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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
Chapter 5
Identity and Intercultural Communication
Learning Objectives
After studying the material in this chapter, students should be able to accomplish the following
objectives:
1. Identify three communication approaches to identity.
2. Define identity.
3. Describe phases of minority identity development.
4. Describe phases of majority identity development.
5. Identify and describe nine social and cultural identities.
6. Identify characteristics of whiteness.
7. Describe phases of multicultural identity development.
8. Explain the relationship among identity, stereotyping, and prejudice.
9. Explain the relationship between identity and communication.
Key Terms
• Age identity
• Ascription
• Avowal
• Class identity
• Cisgender
• Core symbols
• Culture brokers
• Ethnic identity
• Familial identity
• Gender identity
• Global nomads (third-culture kids)
• Hyphenated Americans
• Identity
• Identity negotiation theory
• Impression management theory
• Individualized identity
• Interpellation
• Majority identity
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
• Microaggression
• Minority identity
• Model minority
• National identity
• Sexual identity
• Spiritual identity
• Stereotypes
• Third-culture kids
• Transgender
Detailed Chapter Outline
Introduction
• Identity serves as a bridge between culture and communication. It is important because
people communicate their identity to others, and they learn who they are through
communication.
• It is through communication—with one’s family, friends, and others—that one comes to
understand oneself and form one’s identity.
o Issues of identity are particularly important in intercultural interactions.
• Conflicts can arise, however, when there are sharp differences between who people think
they are and who others think they are.
cultural identity including those related to gender, race or ethnicity, class, religion,
and nationality.
o The chapter also examines an increasingly important identity—that of multicultural
individuals.
o Finally, the chapter discusses the relationship between identity and communication.
I. Thinking Dialectically about Identity
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
• Identity is a core issue for most people. It is about who people are and who others think
they are.
• A useful theory is that of impression management—how people present themselves and
how they guide the impression others form of them (Goffman, 1959).
o The social science perspective, based largely on research in psychology, views the
self in a relatively static fashion in relation to the various cultural communities to
which a person belongs: nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and so on.
o The interpretive perspective is more dynamic and recognizes the important role of
interaction with others as a factor in the development of the self.
o Finally, the critical perspective views identity even more dynamically—as a result of
contexts quite distant from the individual.
A. The Social Science Perspective
• The social science perspective emphasizes that identity is created in part by the self and
in part in relation to group membership.
o According to this perspective, the self is composed of multiple identities, and
these notions of identity are culture bound.
• People’s identities are created not in one smooth, orderly process but in spurts, with
some events providing insights into who they are and long periods intervening during
which they may not think much about themselves or their identities.
collectivististic cultures, stresses the importance of emotional connectedness to
and interdependence with others.
▪ In addition, the understanding of the familial self may be more connected to
others and situation bound.
o A spiritual identity: The third dimension is the spiritual identity, the inner
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
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o As individuals are growing up, they identify with many groups, based on gender,
race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religion, and nationality (Tajfel, 1981,
1982).
o Because people belong to various groups, they develop multiple identities that
come into play at different times, depending on the context.
• Communication scholar Ting-Toomey (1993, 2005) argues in her identity negotiation
theory that cultural variability influences one’s sense of self and ultimately influences
how successful people are in intercultural interactions.
o Her argument goes like this: Individuals define themselves in relation to groups
they belong to due to the basic human need for security and inclusion. At the same
time, humans also need differentiation from these same groups.
B. The Interpretive Perspective
• The interpretive perspective builds on the notions of identity formation discussed
previously but takes a more dynamic turn.
o That is, it emphasizes that identities are negotiated, co-created, reinforced, and
challenged though communication with others; they emerge when messages are
exchanged between persons (Hecht, Warren, Jung, & Krieger, 2005; Ting-
with and the topics of conversation.
o And one’s communication is probably most successful when the person one is
talking with confirms the identity one thinks is most important at the moment.
• Central to the interpretive perspective is the idea that people’s identities are expressed
communicatively—in core symbols, labels, and norms.
o Core symbols (or cultural values) tell people about the fundamental beliefs and
the central concepts that define a particular identity.
