TEXTBOOK: Ch. 29: Muted Group Theory

*Second shift*

*___________________________* - the phenomenon of working women putting in eight hours on the job and another day's work at home

*Sex*

*__________* - biological category divided into male and female

*Gender*

*_____________* - social category consisting of the learned behaviors that constitute masculinity and femininity for a given culture

*Dominant group*

*____________________* - the group that holds the power in a given culture

*Gender polarization lens*

*____________________________* - viewing men and women as polar opposites

-Critical

Approach to Knowing:

status quo power

As you can probably guess from our discussion thus far, MGT is a critical theory as we discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. MGT points out problems with the _____________ and suggests ways to remediate these problems. Later in this chapter, we describe some of the action steps advocated by Muted Group proponents. Further, MGT is a theory that examines _________ issues. As Cheris Kramarae (2005) observes, "people attached or assigned to subordinate groups may have a lot to say, but they tend to have relatively little power to say it". Or if they do venture to speak, those in a greater power position may ignore, ridicule, or disrespect their contribution in a variety of ways. As Cheris Kramarae (2009) notes, muted groups "get in trouble" when they speak out in their own voices.

Cheris Kramarae

Based on the research of ______________________

-Cultural

Communication Context:

-Semiotic -Critical

Communication Tradition:

interruptions men back

Control: Researchers have noted that men control many decisions, such as what goes into history books, leaving women's history untapped. In addition, the media are controlled by men; women's talk and contributions get less coverage in mainstream media. Furthermore, many communication practices place men as central and women as eclipsed. For instance, men talk more than women in mixed-sex interactions despite conventional wisdom to the contrary. In an analysis of 66 previous studies examining U.S. men's and women's talk in a variety of contexts, men's talk time exceeded women's in 61 of the cases. A communication behavior that keeps men in control is ______________________. When men interrupt women, the women often switch to talk about whatever topic the ____ raise. When women interrupt men, this is usually not the case. Men frequently go ____ to what they originally were talking about. In addition, Victoria DeFrancisco has concluded that men often fail to attend to their partners' talk; they refuse to consider what the women are speaking about and shift the conversation to a topic of their preference.

*sex* *gender*

Differentiating Between Sex and Gender: In training our focus on men and women, we need to clarify 2 terms: sex and gender. Generally, researchers use the term *_____* to mean biological categories, male and female, determined by the presence of XX chromosomes for females and XY chromosomes for males. In contrast, *__________* is defined as the learned behaviors that constitute femininity and masculinity in a given culture. Thus, gender is changeable and reflects whatever the culture accepts at a given time for these roles. Currently, it is within the definition of masculinity to have pierced ears, and it is within the definition of femininity to have tattoos. At an earlier time, these attributes would not have been deemed appropriate. However, it is also the case that the terms sex and gender are often blurred because women are socialized to be feminine and men are encouraged to be masculine. Therefore, we will use the terms interchangeably in this chapter.

different; experiences labor home outside Industrial Revolution farms collective private; public occupations *gender polarization lens* treated experiences *second shift*

