The Muted Group Theory

                Muted group refers to the people with little power who have trouble giving voice to their perceptions because they must re-encode their thoughts to make them understood in the public sphere. (Griffin, 2009, p.455). Kramarae said that “Men and women speak a different language where according to popular belief, at least, the speech of women is weaker and less effective than the speech of men (p.82)". Kramarae also (1981) proposes that "women perceive the world differently from men because of women’s and men’s different experience and activities rooted in the division of labor" (p. 3)

          On another note, muted group theory can be applied in the working place too. According to the University of Colorado website, muted group theory is a critical theory because it is also concerned with power and how it is used against people. While critical theories can separate the powerful and the powerless any number of ways, this theory chooses to bifurcate the power spectrum into men and women. In the office, it is highly possible that people with higher rank are more respected whereas people with lower rank may be ignored and treated badly.

          One movie that I’m going to use as an example for the muted group theory that happened in a workplace is ‘The devil wears Prada’.

         Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University. Despite ridiculing the shallowness of the fashion industry, she lands the job "a million girls would kill for" :  Junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the icy editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. Despite having little knowledge of fashion, Andy puts up with Miranda's bizarre and humiliating treatment in hopes of getting a job as a reporter or writer somewhere else. At the beginning of the movie, Andy fumbles with her job and fits in poorly with her coworkers.

            

           Andy was treated very badly in her office, where her boss and co-workers made fun of her bad sense of fashion and her boss would throw her coat to her face every morning. Andy was also being asked to do impossible tasks such as finding an airline that can fly her boss during a hurricane and getting an unpublished manuscript of the latest Harry Porter book. Despite all of the bad treatments, she just kept quiet and just do her work accordingly without complaining about her burden. She knew that she was just a junior assistant which is one the lower positions in the office and somehow accepted the bad treatments. From here, Andy belongs to the muted group.

          From my opinion, this also happens to other workplace where serious matters are involved. For instance, if a woman is being sexually harassed in the office by someone who has a higher position than her, she was told that she should keep quiet about it and shall not file any complain. Therefore, the muted group is the woman even though she actually has her own right as a victim to voice out that she had been sexually harassed.

References :

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

Kramarae, C. (1981). Women and men speaking : frameworks for anlaysis. Rowley: Newbury House.

The Muted Group theory. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2012, from Univeristy of Colorado website: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/theory/mutedgrp.html

Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Genderlect Theory

            According to Griffin (2009, p.420),  genderlect is a term suggesting that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects. Deborah Tannen (1994, p.56) stated that “Male-female conversation is cross-cultural communication”. She also mentioned that miscommunication occurs all the time to men and women, where the effect can be more insidious because they do not realize they are in a cross-cultural encounter. From the Oregon State University website , it was stated that genderlect Styles refers to that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects rather than as inferior or superior ways of speaking.

             From my understanding, different interpretations and reactions can happen during the interactions and communication between men and women. Therefore, from here misunderstandings can happen and eventually, can affect relationships. I agree with this theory as me as a woman or just any woman may have come across this situation in their lives. For example, when it comes to serious problems, women are emotional and caring whereas most men always take serious problems lightly and hardly even care.

  

            According to Griffin ( 2009, p.432), Tannen said that women always seeks for human connection where in contrast, men are concerned mainly with status. As I stated earlier about serious problems, women would always be there for their friends to listen whenever one is having a problem. However, the opposite will happen to men. Men always thought there is always an easy way out to every problem, solve the problem in just a second and gain a ‘hero’ status.

            One example that I am going to use for the analysis of Genderlect theory is about an American, musical film known as “Grease”. This is one of my all-time favourite movie which was made in 1978.

            In the summer of 1958, local teenager Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and vacationing Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy, who is going back to Australia, worries that they may never see each other again, but Danny tells her that their love is "only the beginning". Later, on the first day of Danny's senior year at Rydell High School, meets with his friends, the T-Birds, who like Danny, are the famous ‘bad boys’ in school. On the other hand, a group of girls known as the "Pink Ladies" are the popular girls at school. Sandy, is also at the school, having enrolled after her parents decided not to return to Australia. Sandy befriends the “Pink Ladies”.