C. The Critical Perspective
• Like the interpretive perspective, the critical perspective emphasizes the dynamic nature
of identities, but in addition, it emphasizes the contextual and often conflictual elements
of identity development.
o This perspective pays particular attention to the societal structures and institutions
that constrain identities and are often the root of injustice and oppression (Collier,
2005).
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
• The driving force behind a critical approach is the attempt to understand identity
formation within the contexts of history, economics, politics, and discourse.
• People are all subject to being pigeonholed into identity categories, or contexts, even
before they are born.
forces that feed the discourse.
o People might resist the position they put them in, and they might try to ascribe
other identities to themselves.
• French philosopher Louis Althusser (1971) uses the term interpellation to refer to this
process.
o Aside from these larger contexts for identity, identities are also dynamic on the
individual level because of someone’s own experiences.
o For another example, look at the way that identity labels have changed from
“colored” to “Negro” to “black” to “Afro-American” to “African American.”
▪ Although these labels seem to refer to the same group of people, the
political and cultural identities of those so labeled are different.
II. Identity Development Issues
• People can identify with a multitude of groups: gender, age, religion, nationality, to name
only a few.
• How an individual’s identity develops depends partly on the relative position or location of
the identity within the societal hierarchy.
o Some identities have a higher position on the social hierarchy.
• To distinguish among the various positions, people label the more privileged identities
“majority identities” and label the less privileged “minority identities.”
o This terminology refers to the relative dominance or power of the identity position,
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
experience the phases in different ways, and not everyone reaches the final phase.
A. Minority Identity Development
• In general, minority identities tend to develop earlier than majority identities.
• Minority identity often develops in the following stages:
group and negative views of their own group.
o Stage 2: Conformity is characterized by the internalization of the values and
norms of the dominant group and a strong desire to assimilate into the dominant
culture.
▪ Individuals in this phase may have negative, self-deprecating attitudes
▪ This stage often continues until they encounter a situation that causes them
to question predominant culture attitudes, which initiates the movement to
the next stage.
o Stage 3: Many kinds of events can trigger the move to the resistance and
separatism stage, including negative ones such as encountering discrimination or
strong identity. This encounter may result in a concern to clarify their own
identity.
▪ This stage may be characterized by a blanket endorsement of one’s group
and all the values and attitudes attributed to the group.
▪ At the same time, the person may reject the values and norms associated
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
group identity (based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and so
on) and an appreciation of other cultural groups.
▪ In this stage, they come to realize that racism and other forms of oppression
occur, but they try to redirect any anger from the previous stage in more
positive ways.
▪ The end result is individuals with a confident and secure identity
characterized by a desire to eliminate all forms of injustice, and not merely
oppression aimed at their own group.
B. Majority Identity Development
• Rita Hardiman (1994, 2003), educator and pioneer in antiracism training, presents a
model of majority identity development that has similarities to the model for minority
group members.
o Although she intended the model to represent how white people develop a sense
of healthy racial identity, it can also be helpful in describing how other majority
• Hardiman (1993, 2004) outlines five stages:
o Stage 1: Unexamined identity is the same as for minority identities.
▪ In this case, individuals may be aware of some physical and cultural
differences, but they do not fear the other or think much about their own
identity.
▪ In the passive acceptance stage, individuals have no conscious identification
with being white, straight, male, and so forth.
▪ Individuals in this stage usually take one of two positions with respect to
interactions with minorities:
❖ They avoid contact somewhat with minority group members.
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number of cumulative events.
o Stage 3: Resistance represents a major paradigm shift.
▪ It involves a move from blaming minority members for their condition to
naming and blaming their own dominant group as a source of problems.
need to distance oneself from the dominant group.
o Stage 4: In the redefinition stage, people begin to refocus or redirect their energy
toward redefining their identity in a way that recognizes their privilege and works
to eliminate oppression and inequities.
▪ They realize that they don’t have to accept uncritically the definitions of
▪ They not only recognize their identity as white but also appreciate other
groups.
