Читать книгу An Introduction to Intercultural Communication - Fred E. Jandt - Страница 25

Whereas some define subculture as meaning “a part of the whole,” in the same sense that a subdivision is part of—but no less important than—the whole city, other scholars reject the use of the prefix sub as applied to the term culture because it seems to imply being under or beneath and being inferior or secondary. As an alternative, the word Co-culture is suggested to convey the idea that no one culture is inherently superior to other coexisting cultures (Orbe, 1998).

However, mutuality may not be easily established. Take the case of a homogeneous culture. One of the many elements of a culture is its system of laws. The system of laws in our hypothetical homogeneous culture, then, was derived from and reflects the values of that culture. Now assume immigration of another cultural group into the hypothetical culture. New immigrants may have different understandings of legal theory and the rights and responsibilities that individuals should have in a legal system. In the case of a true co-culture, both understandings of the law would be recognized.

See Focus on Culture 1.3 for a discussion of New Zealand struggling with the concept of co-culture.