Gender-Based Differences in Perception: This first assumption begins with the premise that the world is a ________________ place for women and men and that their _________________ differ. Furthermore, the assumption posits an explanation for these differences. The explanation lies in the division of _________ that allocates work on the basis of sex, such that women are responsible for tasks in the _______ and men are responsible for work ______________ the home. The division of labor began in Western countries in the 18th and 19th centuries as a result of social transformations, in large part related to the _______________________. The Industrial Revolution took work out of the home and made it a paid activity. Prior to that, work had been intertwined with home life because all members of the family contributed to the family's survival, usually on subsistence ________. No one was literally paid for their specific labor; the money the family realized came from selling their produce or livestock, the result of _____________ work by the entire family. The separation of the workplace from the home led to a recognition of the 2 as separate spheres; the conceptualization of public and private came about, and the family was classed as private life. The result of this division was to cast women's role in the home, or __________ life, and men's role in the workplace, or ________ life. This had the effect of clearly delineating women's tasks in the home and sharply dividing what women's responsibilities were in contrast to men's. Stephanie Coontz (1988) notes that this trend occurred in all classes and ethnic groups in the United States except African Americans. You can see the logic of blaming the division of labor for men's and women's differing worldviews. When people's _____________________ differ greatly, they tend to see the world in different ways. If your day is spent caring for children and the home, your experiences will vary a great deal from those of someone whose day is spent selling merchandise to others. Sandra Bem (1993) argues that this division also created what she labels a *__________________________* that causes people to see women and men as very different from each other. In 1909, Clara E. Hasse, a student at Milwaukee Downer Women's College, wrote a senior essay that illustrates the lens of gender polarization. She wrote about the topic of single-sex schooling, saying, "It were far better not to class girls with boys while receiving their education, the most important reason being that they are so entirely different and therefore should be taught diversely". When people believe that women and men are radically different from each other, we might expect that they get _____________ differently. Different treatment certainly results in different ___________________. As we have written elsewhere with Judy Pearson "From birth it is clear that male and female babies are treated differently. . . . Male [infants] are more likely than female infants to be described as 'strong,' 'solid,' or 'independent.' Female infants, on the other hand, are often described as 'loving,' 'cute,' and 'sweet'". Males and females are treated differently and expected to do different activities. Even when women work outside the home, they are often still expected to take primary responsibility for the home and care for children or elderly parents as the need arises . Arlie Hochschild (1989) talks about the phenomenon of the *_________________*, where working mothers put in 8 hours at their paid job and then come home to do a second shift there. Sometimes the differing experiences of men and women are subtle. One study (Turner, 1992) asked respondents to describe situations that they believe are uniquely experienced by their own sex and for which, currently, no word exists and then to give those experiences a name. This was patterned after an activity Judy Pearson (1985) calls creating "genlets" or "sexlets." The results were not completely supportive of Muted Group Theory because men generated essentially the same number of "genlets" as women, indicating that language fails men as well as women. However, the types of words created did differ between men and women. Men coined words concerned with drinking and competition, whereas women created words focusing on relationships and personal issues such as appearance. Women also noted experiences where they felt fearful or uncertain, and this concern was not included in the men's words. For instance, women coined the word herdastudaphobia, which meant feeling fear when passing a group of strange men on the street, and they created the word piglabelphobia, to designate a woman's tendency to limit what she eats in front of a date for fear of being labeled a pig. Women also coined a term to refer to the insecurity they feel at being compared to glamorous models. Men created words such as scarfaholic, an eating contest among men; gearheaditis, an obsession with fixing up one's car to make it the best on the road; and Schwarzenegger-syndrome, working out overtime to build muscles bigger than the other guys'. Interestingly, when men focused on issues of eating and bodybuilding, their concern was competitive. When women addressed these same issues, their concern was for their own insecurities and their desire to please others. Thus, the first assumption of MGT, that men and women have different experiences, was supported by these results.

utility; test of time

Integration, Critique, and Closing: Muted Group Theory has many adherents, but as you would expect with such a politically charged theory, it also has detractors. Let's consider the criteria of _________ and ________________ in particular as we evaluate MGT.

*dominant group*

Makeup of Muted Groups: Much of the theorizing and application of Muted Group Theory has focused on women as a muted group. Yet, as researchers such as Mark Orbe (1998, 2005), Michael Hechter (2004), and Liliana Heradova (2009) note, the theory can be validly applied to any nondominant group. Orbe suggests that in the United States and several other cultures, society privileges specific characteristics and perspectives: male, European American, heterosexual, able-bodied, youthful, middle and upper class, and Christian. People with these characteristics form the *______________________* or the group that holds the power in the culture. Other groups that coexist with the dominant group are generally subordinate to it in that they do not have access to as much power as do members of the dominant group. Thus, non-European groups like African Americans or Asian Americans, gays and lesbians, the elderly, the lower class, disabled people, and non-Christians, all can be members of muted groups, in the same way that women are. Orbe (1998) developed Co-Cultural Theory, based on Muted Group Theory, to capture these ideas. Other researchers have used Co-Cultural Theory or a combination of Co- Cultural Theory and MGT to examine the communication of various populations including elderly women and men in rural areas, African American men, and college students with learning disabilities. Some researchers have suggested that men might be part of a muted group as well. Radhika Chopra (2001) examines the issue of muting for nurturing fathers. Chopra argues that the discourse of mothering represented by some feminists reduced the father to a "depersonalized cipher" whose presence is "posited as an absence, in contrast with the hands-on vital involvement of the mother". Chopra notes that this discourse not only silences the father but also fails to account for fathering in other societies or periods of history where the distant, silent father did not exist. Chopra points to fathers in the early American colonial period who were very involved in teaching their children both reading and writing skills as well as moral and religious lessons. Although some Muted Group theorists might disagree that fathers (or any men) are ever in a low-power position, Chopra concludes that giving voice to "father-care" is a critical process that will remove the category of caregiving from female ownership and in so doing transform the concept of gender identity completely. Yet, because most of the research in the area of Muted Group Theory has focused on men as the dominant group and women as the muted group, we pay most attention to that relationship in this chapter.

