CH 7 — Slide Breakdown

Inclusive Communication

Why communicating across identity differences takes deliberate skill, how bias and microaggressions show up even unintentionally, and concrete strategies for communicating inclusively.

Why Inclusive Communication Matters

We increasingly interact with people whose identities, backgrounds, and worldviews differ from our own. Inclusive communication is communication that seeks to reduce barriers and prejudice among people of different social identities, and it builds relationships among diverse people in fair and just ways. Diversity and equity are central to this work: diversity refers to the presence of a wide range of identities and experiences, while equity refers to fair treatment and access for people of all backgrounds.

Culture and Social Identity

Key Term

Culture — a unique combination of rituals, ways of thinking, and ways of behaving shared by a group of people.

Within any culture, some identities hold more social power than others:

Dominant identities — identities that hold power and influence over traditional social structures such as politics, religion, schools, and businesses.
Nondominant identities — identities that exist within the broader culture but differ from the dominant culture in one or more significant characteristics, and that typically hold less structural power.

Theories of Inclusive Communication

Social identity theory — explains how people categorize themselves and others into in-groups and out-groups based on shared identity, which shapes how they communicate across group lines.
Communication accommodation theory — describes how people adjust (or fail to adjust) their communication style to converge with or diverge from others during intercultural interaction.
Contact theory — holds that direct, positive contact between members of different groups, especially under conditions of equal status and shared goals, reduces prejudice over time.

Real-World Link

Research on college students supports contact theory directly: students with a larger share of friends from different ethnic groups—especially in their sophomore and junior years—tend to show less in-group bias, and by senior year report feeling less anxious interacting with people from different ethnic groups.

Challenges to Inclusive Communication

Ethnocentrism — judging other cultures using your own culture as the superior standard.
Stereotyping — applying an oversimplified, generalized belief about a group to every individual within it.
Prejudice — a preconceived negative judgment or attitude toward a group, formed without direct experience.
Unconscious bias — implicit attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions without our conscious awareness.
Microaggressions — everyday verbal or nonverbal communication, whether intentional or not, that insults or devalues people in marginalized communities.

Unconscious Bias and Microaggressions

Combating Unconscious Bias

Personal awareness — conduct a self-examination to identify beliefs and values that could lead to unconscious bias.
Acknowledgment — recognize ways you could have or have engaged in unconscious bias in the past.
Empathy — actively listen to people who are different from you and seek to understand their views and experiences.
Education — increase your knowledge of how unconscious bias impacts communication, and invite others to challenge you when they notice it.

Addressing Microaggressions

Psychology professor Kevin Nadal suggests three steps for addressing microaggressions:

Educate yourself — use documentaries, essays, blogs, and research to understand marginalized groups' experiences, rather than expecting them to educate you directly.
Set realistic conversation expectations — recognize that a single conversation typically will not change someone's whole worldview.
Be aware of your mental health — conversations about microaggressions require emotional labor, especially for the person from the marginalized group, so balance them with time for rest.

Strategies for Improving Inclusive Communication

Conduct a personal self-assessment of your own attitudes, beliefs, and communication style toward other identities.
Practice supportive communication behaviors such as empathy, which encourage success in intercultural exchanges (see Chapter 6's discussion of Gibb's supportive/defensive categories).
Develop sensitivity toward diversity — be willing to learn from all people, and take the risk of talking with someone different from you.
Avoid stereotypes — get to know individuals for who they are rather than relying on generalizations.
Avoid ethnocentrism — recognize your own culture's strengths and weaknesses rather than assuming it is superior.
Develop code sensitivity—the ability to adapt your verbal and nonverbal language to the cultural norms of the person you are communicating with.
Use and encourage descriptive feedback that is immediate, honest, specific, and clear.
Manage conflicting beliefs and practices by thinking in advance about how you will respond when your own beliefs conflict with someone else's cultural practices.
Practice reflexivity—being self-aware and learning from each interaction with the intent of improving future ones.

Key Term

Code sensitivity — the ability to use verbal and nonverbal language appropriate to the cultural norms of the person you are communicating with.

Key Term

Reflexivity — being self-aware and learning from interactions with the intent of improving future interactions.

Chapter Summary

Inclusive communication seeks to reduce communication barriers and prejudice between people of different social identities, guided by diversity and equity.
Culture is a unique combination of rituals, thinking, and behavior; dominant identities hold structural power, nondominant identities differ from and often hold less power than the dominant culture.
Social identity theory, communication accommodation theory, and contact theory each explain challenges and opportunities in inclusive communication.
Ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, unconscious bias, and microaggressions are key challenges to address.
Competence is built through self-assessment, supportive behaviors, sensitivity to diversity, avoiding stereotypes and ethnocentrism, code sensitivity, descriptive feedback, managing conflicting beliefs, and practicing reflexivity.

Inclusive communicationCommunication reducing barriers/prejudice across identities.

Dominant / nondominant identityIdentities with more/less structural power.

EthnocentrismJudging other cultures by your own as superior.

Unconscious biasImplicit attitudes affecting judgment unknowingly.

MicroaggressionEveryday communication that devalues marginalized people.

Code sensitivityAdapting language to another's cultural norms.

ReflexivitySelf-aware learning from each interaction.