discuss how your co-cultural group membership in one or more groups (e.g. gender, religion, work, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, hobby, region, socioeconomic status) as well as your self-esteem influences your communication style (both verbal and non-verbal).
Co-cultural group membership in one or more groups
For decades your origin, ancestral background, heritage plays a significant role in shaping our voices, intellect, and experiences and how we share our stories with the world. Continuous repetition of these stories led to a preconceived vision of the world and enacted boundaries that bid people to a single account. Generally, this is illustrated in the emergence of cultures and traditions that share the same history. Primarily this model of self-identity, self-esteem, and communication style embody the way we perceive the world. It is inherently ingrained in us for the rest of our lives. Through the lens of a health and fitness enthusiast, Gen Z, bisexual, middle class, black, liberal, avid reader and researcher, Linguist living in New York City who struggles with social anxiety and self-identity, I often feel an urge to learn how my origin, self-esteem, and social identity shapes my perception of the world and understanding of the communication dynamic between the marginalized and those in institutions of power.
In today’s contemporary society, there has been a popularly spread notion that people from a particular region behave or speak in a certain way. Our heritage, origin, and historical background have bounded us to non-imaginary boundaries that follow us for the rest of life. Continuous visualization of the same story kind of blinds one from seeing things differently. We are made to believe that we cannot personally identify with different stories due to preconceived notions about our capabilities and potential. Our story becomes a long vicious cycle of flawed perception of the world, which is evident in how we communicate. In this regard, we are anxious to air differing views and lose the courage to embrace healthy communication practices due to the existing stereotypical societies (Orbe, 2). Communicating with people who can relate to my experiences and stories becomes flawed on topic and reduces interaction and engagement with people from the same race. Although a conventional style is ideal to fit and regain self-identity, it does not eradicate the existing stereotypical ideas circulating in society. However, it marked the beginning of a journey to self-discovery, ownership of your story, and the innate belief that you belong, and through the use of the appropriate resources, you can take up your place in the world.
This realization boosts one’s self-esteem, elevates self-identity to be confident, and devises an essential communication model to convey all her opinions and ideas. It provides a firm foundation that allows all the co-cultural members affiliated with the group are well rooted in the belief that they are competent and worthy to air their views and offer different perspectives. Self-esteem helps one to delve deeper and eradicate the highly publicized notion of the single story. It will enable you to explore, evaluate and analyze both aspects of the story. It gives you an in-depth understanding of the way emerging catastrophes, concepts in the world deserve to be aired and communicated (Konrath, 2). Drawing stereotypical opinions about a race from a single story and peddling it as the rightful story is humiliating and robs of human dignity. However, to eliminate this flawed social cue, it is of paramount importance for us to understand our story to acknowledge that there are many perspectives to a single story. Through a liberal mindset, slowly but surely, it is possible to change the single story of the culturally biased narrative of the people of black color. There are predominantly many barriers to the way we communicate. Still, confidence in owning our journey and accepting our desirability to reach masses of people can help us overcome the deeply rooted single stories about our race.
Communication is the key to thriving co-cultural groups, for an in-depth understanding of your communicational style’s role on the divergent perceptions and creating a safe space for people to air their differing views without fear of judgment. This model incorporates a rigid framework characterized by mutual respect, transparency, integrity, and less judgment. From this perspective, it is evident that by sharing your story verbally or in writing, you will reach people in the grassroots who share similar or divergent views to change my single story. However, most of the time, our cultural background dictates our passive and active form of communication. In reality, this refers to how we respond, listen, observe and portray without taking a stand or patronizing the parties involved with well-meaning pity. However, this is often not possible because our body language, tone of voice, eye contact, facial expression, and gestures is involuntary and reveals unintended information. For instance, when we are stressed up, we are often more judgmental than words could say and exude inappropriate body cues.
On the other hand, distractions lead to social cues displaying disinterest. Prioritizing this limits one to a single story and may not understand how the minority in dominant society communicates with direct institutional power access. In this single story, there was no possibility of the marginalized having interred linked communication channels, nor was there no possibility of capacity to express neither themselves nor the potential to perceive them as human equals. With this kind of communication discourse, you need to embrace change the management upstream and downstream to counter the mental and physical misconceptions communicated by those in institutions of power. There needs to be a radical downsizing of the visualization of the minority as objects of oppression, miscommunication to derive a consciously aware community that respects and acknowledges their identity. As a result, it is of paramount importance for you to orchestrate the preferred identity outcomes the communication pattern behavior will mirror. Orbe (2012, 296) breaks down the preferred outcomes into three key categories: assimilation, accommodation, and separation. Primarily assimilation refers to streamlining the cultural differences in an attempt to fit into the dominant culture. The second key preferred identity outcomes involve accommodation characterized by the radical desire and potential to reinvent, change the rules of society to incorporate the differing experiences of the minorities in the community (Orbe & Roberts, 295). Finally, communication competence is also modeled on spurning the preconceived idea of forming a common bond with a dominant group that will shape/ influence your current communication behavior.
In surmise, cultural orientation plays a pivotal role in shaping perceptions and informing people in your co-cultural group of diverse ways that accommodate differing opinions. With a comprehensive understanding of how self-identity and self-esteem reignite the power of our story, we can unapologetically tell the many stories that have formed modern-day society. Self-identity and self-esteem eradicated coercion, negative visualization of our African continent and created a positive, complex place of diversity, competence, and values. We can own our voice and change the narrative. With a firm understanding of the essence of self-esteem, self-identity, and communication competence, it is evident that you change the history of a single story and perceive the world through a lens of many stories. The intersectional power dynamic between the dominant and marginalized communities also sets the trajectory for the scale and speed of spurning the preconceived notion existing of the minority race. The Power play represents the traditional continuous indoctrination of the minority to enhance the stereotypical beliefs.
Works Cited
Konrath, S. “Self-esteem, culturally defined. Cultural Sociology of Mental Illness: An A-to-Z Guide.” (2012).
Orbe, Mark P. “The Rhetoric of Race, Culture, and Identity: Rachel Dolezal as Co-Cultural Group Member.” Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric 6 (2016).
Orbe, Mark P., and Tabatha L. Roberts. “Co-cultural theorizing: Foundations, applications & extensions.” Howard Journal of Communications 23.4 (2012): 293-311.
