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Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying hard to be polite and make a good impression, only to be perceived by those around you as rude, or—worse yet—arrogant? This exact scenario is playing out in a cross-cultural context, and is being studied by Natalie Lutz, one of the graduate presenters at this year's Graduate Research Conference.

An intercultural communications master’s student, Lutz is researching the widespread stereotypes of arrogance that French and Americans have toward each other, and exploring how these perceptions are a window into cultural differences. Lutz believes that the French and Americans often perceive each other as arrogant because “they define arrogance so differently.” And their conceptions of arrogance are inextricably tied to their culturally-bound notions of 'politeness.’ “French and Americans have very opposite ideas of what it is to be polite,” she explains. “Much of the misunderstanding actually revolves around politeness strategies, namely that Americans favor what is called solidarity politeness while the French favor deference politeness (concepts we study in Pragmatics MLL 601).”

That is, when meeting strangers, Americans communicate politeness through “ritual friendliness,” i.e. informal behavior (solidarity politeness), whereas the French tend to express it through reserve, or “ritual distance” (deference politeness). “For the French, to establish ritual distance is to establish respect,” says Lutz. “Taking for granted that you can be relaxed with someone you don’t know can be perceived as ‘arriving on already conquered territory.’”

Thus, ironically, the harder a French or American may try to be polite, the more likely they may be to offend their French or American counterpart. “Their behaviors don’t conform to each other’s cultural expectations and tap into their own culture’s stereotypes of arrogance,” explains Lutz. To an American, a French person’s reserve will be perceived as haughty or cold, while to the French person, it’s neutral. To a French person, an American’s chumminess will come off as disrespectful and intrusive, whereas to another American it would be perceived as friendly. “Although there is true arrogance intended to show superiority on both sides, my research concentrates on the “naïve offender,” where there’s hope!” she remarks.

Yet, the French and Americans don’t just perceive each other as rude, but in fact, arrogant. “Rudeness means showing disrespect. Arrogance is also about hierarchy and power relations,” informs Lutz. Lutz believes this links to assumptions about capital in the other’s culture. “Americans are perceived by the French as having powerful economic capital while the French are perceived by Americans as having powerful cultural capital. Citizens in these countries feel vulnerable and insecure about their nation’s lack of the other country’s capital.”

“Perceptions are very hard to prove,” relays Lutz. Under the mentorship of Thomas Field, professor of modern language and linguistics, Lutz is using three methods to get at the heart of French and American perceptions. These involve a pragmatic analysis of interviews she conducted in France with French women, a bourdian analysis of cultural capital and symbolic boundaries in France and the United States, and a symbolic interactionist analysis of identity construction. Three theoretical frameworks are helping her to conceptually ground her theory: pragmatics, political economy and identity construction.

Lutz is very passionate about her research because it’s very personal. As a French-American dual citizen, her topic is a “lifelong evolvement of ideas,” she says. She grew up in the United States, at times feeling torn between her French (mother’s side) and American (father’s side) identity. Then she went to live with family members in France after college, expecting to fit right in. But despite her intimate knowledge of French culture and language, she experienced culture shock. As an English teacher in France for 12 years, she began to look seriously at why miscommunications occurred, trying to identify the “the deep and hidden barriers that hinder effective French-American communication.”

Lutz is already using her research to improve French-American relations within the business arena, through intercultural training workshops. With the trend in globalization, she comments “it’s a growing, booming field.” She recently presented her research at the annual SIETAR (Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research) conference. She’s also been putting her French fluency to work, teaching French 101 and co-teaching French 313 at UMBC.