dominant; preference inarticulate thoughts political

Male Dominance: The second assumption of Muted Group Theory goes beyond simply noting that women and men have different experiences. This assumption states that men are the ________________ group, and their experiences are given _________________ over women's. Specifically, men are in charge of naming and labeling social life, and women's experiences are often unnamed as a result. Women then have difficulties talking about their experiences. For example, Kramarae (1981) tells the following story about a woman who attended a workshop on the topic of women as a muted group and spoke about a common problem she experienced with her husband: "She and her husband, both working full-time outside the home, usually arrive home at about the same time. She would like him to share the dinner-making responsibilities, but the job always falls upon her. Occasionally, he says, "I would be glad to make dinner. But you do it so much better than I." She was pleased to receive this compliment, but as she found herself in the kitchen each time she realized that he was using a verbal strategy for which she had no word and thus had more difficulty identifying and bringing [it] to his awareness. She told the people at the seminar, "I had to tell you the whole story to explain to you how he was using flattery to keep me in my female place." She said she needed a word to define the strategy, or a word to define the person who uses the strategy, a word which would be commonly understood by both women and men." In this example, the woman had difficulty naming her experience although she knew something was occurring that she wished to talk about. In a similar fashion, Patricia Fitzpatrick from our chapter opening vignette is experiencing problems speaking out in class, talking to the other students, speaking to her co-workers, and generally articulating her ideas. She is uncomfortable about her difficulties, and she is blaming herself because things are not working out as she planned. Muted Group Theory takes a different perspective, however, noting that these problems are not the result of women's inadequacies, but rather are caused by the unresponsiveness of the language women have to express themselves. MGT argues that any speaker would be _______________ if there were no words in their language to describe their _____________. Muted Group Theory asserts that men's __________ dominance allows their perceptions to be dominant. This forces alternative perceptions—those that women hold as a result of their different experiences—into a subordinate position. Women's communication is constrained because of this subordinate position. Ann Burnett and her colleagues (2009) used MGT and Co-cultural Theory to investigate men's dominance on college campuses. They found that the way rape was talked about on campus tended to mute female students, potentially contributing to the creation and perpetuation of a campus rape culture. Cindy Reuther and Gail Fairhurst (2000) discuss the "glass ceiling" for women in organizational hierarchies and comment on how (White) men's experiences dominate the world of work. They observe that patriarchal values tend to reproduce themselves in organizations to men's advantage. They note: "The practices leading to the replication of white males in senior levels are based in ideology. In often subtle and unconscious ways (e.g., in lan- guage, dress, and work rituals), white women and men and women of color are pressured to commit to patriarchal and white interests and value systems. The upshot is that replication promotes conformity rather than a pluralistic system in which individuals can interact and work according to personal principles." Overall, then, MGT assumes that men's, especially White men's, experiences are dominant and women and people of color need to subordinate their own experiences to the extent that they can in order to partake in social and organizational success.

