COMM 1101 Chapter 3: Communicating Identities
September 18th 2017
How individual characteristics, such as gender and age and societal meanings associated with
them, interact to create cultural identities and important role of communication
The Importance of Identity
● Identity has a tremendous impact on the communication process in a number of ways
● How we communicate and how our communication is received by others can be shaped
by our identities and identities of others
How Identity Influences Communications
● Because individuals bring their self-images or identities to each communicative
encounter, every communication is affected by our identities
● Communication interactions create and shape identities
● Communication can be used to denigrate other identities and create tension between
groups
○ Important to think about the impact of communication on various identity groups
● Identity plays an important role in intercultural communication
○ Increased opportunities to interact with people from different cultures
○ It is not just communicating with diverse other, or speaking different languages
○ It is all about different background
● Understanding identity is useful because so much U.S. life is organized around and
geared towards specific identities
● Learning how to communicate effectively with individuals whose identities vary from
yours may require considerable thought and effort
● Identity is a key site in which individual and societal forces come together to shape
communication experiences
What is Identity?
● Identity - Who a person is; composed of individual and societal categories a
person identifies with, as well as categories that others identify with that person
● Identity not only includes who you are but also the social categories you identify yourself
with and the categories that the others identify with you AND HOW IT IS PRESENTED
○ Combination of self-concept and social categories
● Primary Identity - Those that have the most consistent and enduring impact on our lives
○ Race, gender, religion, nationality etc
● Social/Secondary Identity - More fluid and dependent on situation
○ College major, relationship status, occupation, sports teams, etc
● Identities exist at the individual and societal levels
○ Individual Level - Concerns with our difference from other individuals, and the
things that make us unique as people
○ Collective (social identity) Level - Concerned with our group's differences from
other groups, and the things that make our group unique
● Identity can be both individual or societal depending on the situation
● Identity is both fixed and dynamic
● Individual and societal identities are created through interaction with others
○ The relationships, experiences, and communication interactions we share with
others shape how we see ourselves
● Identities need to be understood in relation to historical, social, and cultural
environments
○ Meaning of any identity is tied to how it has been viewed historically and how
people with that identity are situated in a given culture and society
● Identity is a key to understanding communication, and communication is key to
understand identity
The Individual and Identity
● People see themselves as multidimensional, complex, and unique
● Our understanding of identity development arises out from symbolic interactionism
○ Individual's meanings for the objects, actions, and people around them arise out
of social, or symbolic, interaction with others
○ Emphasizes the pivotal role of communication in gender development
● Reflected Appraisals (looking-glass self) - People's self-images arise primarily from
the ways that others view them and from many messages they have received from
others about who they are
● Your opinion of yourself is determined by how others see you
● The process of identity development begins at birth
○ How others act toward and respond to them influences how infants build their
identities
○ Through numerous interactions with other people about your appearance, your
abilities, your personality and your character, you develop your identities
● Particular Ones - Important people in your life whose opinions and behavior influence
the various aspects of your identity
● Generalized Other - Collection of roles, rules, norms, beliefs, and attitudes endorsed by
the community in which you live
● Social Comparisons - Not only do we see ourselves as possessing specific
characteristics, we also evaluate how desirable those characteristics are
○ All things become meaningful through comparisons
○ We assess to whether we individually possess more, or less, of them than do
others in our communities
○ We compare ourselves to others to determine how we measure up, and through
this social comparison, we evaluate ourselves
● We compare ourselves to others in our identity group and decide how we rate
○ Your evaluation of yourself and your abilities is shaped not only by a specific trait
but also by how it compares to the trait of others in your referenced group
● Self-fulfilling prophecy - when an individual expects something to occur, the
expectation increases the likelihood that it will because the expectation influences
behavior
○ Communication interactions can also influence one's identity through self-fulfilling
prophecy
○ The belief in a particular outcome influences people to act and communicate in
ways that will make outcome more likely; in turn, the outcomes influences how
we perceive ourselves
● Self-fulfilling prophecies can have a powerful effect on an individual's
performance, especially when they are grounded in stereotypes of one's identity = could
lead to stereotypical threat
● Self-concept - the understanding of one's unique characteristics as well as the
similarities to, and differences from, others.
