Social Distance

The Difference Ideas of Social Distance Between American Culture And Chinese Culture How far the range of social distance should be? The correct range of social distance depends on different groups of society and is opposed to locational distance. According to Ashley Crossman a sociology expert, social distance is the degree to which people are willing to accept and associate with those having different social characteristics. For example, an unwillingness to live next door to a family of a different race would indicate a high degree of social distance ("Crossman"). The importance of social distance in human communication is that it is not only a buffer zone so people won 't stumble into each other, but also a private area that people consider almost as an extension of their body. In addition, with the right social distance people could communication better. Compared the different concepts of social distance between American culture and Chinese culture, the most obvious example would be the talking distance. In American culture people usually stand between four feet when they talk. On the other hand, Chinese culture stand in the range which within arms’ reach or even closer. As a international student come from Taiwan, the social distance between people do make me feel much more comfortable when I get used to American culture. There are also important reasons that why in Chinese culture people have much less social distance. There is no correct or incorrect range of social distance between two cultures. In fact, the important thing is to understand each others ' culture, so people from different culture can make better and more efficient communication with less misunderstandings. The concept of social distance as applied to human, as distinguished from different relations, For instance, In American culture, "social distance ranges varies from four to about twelve feet. Within it are the kinds of communication that usually occur in business situations. Its

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