III. Social and Cultural Identities
A. Gender Identity
• To establish a gender identity for the newborn, visitors may ask if the baby is a boy or
male bodies.
o This kind of gender identification is called cisgender—a person whose gender
identity matches the biological sex that she or he was born into.
• As culture changes, so does the notion of what people idealize as masculine or feminine.
• Gender identity is also demonstrated by communication style.
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
o Like cisgendered people, transgendered people can identify with any of a number
of sexual identities.
o Thus, if someone is transgendered, it does not mean that this person is gay or
lesbian. They may identify as heterosexual or some other sexual identity.
B. Sexual Identity
• Sexual identity refers to one’s identification with various categories of sexuality.
o People are probably most familiar with heterosexual, gay or lesbian, and perhaps
bisexual categories; however, sexual identity categories vary from culture to
culture and have been variously viewed throughout history (Foucault, 1988).
• Also, views on sexual identities differ in various historical contexts.
• Official recognition of gay, lesbian, and transgender people varies around the world.
o As people begin to communicate more openly about sexuality, new and emerging
sexual identities have been emerging.
C. Age Identity
o Yet the relative nature of age is only one part of the identity process. Social
constructions of age also play a role.
• Different generations often have different philosophies, values, and ways of speaking
(Strauss & Howe, 1997).
o Sometimes these generational differences can lead to conflict in the workplace.
D. Racial and Ethnic Identities
• Race consciousness, or racial identity, is largely a modern phenomenon.
• In the United States today, the issue of race is both controversial and pervasive.
o It is the topic of many public discussions, from television talk shows to talk radio.
o Yet many people feel uncomfortable talking about it or think it should not be an
issue in daily life.
• Current debates about race have their roots in the 15th and 16th centuries, when
European explorers encountered people who looked different from themselves.
o The debates centered on religious questions of whether there was “one family of
man.” If so, what rights were to be accorded to those who were different?
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
o Debates about which groups were “human” and which were “animal” pervaded
popular and legal discourse and provided a rationale for slavery.
• Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the scientific community tried to establish a
classification system of race based on genetics and cranial capacity.
o U.S. law uses a variety of definitions to determine racial categories.
o A third example of how racial categories are socially constructed is illustrated by
their fluid nature.
• In contrast to racial identity, ethnic identity may be seen as a set of ideas about one’s
own ethnic group membership.
• For some U.S. residents, ethnicity is a specific and relevant concept.
o They see themselves as connected to an origin outside the United States—as
Mexican American, Japanese American, Welsh American, and so on—or to some
region prior to its being absorbed into the United States—Navajo, Hopi, and so
on.
• For others, ethnicity is a vague concept. They see themselves as “American” and reject
talk about racism.
• One way to sort out the relationship between ethnicity and race is to differentiate
between bounded and dominant (or normative) identities (Frankenburg, 1993; Trinh,
1986/1987).
o However, what it means to belong to the dominant, or normative, culture is more
elusive. Normative means “setting the norm for a society.”
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Chapter 5: Identity and Intercultural Communication
o For many cultural groups, these strong identities ensure their survival.
E. Characteristics of Whiteness
• It may be difficult for most white people to describe exactly what cultural patterns are
uniquely white, but scholars have tried to do so.
▪ A standpoint from which white people look at themselves, others, and
society
▪ A set of cultural practices (often unnoticed and unnamed)
• Historically, whites have been the normative (dominant) group in the United States and,
as such, have benefited from privileges that go along with belonging to the dominant
particularly as demographics change in the United States and as some whites perceive
themselves to be in the minority.
o This has led some whites to feel threatened and “out of place.”
• Some white young people today are very aware of their whiteness (Frankenburg, 2001).
o Further, they believe that being white is a liability, that they are sometimes
o They sometimes blame their lack of success on immigrants who will work for less
or on the increasing numbers of women and minorities in the workplace.
o The point is not whether these perceptions are accurate. Rather, the point is that
identities are negotiated and challenged through communication.
• One reaction to feeling outnumbered and being a “new member” of an ethnic minority