communication work male

Origins of Muted Group Theory: Muted Group Theory originated with the work of Edwin and Shirley Ardener, social anthropologists who were concerned with social structure and hierarchy. In 1975, Edwin Ardener noted that groups making up the top end of the social hierarchy determine the ______________________ system for the culture. Lower-power groups in the society, such as women, the poor, and people of color, have to learn to _______ within the communication system that the dominant group has established. Turning this generalization to the specific case of women in a culture, Edwin Ardener observes that social anthropologists studied women's experiences by talking almost exclusively to men. Thus, not only do women have to contend with the difficulties of a language that does not completely give voice to their thoughts, but their experiences are represented through a ________ perspective. In 1975, Edwin Ardener commented on why ethnographers (who at the time were mainly men) tended to speak and listen to men in the cultures they studied. Ardener notes, "Those trained in ethnography evidently have a bias towards the kinds of model that men are ready to provide (or to concur in) rather than towards any that women might provide. If the men appear 'articulate' compared with the women, it is a case of like speaking like". Further, Shirley Ardener (1978) observes that women's mutedness is the counterpart to men's deafness. She explains that women (or members of any subordinate group) do speak, but their words fall on deaf ears, and when this happens over time, they tend to stop trying to articulate their thoughts, and they may even stop thinking them. In Ardener's view, "Words which continually fall upon deaf ears may, of course, in the end become unspoken, or even unthought". The Ardeners might argue that Patricia Fitzpatrick is twice muted: once by the failure of her language to act as an accurate tool for her use and once by anyone who labels her negatively rather than acknowledging she is poorly served by her language. For Edwin Ardener, muted groups are rendered inarticulate by the dominant group's language system, which grows directly out of their worldview and experience. For the muted group, what they say first has to shift out of their own worldview and be compared to the experiences of the dominant group. Thus, articulations for the muted group are indirect and broken. In 1981, communication scholar Cheris Kramarae published an influential book called Women and Men Speaking: Frameworks for Analysis. In this book, Kramarae profiles several theories that come from other disciplines like MGT and suggests how these theoretical frameworks can help explain questions of communication. In her discussion of MGT, Kramarae states that her aims are somewhat more limited than those of the Ardeners, who were concerned with applying Muted Group Theory across many cultures. Kramarae's interest is in the "questions the theory raises and [the] explanations it . . . provide[s] for the communication patterns among and between women and men in Great Britain and the United States". Kramarae asserts that MGT's assertions are especially true for the English language because English was developed and formalized by male clerics and academics. Because women were not instrumental in formalizing the English language and were in a lower power position in the culture that created it, Kramarae asserts that women would be a muted group. Kramarae's work on Muted Group Theory led to insights about how the English language affects women's communication behaviors. Speaking about MGT, Anita Taylor and M. J. Hardman (2000) observe that: "English does not name concepts important to women, but to men (e.g., one can have a "seminal" idea; but was one ever described as "ovular"?). English also devalues concepts important to women, but not to men (again, the "seminal" idea is an example; if one nurtured or incubated an idea it would have quite a different feeling, as would ovulating it). English uses male referents and terms (e.g., the "generic" he and the conclusion that number is more important than gender for the third- person indefinite pronoun)."

wedding

Ritual: Some people have pointed out that many social rituals have the effect of silencing women or advocating that women are subordinate to men. One such ritual is the _______________ ceremony. There are a number of aspects in the traditional ceremony that silence the bride. First, the groom stands at the front while the bride is "delivered" to him on the arm of her father. The father then "gives her away" to the groom. Furthermore, the groom stands at the right hand of the minister (or whoever officiates), and this is traditionally a place of higher status than the bride's position, to the left. The groom says the vows first. The bride wears a veil and a white gown to indicate that she has been "preserved" for the groom. The groom is told at the end that he may kiss the bride. The couple is pronounced "man" and "wife," and traditionally, the bride changes her name to the groom's. In many services, the couple is introduced immediately after the vows as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith. In her (1981) book, Kramarae talks about the process she went through concerning her name changes. When she married, her husband's name was Kramer and her name upon marriage became Cheris Rae Kramer. At the time of her marriage, it was not legal for a wife to keep her own name. Later the laws changed, and Kramarae combined her husband's last name with her middle name and created her own name. This change was accomplished with a great deal of discussion and controversy, and many people questioned her judgment. Kramarae points out that no one questioned her husband throughout the entire process, and his name remained unchanged. Although many couples work to individualize the ceremony and have changed some of these aspects, the traditional ritual implies subordination of the bride.