○ What you know about yourself
○ Based on your reflected appraisals and and social comparisons
○ How you see yourself (similarities and differences, learned through reflected
appraisal and social comparisons)
○ How you see yourself on the inside affects the image your project externally
● Self-esteem - Arises out of how one perceives and interprets reflected appraisals and
social comparisons
○ Part of individual's self-concept
○ Depicts how one evaluates oneself overall
○ Alters over time
○ How you see yourself naturally affects how you communicate
○ Because self esteem is such a powerful lens through which you see the world,
your self-concept may not be entirely consistent with how others see you
○ Your self-image and the feedback you receive may be out of sync
■ Others may not want to hurt you because you would respond negatively
when faced with information that contradicts your self-image
○ If you hold onto an image of yourself that is no longer accurate, you may have a
distorted self image - the one that doesn't match how others see you
○ People may not accept or recognize their positive qualities because of modesty
or because they value self-effacement
● Self-respect - Treating others, and expecting to be treated, with respect and dignity
○ Individuals protest the violation of their rights and that they do so within the
boundaries of dignity and respect for others
● Identity development is a circular process in which these constructs are interrelated
Performance of Individual Identity - the process or means by which we show the world who
we think we are
● Performing Identity - Process or means by which we show the world who we think we
are
● Self-presentation - The notion that in performing identity we try to influence others'
impressions of us, by creating an image that is consistent with our personal identity
● Communication style is another way to perform, or enact, their identities
● Performance of Identity - the process or means by which we show the world who we
think we are and is related to self-presentation
○ We try to influence other's impression
○ The role expectations others hold for us influence which aspects of identity we
are likely to enact
● Enacting Identities - Performing scripts deemed proper for particular identities
○ The enactment of identity is closely tied to one's movements into and out of
different cultural communities and one's expectations regarding particular roles
○ Role Expectations - The expectation that one will perform in a particular way
because of the social role occupied
● Identities are mutable
○ People change the way they perform their identities
○ Because identities are not fixed, sometimes you see mismatches between the
performance of identity and any single identity category
● When people enact a gender identity at odds with the cultural identity category, they may
be ridiculed, ostracized, or worse
○ The answer has to do with societal forces
The Individual, Identity and Society
The development of individual identities is influenced by societal forces
● One cannot understand oneself or other without understanding how society defines or
constructs characteristics
● When people enact identities that are contrary to social expectations, they may be
pressured to change their performance
○ A person who does not perform heterosexuality as expected may be seen as gay
or lesbian … may be victims or threats, name calling, violence, and even murder
● Some groups in societies have strong feelings regarding how identities should be
performed, and they may act to ensure that identities are performed according to societal
expectations
Racial Identity - Identification with a partial racial group
● Develops as a result of societal forces because society defines what a race is and what
it is called
● Racial categories are not necessarily the same from country to country
○ Categorizations are important because historically they have affected the way
people were treated
● We continue to live in consequences although discrimination in race is no longer legal
● How cultures describe and define specific races affects who is considered to belong to a
given race
○ How those individuals are treated
● Communication is a strong factor in furthering, affecting, or altering racial categories and
identities to serve different social needs
● Multiracial Identity - one who self-identifies as having more than one racial identity
National Identity - a person's citizenship
● Many people acquire U.S. citizenship by being born in there
Ethnic Identity - identification with a particular group with which they share the same or
all of these characteristics
● Based on the idea of social (rather than genetic) groups
● Typically share a national or tribal affiliation, religious beliefs, or cultural and traditional
origins and background
● In U.S. some people affiliate more with other countries (China, Ireland, Sweden, Italy,
etc) although they do not have passports for those countries
○ Feel strong affinity for these countries because of their ancestries
● AKA tribal identities
● Can determine who is elected to vote, marry, or hired for particular jobs
○ Malay has 3 groups (Indian, Malay and Chinese) but being Malay gives more
power to make decisions that influence the whole groups
Gender Identity - How and to what extent one identifies with the social construction of
masculinity and femininity
● Sex - biological differences between men and women
● Set of expectations cultures develop regarding how men and women are expected to
look, behave, communicate, and live.