            Oblivious to each other's presence at school, Danny and Sandy tell the T-Birds and Pink Ladies their respective accounts of their summer romance. Danny told his friends how he made out and had a fling with a hot girl (Sandy) during the summer and his stories always lead him to being a hero which suits his ‘bad boy’ status at school. As for Sandy, she told her friends that her connection with Danny was so strong as Danny was romantic, sweet, caring and so on. Sandy thought Danny was the kindest and most perfect man she has ever met.

            Then one night, their friends decided to re-unite Danny and Sandy. Of course both of them were very surprised that they were in the same school. Sandy was very eager and happy to see Danny and he was very happy to see Sandy too. All of Danny’s friend were very surprised to see Danny’s reaction as it does not suit his ‘bad boy’ status. Realising that his friends was shocked, Danny instantly pretend that he does not like Sandy at all. He was being fake just because he wanted to act ‘cool’ and show off infront of his friends. Then, Sandy was so annoyed with Danny’s fake reaction and left.

    A scene where Danny and Sandy re-unite.

            By the end of the scene, it was obvious that Danny was trying to be fake and mean just because he wanted to impress his friend with his ‘bad boy’ status. Even though Danny actually really like and has feelings for Sandy. As for Sandy, she did not hide her feelings when she was excited to see Danny as she thought they had a deep connection during the summer. When Danny was being fake, Sandy was really mad and emotional. From this scene, we can conclude that men always want status and respect and women are more into connection.

References :

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New                                         York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

High and low context cultures. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2012, from Oregon State University website: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/comm321/gwalker/Culture-Gender.htm

           

Tannen, D. (1994). Gender and discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.

Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

            Uncertainty reduction theory refers to the increased knowledge of what kind of person another is that provides an improveforecast of how a future interaction will turn out. (Griffin, 2009, p.126). The Uncertainty Reduction Theory asserts that people have a need to reduce uncertainty about others by gaining information about them. Information gained can then be used to predict the others' behavior. Reducing uncertainty is particularly important in relationship development, so it is typical to find more uncertainty reduction behavior among people when they expect or want to develop a relationship than among people who expect or know they will not develop a relationship.

             The goal of uncertainty reduction theory is to understand how people act and react to each other in order to reduce uncertainties during their first interaction. People tend to become uncomfortable when they are uncertain; therefore, we like try to predict how things are going to go in order to reduce that uncertainty. The theory explains that when strangers first meet they try to increase predictability and find explanations to what happens in initial encounters.

                From my onipion, uncertainty reduction theory is the effort that people make to build relationships. This happens when people meet each other as strangers at first. According to Charles Berger (1982,p.56), an expert in communication theory, getting to know another person can be understood as a process of trying to reduce feelings of uncertainty in the interaction so that both people feel increasingly confident and secure. Berger (1982, p.55)  proposes a series of axioms (basic principles) linking the concept of uncertainty with certain key variables of relationship development: 

Axiom 1: As the amount of verbal communication increases, the level of uncertainty in the relationship decreases. As uncertainty decreases, the amount of verbal communication increases.

Axiom 2: As the expression of non-verbal warmth increases, uncertainty decreases. As uncertainty decreases, nonverbal warmth increases.

Axiom 3: High levels of uncertainty cause increases in information-seeking behaviour. Low levels of uncertainty cause decreases in information-seeking-behaviour.

Axiom 4: High levels of uncertainty restrain the intimacy level of communication content. Low levels of uncertainty promote high levels of intimacy in communication content

Axiom 5: High levels of uncertainty produce high rates of reciprocity. Low levels of uncertainty produce low levels of reciprocity

Axiom 6: Similarities between persons reduce uncertainty, while dissimilarities increase uncertainty

Axiom 7: Increases in uncertainty level produce decreases in liking; decreases in uncertainty produce increases in liking.” 

              In order to analyse this theory, an example that I am going to use is the characters of Teri and Jay from the movie ‘Raise your voice’.

            Terri Fletcher (Hilary Duff), a teenager with a passion for singing, has been accepted into a music program in Los Angeles to compete for a $10,000 scholarship shortly after her brother Paul (Jason Ritter)'s tragic death in a car crash.