discourse

Strategies of Resistance: As we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Muted Group Theory is a critical theory; as such, it goes beyond explaining a phenomenon—such as women's muting—to advocating change in the status quo. Houston and Kramarae (1991) offer several strategies for this purpose. One strategy of resistance consists of naming the strategies of silencing we have just reviewed. Through this process, the silencing is made accessible and a topic for discussion. A second approach advocated by Houston and Kramarae is to reclaim, elevate, and celebrate women's ______________. Houston and Kramarae mention that women are beginning to celebrate and study oral histories, diaries and journals, and the so-called alternative means of expression like sewing, weaving, and other handwork that is often done by women. Through examining these forums for expression, women are recognizing the "effectiveness, impact, and eloquence of women's communicative experiences as well as men's". Other researchers have examined communication venues where women's voices are celebrated and their particular outlook is valorized, such as websites for the bereaved. While still others have investigated how women's music might provide a way to give women voice literally and figuratively. Women also are creating a new and more representative language to capture their experiences. Although changing the language is an ambitious task, language is malleable, and as new concepts enter our culture, new words are created to describe them. Think of all the words we now have to talk about computers and computer-mediated communication (itself a new term!). Suzette Elgin (1988) invented a whole language, which she calls Laadan, focusing on women's experiences. Kramarae and Paula Treichler (1985) compiled a feminist dictionary to give woman-centered definitions to words of importance in women's experiences. In addition to Houston and Kramarae's (1991) suggestions, Melanie Loehwing and Jeff Motter (2012) note that new media offer opportunities to give voice to previously muted groups. Yet, they caution that even communication conducted via the Internet does not take place in a vacuum, and when using new media people have to be mindful of structural inequities that can keep some groups muted even online. Through a variety of resistance strategies including naming strategies of silencing, reclaiming, elevating, and celebrating women's discourse, creating new words for uniquely gendered experiences, and using new media, muting can be resisted. In short, there are many approaches to changing the situation that MGT delineates and explains.

not

Test of Time: Some critics of MGT assert that the theory has not been utilized much in communication research and occasionally when it has been employed, its tenets have not been supported. Elspeth Tilley (2010), for instance, found that men were ____ more likely than women to speak out in public when confronted with an employee who had breached ethical standards. Related to this notion is the fact that the theory was derived over 30 years ago, and the theory's assumptions have not been updated. However, Heather Kissack (2010) tested some of MGT's assumptions recently and found that they still hold true in the context of organizational emails. Proponents of the theory respond to the test of time critique in the following ways: First, more testing needs to be done, and further, the premises of MGT are often used in communication research without naming the theory specifically. Additionally, other disciplines such as political science, education, philosophy, and business to name a few have made use of MGT. The theory has been integrated into communication scholarship, but the extent to which it has withstood the test of time remains in question. Certainly Muted Group Theory is provocative and causes us to think about biases in language. It also shines a light on what we accept and what we reject from speakers. MGT also explains some problems women experience in speaking out in many settings. It is up to us to decide if these issues form a systematic bias against subordinate groups and in favor of the dominant group, as Muted Group Theory asserts.

inarticulate socially social ridicule; ritual; control; harassment

The Process of Silencing: The central premise of Muted Group Theory is that members of marginalized groups are silenced and rendered _________________ as speakers. This silencing does not rely on explicit enforcement or coercion. As Robin Sheriff (2000) observes, silencing of muted groups is a ____________ shared phenomenon. According to Sheriff, "unlike the activity of speech, which does not require more than a single actor, silence demands collaboration and the tacit communal understandings that such collaboration presupposes. Although it is contractual in nature, a critical feature of this type of silence is that it is both a consequence and an index of an unequal distribution of power". Thus, silence is accomplished through a ________ understanding of who holds the power and who does not. In this section we will briefly review a few of the methods used to accomplish this power distribution and resulting silencing. These methods include: ___________, _________, ___________, and ______________. This is not an exhaustive list of methods of silencing. Perhaps you can think of other ways you have experienced or observed. Some researchers argue that understanding these processes is the most important contribution that MGT can make to communication research.

