Week 7, Question 2

Proxemics refers to how we use space to communicate with one another. In other words it is how we use and are affected by space. Our proxemics to one another can have a very big impact on the way we communicate with one another. I have worked with many people from different cultures in the group projects I have done at SJSU. I have experienced in all of my groups that when we first meet with each other we all keep quite a distance from one another. Once we start getting more comfortable with one another that distance gradually starts to close. Chromenics on the other hand is the study of the use of time. “Western cultures are particularly oriented toward clock-based time as an organizing principle in the work world.” (Harris & Sherblom) Time is also money in the work world. Wasting time is like wasting money. In small groups the amount of time being spent by individual members is constantly being monitored. If an individual group member is wasting time they are going to be looked at as lazy and unproductive. In all of the groups that I have worked with at SJSU we are very time oriented no matter what culture we identified ourselves with. We all wanted to get our work done so we stayed on task. Personally I think that there are universal rules for proxemics. Every culture has a distance that they are comfortable with when they meet new people. Eventually that distance changes over time as people get to know each other, but I think that cultures universally agree on certain proxemics. I don’t think that there are universal rules for chronemics. The way time is spent around the world is vey different. The United States is a very fast paced country. It is different than what you would see anywhere else in the world.