Terri arrives in Los Angeles and weathers some difficult ordeals: her jacket is stolen, her cab driver is crabby, and when she arrives at the music school, the door is locked; fellow student Jay (Oliver James) lets her in and Terri arrives safely. This is when Terri and Jay met for the first time as strangers. At first they did not talk very much as Terri was in a hurry to get into her room. Therefore, this increases the uncertainties in Jay and Jay had a lot of questions in his head as he wanted to know more about Terri. When strangers meet for the first time, their first primary concern would be to reduce their uncertainties about one another due to the fact they feel uncomfortable knowing little about each other. (West & Turner, 2010, p.54)

            Next day, when the school started, Jay had some small talks with Terri asking her the courses that she is goin to take at the school, where she’s from and so on. From these small talks, thye become more comfortable with each other and when this happens, they had so much to talk about. Then, both Jay and Terri are in the same classes therefore they will exchange smiles whenever their eyes met. This assurance gave confidence to both of them. As time goes by, Jay started to seek information about Terri for example asking about more personal matters including about family

            Jay even decided to take Terri out on a date and this shows that Jay had already has a connection with Terri. When Terri knew that she could trust Jay, Terri started to share about the death of her brother which was actually very personal to her since was involved in the accident too. When Jay knew about this, Jay became close with her since Jay already knew the ups and downs in Terri’s life.

            When both of them are comfortable with each other, they spent their time together practicing their important music performance where the winners will receive the sponsored scholarship. They agreed to perform the song that they had produced together. Jay played the musical instrument while Terri sang. Both Jay and Terri won the competition and in the ned, they left for college together.

References :

Berger, C. R. (1982). Language and social knowledge: Uncertainty in interpersonal relations. London: Arnold.

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

West, R., Turner, L., H., (2010) Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application (4th Edition). New York :The McGraw-Hill Companies.


Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Communication Accomodation Theory

                 According to Griffin (2009, p.387), Giles who is a social psychologist claimed that when two people from different ethnic or cultural groups interact, they tend to accommodate each other in the way they speak in order to gain each other’s approval. He specifically focused on the non-verbal adjustments of speech rate, accent and pauses. He claimed that speech accommodation is a frequently used strategy to gain the appreciation of people from different groups and cultures. This process of seeking approval by meshing with another’s style of speaking is at the core of what he then labeled communication accommodation theory.

                

                 From my opinion, communication accommodation theory happens because that one person need to be liked by a group especially when he or she is new.  A person can have multiple identities so they can adjust themselves whenever they mingle or interact with different groups with different cultures or you will end up being alone.

                According to the ‘theories’ website, this theory states that when we talk with people we sometimes tend to change our style of speech and tend to modify it to match the one of the listener. This adaptation happens at the subconscious level. We tend to talk like the listener and modify our diction, rate, tone accordingly. Speakers would either adapt to the different culture or show their differences with the other culture is what both of these terms mean  (Coupland, Coupland & Giles, 1991, p.25).

                

                One example that I am going to use for the purpose of this analysis is about Ross, the character from “Friends’. In this scene, Ross deliberately fake his accent by talking in British accent. This happened when he was nervous on his first day of the teaching in the university. Before he entered the class, he actually had some deep research and thoughts on how to make the students to like him on his first day. However, he cannot think of anything. On the day itself, he actually had no idea what to do. When he started talking, he somehow changed his accent to British. Then, he had been using the fake accent for a period of time which had actually boost his confidence in teaching.

                From my point view, people faking their accents really do happen in real life. Just like Ross, he did  it because he was doing it unconsciously as he was very nervous on his first day of teaching. For him, British accent was more like a posh accent therefore he thought he would be more respected if people thought he was a British.

                

                In other situations for other people, this might happen because people might want to be accepted in to a new group and to be more similar. People may feel awkward, ashamed or weird to be different or foreign in front of people with different culture and simply do not want to be left alone.

References :

Coupland, Coupland & Giles. (1991). Language, Society and the Elderly. Great Britain: Blackwell. 