● Refers to how and to what extent one identifies with the social construction of
masculinity and femininity (manly man, girly girl)
○ Gender roles and expectations have changed enormously over centuries
● We develop our notions of gender through communication
○ Through the ways that people talk about Gender
○ Through the media images we see
○ Through observing the ways people communicate to males and females
● Because the performances of traditional masculinity have been repeated for so long,
individuals come to believe that masculine identity and behaviors are natural
● Judith Butler: "gender is performance"
Sexual Identity - Which of the various categories of sexuality one identifies with
● Heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc
● Normally a private matter, a person's sexuallity can become a public issue
● Because identity categories are social constructions, there is not always agreement
about what they mean
● Plays a role in choice of media, places to socialize, people to associate with, and type of
products to purchase
Age Identity - Combination of how you feel about your age as well as what others
understand that age to mean
● Whether a person feels like an adult goes beyond what the law decrees and comes from
some set of factors that is far more complex
● Chronological identity - based on birthdate
○ Not necessarily about chronological order
● Generation identity - permanent group membership linked to a certain birth cohort
● Baby boomers (1946-1964)
● Generation X (1965-1980)
● Generation Z (mid 1990s-present)
Social Class Identity - Informal ranking of people in a culture based on their income,
occupation, education, dwelling (where one lives), and child-rearing habits, etc
● Working class, middle class, upper middle class, and upper class
● Most people in the U.S. consider themselves as middle class but there isn't any
single-agreed on definition of each class
● Pierre Bourdieu "People of the same social class tended to view the world similarly"
● People avoid talking about social class in the U.S. because they tend to believe that their
country is based on meritocracy
○ People succeed or fail based on their own merit
○ Social class tends to reproduce itself
● The social class one is born into is often the same as the social class one dies in
Disability Identity - Having impairment of some kind (hearing, sight, mobility, etc)
● Disability is about how it is enacted and lived; it is not about a fixed state of being
● People who are not disabled can become disabled and then develop this new identity as
a part of their larger configuration of identities
● "Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of
the inability"
● "Disability as an identity gains its meaning through communication"
Religious Identity - Aspect of identity
● Defined by one's spiritual reliefs
○ Upbringing and the impact the religion has on one's outlook
● Although one may believe that one's religious identity is part of one's private life and
irrelevant outside one's family, that is not true
○ Paradox: although church attendance is decreasing, scholars believe religious
identity is gaining in importance (the "halo effect")
○ When you subscribe to the religious beliefs, and the more you subscribe, the
more you feel "holy and pure"
● Religious identities also takes on public significance because it correlates with various
political views and attitudes
● The virtual environment has also been influencing by, and influences, religious identity
● Correlates with various political views and attitudes
○ Those who regularly attend church in the U.S. were more likely to support
different treatment of Muslim Americans
○ The nonreligious, less active in their churches, were less likely to support
restrictions on civil liberties of Muslim Americans
Ethics and Identity
Identities derive their meanings from society, every identity with values attached to it
● Do you change your communication when communicating with people whose identities
are more or less valued?
● Do you use language that discriminates or puts others down?
● Do you reduce people to one single identity category?
How you communicate to someone and about someone can influence how they perform their
identity or how it develops
There are many ways to perform a particular identity
People change over time
Communication Ethics
Communication + Ethics - The standards of right and wrong that one applies to messages that
are sent and received
● Communication involves a series of choices - as individuals, groups, organizations
and/or nations
○ We look at the messages
● Ethic: The study of the nature of morals and values and the specific moral choices to be
made in various situations
○ Each of you has moral or ethical codes; they come from culture, experiences,
upbringing, religion, right or wrong
How do we judge ethical decisions in communication?
● Truthfulness
● Deception
○ You are okay with certain level of deception
○ "It will be fine"
○ "I'm okay"
○ Santa Claus
● Sharing or withholding information
○ Self-disclosure - expected reciprocation
● Benefit and harm of messages
○ What am I going to get out of saying/receiving this?
○ Did you consider the harm before saying the truth?
● Absolutism vs. relativism
Absolutism vs. Relativism
● Absolutism - the belief that there is a single correct moral standard that holds for
everyone, everywhere, every time
● Relativism - the belief that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, cultures
and across situations
Ethical Perspectives
● The Golden Mean: From ancient Greeks
○ Morality is found in moderation
○ We come up with vague terms that no one can put definition to them
○ Virtues: prudence, courage, generosity, etc
○ We do not have all same definition of "courageous"
○ Excessive risk-taking
● Utilitarianism
○ Weigh out the benefits/harms of communicative decisions
■ Very analytic way to approach communicative ethics
○ Right/wrong in proportion to the amount of happiness/unhappiness that results
○ Goal is to bring the most happiness to the most people
■ Can we make everybody happy all the time?
● Pragmatism
○ Consider the practical effects
○ The usefulness of the information is paramount
Framework for Ethical Decision Making
● Recognize ethical issues
● Get all the facts
● Evaluate alternative actions'
● Make a decision and test it
● Act and reflect on the outcome
Ethical Dilemmas
● Alamo Drafthouse
● Alamo Drafthouse 2
● It's Not About the Nail
Speaking 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville
● Teamsterville - located on the near south side of Chicago
○ Neighborhood of blue-collar, low-income whites who share a common cultural
outlook
● Men talk (in-depth talk) with men with shared attributes (age, sex, ethnicity, occupational
status, and location of residence) in corner bars
● Men do not talk in situations in which the identity relationship is asymmetrical
○ explaining why they do not talk with a wife, child, boss, outsider to the
neighborhood, or a man of different ethnicity
○ Do not provide a model for children how to communicate
● Men respond with non verbal threats or violence, when responding to a personal insult,
an insult directed at a female relative or friend, or when the man seeks to influence the
behavior of a status inferior
○ Inability to communicate with wives, bosses, and children
○ Violent response to an outside threat to their families