Intercultural Relations, sometimes called
Intercultural Studies, is a relatively new formal field of
social science studies. It is a practical, multi-field discipline designed to train its students to understand, communicate, and accomplish specific goals outside their own cultures. Intercultural Relations involves, at a fundamental level, learning how to see oneself and the world through the eyes of another. It is a broad rather than deep discipline that seeks to prepare students for interaction with cultures both similar to their own (e.g. a separate socioeconomic group in one's own country) or very different from their own (e.g. an American businessman in a small Amazon tribal society).