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New                                         York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Social Penetration

            Social penetration theory is the process of developing deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of vulnerability. (Griffin, 2009, p.114). According to Littlejohn (2002,p.61), the social penetration theory states that as relationships develop, communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more personal ones. This theory is straightforward as it clearly implies that social penetration refers to the process of having a relationship with just anyone.

            

             According to Griffin (2009, p.114), Altman and Taylor compare people to onions where the different layers of onions represents personality structure. Personality structure is the onion-like layers of beliefs and feelings about self, others, and the world whereas deeper layers are more vulnerable, protected and central to self-image. From my understanding, the outer layers of the onion are more to general matters about an individual that an individual may not hesitate to share, for example about his or her hobbies, ambition or favourite movies. In contrast, the inner layers of the onion may be about matters that are very personal to an individual and only can share with individuals that he or she can trust. For example, the inner layers may contain details about family secrets.

            

              As stated by Altman and Taylor (1973, p.41), social penetration can go to up 5 stages which include, the 'orientation' stage, 'exploratory affective' stage, 'affective' stage, 'stable' stage and lastly, 'depenetration' stage. One example that I am going to use for the purpose of this analysis is the characters of Ted and Robin in the series ‘How I met your mother’.

                        A scene of Ted and Robin in 'How I met your mother'            

              At the very beginning of the season, Ted and Robin were total strangers to each other. Ted saw her at a bar and eventually, decided to talk to her, asked her number and asked her on a date. This is one of the early stage known as the 'orientation' stage. The two of them did not know each other but with appropriate, small and simple talks, they went through the orientation stage.

             Then, when Robin and Ted were on a date, they started to reveal slowly about themselves for example about their jobs, where they were originally from, number of siblings, previous schools and etc. This stage is known as the 'exploratory affective' stage. Even though they are not yet fully comfortable with each other but it’s a start.

              The third stage should have been the 'affective' stage. However, it’s a different case for Ted and Robin. This is because after the first date Ted decided to tell Robin that he loves her. A relationship may take a long time to go from the second stage to the third stage. So the word “love” freaked Robin out and she thought Ted was weird to fall in love with her after just one date and do not want to be a couple with Ted. They decided to remain as friends so they were still in the second stage which is the 'exploratory affective' stage.

              As time goes by, Ted and Robin became close friends as they started to share with each other about private and personal problems about their boyfriend and girlfriend, conflict with family members, and even cherish one another whenever they were having break-ups. They are now in the affective stage.

          

              After a period of time, Ted and Robin realized they had feelings for each other however they hesitate to tell each other about that. Until one night, Ted decided to tell Robin that he wanted Robin to be his girlfriend and Robin agreed. Therefore, they are now in the 'stable' stage. As a couple now they understand each other feelings even without expressing their problems. They also  practically live together as Robin always spend her time at Ted’s apartment.

             In the end, after one year of dating, they realized that they wanted different things for their future. Ted wanted to get married as soon as possible and have two kids. In contrast, Robin wanted to be a successful TV host and did not want to get married and have kids. They decided to break up but they remained as close friends. The last stage was suppose to be the 'depenetration' stage but however, Ted and Robin did not go through this stage as they still remain as friends and see each other almost everyday. Depenetration stage refers to the termination of a relationship when both individuals do not want  to see or talk to each other at all. Therefore, it is safe to say that not all relationships have to go through the 'depenetration' stage.




References :

Altman, I., & Taylor, D., (1973). Social Penetration: The Development of                         Interpersonal Relationships. NewYork: Sage Publications

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

Littlejohn, S.W. (2002). Theories of Human Communication.(7th edition). New Mexico : Wadsworth

Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Symbolic Interactionism

           Symbolic interactionism as thought of by Herbert Blumer (1990, p.145), is the process of interaction in the formation of meanings for individuals. According to Griffin (2009, p.60), symbolic interactionism is the most human and humanizing activity that people can engage in such as talking to each other, and also communication through symbols. According to Turner & West (2010, p.79), this theory is based on the "meanings that we assign to people or things or even events. "From my understanding, symbolic interactionism refers to the way of how people communicate to each other that gives meaning. Therefore from here we can interpret an individual in a large community in the form of socialization. 