essentialism translation

Utility: First, Muted Group Theory has been criticized for not being useful because it engages in __________________, or the belief that all men are essentially the same and all women are essentially the same and the 2 differ from each other. These critics note that there is great difference within groups; sometimes the difference within a group (such as women) can be greater than the difference between groups (women and men). Some theorists note how many other influences there are on communication besides gender, such as socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, or upbringing. Others disavow the notion of influences altogether, claiming that both individuals and groups are constantly changing through communication. Therefore, any attempt to state unequivocally what women or men are like falsely "freezes" those groups in time, as if they have a natural, unchangeable essence. Supporters of MGT agree there are many groups besides women that are muted in U.S. society. However, being female is to be part of a central group in our culture, and thus, even though MGT acknowledges that women are not all alike and there is no essential womanness that all women possess, women in the United States are often treated alike. This treatment forms a common set of experiences that allows MGT to make generalizations about men and women. Furthermore, some critics fault the usefulness of MGT because they note that women do speak out in public forums, and they point to women such as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sheryl Sandberg as examples of women who are not muted at all. Muted Group theorists would agree that some women have gained a public forum, but they would also point out that they may have done so by becoming extremely adept at _________________. Women who bring a uniquely female perspective to the table have not fared as well, according to these theorists. Further, although Hillary Clinton has a public voice, she suffered enormous ridicule and hostility during her 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Proponents of MGT argue that until we are able to hear from a wide diversity of voices rather than forcing all who wish to speak out to conform to a narrow range of options defined by the dominant group, we will still need the critical commentary of Muted Group Theory.

translation men's fluent collaborate label

Women's Translation Processes: The final assumption of Muted Group Theory speaks to the process of ______________ that women must go through in order to participate in social life. Women's task is to conceptualize a thought and then scan the vocabulary, which is really better suited to ________ thinking, for the best words for encoding that thought. You can see how this renders women less ________ speakers than men. Tillie Olsen (1978), the author of Silences, says that although men are supposed to tell it straight, women have to "tell it slant". The pauses that worry Patricia Fitzpatrick in our chapter opening scenario are attributable, according to MGT, to this cumbersome process of translation that women have to engage in when speaking. Some researchers suggest that women's groups engage in a great deal of overlaps and simultaneous speaking because they are helping one another cope with a language system that is not well suited to their tasks. Thus, when women speak with one another, they ____________________ on storytelling—not so much because women are collaborative by nature, but rather because they need to help one another find the right words to encode their thoughts. Some of the problems inherent in the translation process are highlighted by examining instances when women's words for experiences do become part of the general vocabulary. Before the 1970s, the term sexual harassment did not exist. Women who experienced what we now call sexual harassment had nothing to use for labeling their experiences. As Gloria Steinem has said, before the term was accepted into the vocabulary, women simply accepted harassment as part of life. For instance, Angie had a job in a library years ago, and her boss was a man who liked to comment on her figure and compare it to his wife's. At the time, Angie could only say that she had a bad job with a horrible boss. Without a label, the experience seems individual and the inappropriateness of that behavior is minimized. Labeling it sexual harassment places it in a category, suggests some coping strategies, and points to its seriousness. Furthermore, giving the experience a term, sexual harassment, allows us to see that it exists broadly and is supported at many levels of society. Social change is possible when we recognize the phenomenon with a _________. Similarly, the terms date rape, marital rape, and stalking all name crimes that without the labels might simply be seen as individual problems and not recognized as serious offenses. Without these words, women faced silence when they wanted to talk about their experiences, and they were at a loss for instituting social change. Marsha Houston and Cheris Kramarae (1991) point out that women participate in silencing as well, which is illustrated by examining some talk between African American and European American women. Houston and Kramarae observe that silencing occurs not only through preventing talk, but also by shaping and controlling the talk of others. When White women criticize African American women's talk as "confrontational," "the message to black women is, 'Talk like me, or I won't listen'". If subordinate group members hear this message and try to conform to it, their talk is slowed and disempowered. When Patricia Fitzpatrick, from our opening story, thinks about how her contributions sound and attempts to speak like the other students, she is hampered in her fluency.