, also called the right to private life, is a right of personality under which any interference by others with citizens secrets and liberty of personal life is prohibited”(tong p.487). in 1994, wang, another famous civil law researcher, concluded this kind of conception based on the existing privacy notion : privacy is a right of personality, enjoyed by a natural person, under which he can dispose of all personal information, private activities and private areas which belong only to the person and have no relation to public interest (wang p.487)2.2.2 studies on privacy in western countriesthe word privacy comes from latin language. it means that individuals try to get away from public life and resign from office. in different context in english, privacy has the following synonyms:individual, personal, familiar, family, domestic, secret, confidential, secure, inner, interior, intimate. in 1890, warren and brandeis, famous american scholars, define the concept of privacy as the individuals right to be left alone. brandeis think that privacy could be an important part in a democratic country, so the constitution should have the relevant provisions. then, american start to establish a series of laws to protect individuals privacy. the right to privacy usually follow some principles. first, inappropriate publication and exposure will not be accepted. second, in order to reach commercial needs, using others name and image without personal permission is not allowed. third, privacy right is a kind of individual activity. in 1960, the established international human rights contract clearly declared that everyone have the right to be protected by civil law in order to oppose encroachment of right.alan f. westin, a professor from columbia university, in his famous book on privacy privacy and freedom (1967), clearly divided privacy into four types: (1) solitude, which means let me alone; (2) anonymity, being unrecognized by others; (3) intimacy, being with friends and relatives but free from the outside world. (4) self-reserve, which indicates that one using psychological barriers to control unnecessary intrusion and has self-discipline to keep calm and far away from disturbance(alan 1970). irwin altman is a social psychologist from the university of maryland whose greatest contribution to the privacy theory is the privacy regulation theory. altman defines privacy as the selective control of access to the self(altman 1984). this theory is used to explain why people want to stay alone but sometimes like get involved in social relations. choosing to engage or not to engage in interpersonal interaction and to manipulate ones own boundaries are important themes in the process of optimizing the privacy regulating mechanism. 2.3 privacy and intercultural communication2.3.1 intercultural communicationon specific communication occasion, communicator from different cultural background use the same kind of language to exchange ideas and express viewpoints. intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process whereby people from different cultures negotiate, at varying levels of aware-ness, shared meanings. this perceived cultural variability and diversity might include differences in communication and social style, worldview, customs, traditions, norms, rules, roles, and expectations. there still having another understandings about intercultural communication. views(including value, worldview and social organization), verbal communication(including language and thinking style), nonverbal communication(including nonverbal behaviors, time arrangement and the sense of space) could be the basic elements of intercultural communication. verbal communication refers to the use of sounds and language to transfer the information. verbal communication acts as the primary tool for expression between two or more people.verbal communication is either face-to-face(exchange ideas back and forth freely) or public(allows the back and forth exchange of ideas only in certain circumstances). nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless (mostly visual) messages between people. for nonverbal communication, nonverbal behavior is hard to define. generally, nonverbal behavior, including the stimulus caused by communicative environment and communicator, these stimulus for the two sides of communication have the potential information value or significance. communication meaning has produced as soon as the stimulus was perceived. non-verbal behavior include intonation, tone, morpheme, volume, posture, gestures, facial expressions, costumes and body distance. these non-verbal behavior can be used as the exchange of information, convey ideas, and express their feelings, which play a very important role in the process of communication and effectively support the implementation of the speech act. people from different cultures encode and decode messages differently, so the possibilities of misunderstanding are likely to be increased. it is crucial, therefore, for the communicators to have more knowledge of culture of the other side so as to lubricate intercultural communication. 2.3.2 privacy in intercultural communicationirwin altman argues that privacy is a boundary control process. people regulate the interpersonal relationship. so we find that people sometimes want to communicate with others and sometimes keep the distance from others. the ways or strategies which people use to achieve the goals of privacy regulation are defined by culture.therefore, in order to make the communication goes on smoothly, communicator should understand the basic rules and structure of different culture system for avoiding the possible communication barriers caused by privacy. the study on privacy in intercultural communication is of great importance; especially the cross-cultural comparisons can enhance peoples intercultural competence as well as reduce the intercultural conflicts.iii. differences in privacy between china and western countries 3.1 views on privacychinese traditional culture is a very typical group culture, which has formed the group privacy view. from country to family, home is the ultimate goal for every chinese to fight and make the greatest efforts. in other words, the value of personality is closely related to the fate of home. therefore, the privacy of chinese exists in between groups and communities. the aim of protecting privacy is for regulating the benefits between groups and maintaining social stability and harmony, which could be expressed for worshiping the collectivism(jia 1997).group privacy view generally use a kind of physical form-wall to accommodate the privacy conflicts and protect group benefits. so, in china, we can find that wall is everywhere, from college campus to family yard, from official administrative organization to private entertainment places, from the whole country to a small village and so on. as an old chinese sayings goes dont wash your dirty linen in public, privacy should be kept within a certain boundary. in order to maintain the image of large groups, the chinese people try to limit the disgraceful things within a certain range. for some certain group, all members must comply with specific rules for family or groups so that their obligations will be fulfilled. apart from the maintenance of group interests, keeping group privacy is a way of hiding the disgraceful things or shameful behavior. in a word, the need for keeping the collective and social harmony and stability constitutes the core of group privacy view(wu 2009). western culture built on the individualism corresponding to the individual privacy concepts. individual privacy view puts the the individuals independence and self-awareness at the first place. as an individuals criteria. privacy comes from the nature of will aiming to maintain the existence of self interests and not to interfere in others. privacy in western culture mainly contains personal information, embodying the interests of individual values. maintenance of privacy is not only the respect for humanity and human rights, but also advocating individual performance.in western countries, its very common that invisible space acts as a private sphere instead of a tangible wall. its difficult to find the walls in the united states, whether in urban or rural, whether around factories, schools, fields, or villas. their boundaries are not walls, but space. westerners,