             

            Herbert Blumer (1990, p.63) set out three basic premises of the perspective where the first one is ‘meaning’. Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things. Secondly, it’s about 'language' where the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society. Lastly, it is about 'thought' where these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters.

            In this modern society, most men and women have to be a certain someone or way to fit in the norms of our community. For instance, a female must have a very skinny figure in order to be a model and if you are a punk, you have to rebel. In short, our society tends to stereotype if you’re a person. An example that will be use for symbolic interactionism is this short clip below from the movie, 'Mean Girls'. This is a good example in America especially in high schools about how a certain group should act or behave in order to fit in which includes being ‘plastics’, being nerds, being desperate to be popular, being thin, being a plus size, being jocks and so on.

            At the end of the movie, the characters in the ‘plastics’ group ended up joining different cliques, go with their separate ways and eventually became happy. This shows that, initially, there were not being themselves when they were in the ‘plastics’ group. This brings us to the “looking glass self” theory.

           According to Griffin (2009, p.63), "looking glass self" theory is an ongoing process combining the “I” and the “me”.  “I” is the spontaneous driving force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable and unorganized in the self whereas “me” is the objective self, the image of self seen when one takes the role of the other. From my point of view, this is when an individual is slowly becoming someone else in order to fit the perceptions of others in a society where "me" can be in the form of multiple identities.

References :

Blumer, H. (1996). Symbolic interactionism: perspective and method. New York: Paperback Pages

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

West, R., Turner, L.H., (2010) Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application (4^th Edition). New York : The McGraw-Hill Companies.

 Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)

Introducing Culture Studies

                The word ‘Culture’ has many meanings. According to Chris Barker (2008, p.63), culture are the meanings generated by ordinary men and women, the lived experiences of its participants and the texts and practices engaged in by all people as they conduct their lives. From my understanding, culture is the patterns on how people act and behave all of their lives which include their customs, beliefs, morals, knowledge and so on.

                As stated by Chris Barker (2008, p.6), cultural studies is concerned with all those systems of classification through which there are inculcated in a population particular values, beliefs, competencies, routines of life and habitual practices, institutions and forms of conduct. Culture studies is simply about the process of finding out on what a particular culture practice in their lives daily.

                Visual culture is the showcase of a message of an identity or persuasion of a culture, which varies depending on the surrounding or environment. According to Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright (2007, p.54), visual culture is the central to how we communicate in which our lives are dominated by images and by visual technologies that allow for the local and global circulation of ideas, information, and politics. From my point of view, we live in an increasingly modern and visual word especially with the many media that has been exposed around us such as television and the internet. It is possible that we live in a way that we are somehow being influenced by the practices and images that w e encounter every day.

                The example that will be use for this post is the series “Gossip Girl”. Gossip Girl is about a number of privileged teenagers attending an elite private school in New York City. Their lives are surrounded by money, jewelleries, posh cars, designer dresses, lavish parties and fame. Their lives are also full of dramatic drama such as about their love lives, families, friends, enemies, betrayals and so on.

                Firstly, as mentioned by Griffin (2009, p.336), discourse is the framework of interpretations in which the primary function is to make a meaning. In addition, discourse is like a try to understand and interpret about a phenomenon. In cultural studies, discourse is refered a structural rule controlled by the author or speaker which shapes the subject. Therefore the discourse for this example is "Gossip Girl".

               Secondly, as quoted by Griffin (2009, p.337), ideology are the frameworks through which we interpret, understand and make sense of social existence. From my opinion, it is basically our own idea of understanding when interpreting an image or practice or in short, our belief system. Therefore, ideologies of Gossip Girl are friendships, materialism, superficial, wealthy, extravagant lifestyles, anorexic, popularity and spoiled.

              

               Lastly, politics serve as a description of cultural studies' own strategic practice, which sees the world as a field of struggle and a balance of forces.Here it means that cultural studies sees a culture as always having problems. Therefore politics for Gossip Girl are politics of same sex relationship, politics of fashion, politics of women’s sizes and politics of racism.

References :

Barker, C. (2008). Cultural studies. London: Sage Publications.

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies

Sturken, M. & Cartwright, L. (2007). An introduction to visual  culture. New York: Paperback Pages.

Aziimah binti Othman (11B8111)