Communication

between 8TH EDITION

cultures
Chapter 7
Culture and Identity:
Situating the
Individual

© Cengage 2012 Chapter 7 Culture and Identity: Situating the Individual 1

 Key Ideas
• Role of Identity
• Defining Identity
• Types of social identities
• Developing and acquiring identities
• Establishing and enacting identities
• Dark side of identity

© Cengage 2012 Chapter 7 Culture and Identity: Situating the Indvidual 2

 The role of identity
• Identity development plays a critical
role in the individual’s psychological
well-being
• Our technology driven world is
influenced by perceptions of identity
• Identity is becoming an important
factor in how they live their lives and
with whom they associate

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 Identity Defined
• The reflective self-conception or self-
image that we each derive from our
family, gender, cultural, ethnic, and
individual socialization process. Identity
basically refers to our reflective views of
ourselves and other perceptions of our
self-images.(Ting-Toomey 2005, p. 212)
• The concept of who we are. (Martin and
Nakayama 2010, p. 162)

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 Identity Defined
• Identify is an abstract idea
• Identity is dynamic
• A person can have multiple identities

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 Types of social identities
• Social identity sets you apart from
other in-group members and marks
you as special or unique and include
the following
– Racial identity
– Ethnic identity
– Gender identity

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 Types of social identities
– National identity
– Regional identity
– Personal identity
– Organizational identity
– Cyber and fantasy identity

© Cengage 2012 Chapter 7 Culture and Identity: Situating the Indvidual 7

 Developing and acquiring
identities
• Largely a product of group membership
– Family influences
– Socialization
– Personal experiences
• Begins at a young age
– Family members teach children specific
behaviors for girls and boys
– Extended family teaches age-appropriate
behaviors
– Family instill concept of an individual or
group-based identity
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 Developing and acquiring
identities:
Phinney
• Unexamined ethnic identity -
characterized by the lack of
exploration of ethnicity
• Ethnic identity search - individuals
become interested in learning about
and understanding their own ethnicity
• Ethnic achievement - individuals have
a clear and confident understanding of
their own cultural identity
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 Developing and acquiring
identities:
Martin and Nakayama
• Unexamined identity - individuals are
unconcerned with identity issues
• Conformity, minority members endeavor to
fit in with the dominant culture and may
even possess negative self-images
• Resistance and separatism - cultural
awakening that stimulates a greater interest
in and adherence to one’s own culture
• Integration - individuals have a sense of
pride in, and identify with, their own cultural
group, and demonstrate an acceptance of
other groups

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 Developing and acquiring
identities:
Martin and Nakayama (5 step
• model)
Unexamined identity - individuals are
unconcerned with identity issues
• Acceptance - acquiescence to existing social
inequities, even though such acceptance may
be at a subconscious level
• Resistance - members of the dominant culture
become more aware of existing social
inequities, begin to question their own culture,
and increase association with minority culture
members
• Redefinition and Reintegration - increased
understanding of one’s dominant culture
identity and an appreciation of minority
cultures
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 Developing and acquiring identities:
Martin and Nakayama’s biracial
identity
• Phase 1 - become conscious of
differences in general and the
potential for discord
• Phase 2 - gain an awareness of their
personal differences from other
children
• Phase 3 - begin to sense they are not
part of the norm

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Establishing and enacting cultural
identity
• Established through rights of passage
• Enacted on in many ways
– Cultural ways of displaying religious or
spiritual identity
– Clothing worn
– Involvement in commemorative events
– Language
– Accents

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 Identity in intercultural
interactions
• To communicate effectively in an
intercultural situation an individual’s
cultural identity and communication style
should match the identity and style
ascribed to him or her by the other party
• Communication styles are likely to be
different
• Participants will have to search for a
middle ground, and this search will require
flexibility and adaptation
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Identity in a globalized society
• Globalization has increased cultural
diversity and has revived local cultural
identities in different parts of the world
• Multiple cultural identities are becoming
more commonplace
– Globalized economy, immigration, ease of
foreign travel, communication
technologies, and intercultural marriage
are bringing about an increased mixing of
cultures
– Mixing is producing people who possess
multiple cultural identities

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 The dark side of identity
• Stereotyping - complex form of
categorization that mentally
organizes your experiences with, and
guides your behavior toward, a
particular group of people
– Stereotypes are learned
– Stereotypes are the result of limited,
lazy, and misguided perceptions

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 The dark side of identity
• Stereotypes hinder intercultural
communication
– stereotypes are a kind of filter
– Assumption that culture-specific
information applies to every member of
a particular cultural group
– Stereotypes are oversimplified,
exaggerated, and overgeneralized

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 The dark side of identity
• Stereotypes hinder intercultural
communication
– stereotypes are a kind of filter
– Assumption that culture-specific information
applies to every member of a particular
cultural group
– Stereotypes are oversimplified, exaggerated,
and overgeneralized
– Try to engage in “flexible” stereotyping
• be open to new information and evidence
• beaware of your own zone of discomfort.
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 The dark side of identity
• Prejudice
– Functions of prejudice
• Ego-defensive function allows individuals to
hold a prejudice while denying to
themselves that they possess negative
beliefs about a group
• Utilitarian function permits people to believe
that their prejudicial beliefs produce a
positive outcome

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 The dark side of identity
• Prejudice
– Functions of prejudice
• Value-expressive function occurs when
people maintain their prejudice in the belief
that their attitudes represent the highest
and most moral values of the culture
• Knowledge function enables people to
categorize, organize, and construct their
perceptions of other people in a manner
they see as rational—even if that perception
is woefully inaccurate
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 The dark side of identity
• Prejudice
– Expressions of prejudice
• Antilocution, - talking about a member of the
target group in negative and stereotypical
terms
• Avoidance - people avoid and/or withdraw
from contact with the disliked group
• Discrimination - exclude all members of the
group in question from access to certain types
of employment, residential housing, political
rights, educational and recreational
opportunities, churches, hospitals, or other
social institutions
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 The dark side of identity
• Prejudice
– Expressions of prejudice
• Physical attacks - escalate in hostility and
intensity if left unchecked
• Extermination - acts of physical violence
with the objective of removing or eliminating
all or major segments of the target group
community

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 The dark side of identity
• Prejudice
– Causes of prejudice
• Social sources
• Maintaining social identity
• Scapegoating
– Avoiding prejudice
• Personal contact
• Education

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 The dark side of identity
• Racism
– Racism defined: Racism is the belief in
the inherent superiority of a particular
race. It denies the basic equality of
humankind and correlates ability with
physical composition. Thus, it assumes
that success or failure in any societal
endeavor will depend upon genetic
endowment rather than environment and
access to opportunity. (Leone 1978, p. 1)
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 The dark side of identity
• Racism
– Racism defined
– Expressions of racism
• Personal
• Institutional
– Avoiding Racism
• Try to be honest with yourself
• Avoid racists jokes and insults
• Respect freedom
• Examine historical roots of racism

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 The dark side of identity
• Ethnocentrism
– Levels of ethnocentrism – positive,
negative, extremely negative
– Ethnocentrism is universal
– Ethnocentrism contributes to cultural
identity
– Avoiding ethnocentrism
• Try to avoid dogmatism
• Learn to be open to new views

© Cengage 2012 Chapter 7 Culture and Identity: Situating the Indvidual 26

Communication
between 8TH EDITION

cultures
Chapter 7
Culture and Identity:
Situating the
Individual

© Cengage 2012 Chapter 7 Culture and Identity: Situating the Indvidual 27