Communication Self and Society

Dr. Marquita L. Byrd

ByMar Global

Training for Transformation

bymar©2012

COMMUNICATION, SELF AND SOCIETY

Copyright ByMar Global 1

Chapter 3: Communication, Self and Society• Who am I?

• What am I doing here?

• Why am I here?

• What does it mean to be me?

• Must I be who my family tells me I am?

• How does society tell me who I am?

• Must I belong to a group

• Must I stay in that group?

• Can I belong to more than one group

• What if society does not like who I am

• How much power do I have to create my own identity?


So many decisions to make

• All trying to find out who we are throughout our lives. But where do we fit?

Where do I belong?


Caesar asked

• Planet of the Apes: Rise of the Apes

What am I

He was told he was not human

He was born in a lab

His mother was dead

He wondered why he was being treated like a pet

He was not human, he was not a pet

When he went to the zoo

He found out what was happening to his kind, his species.


Racial Categories dominatePeople of all colours

Human race all from same mother.

Same DNA in the mitochondrial part of cell

All one family


Labels shape us and even box us inOBESE, RETARDED, HILLBILLY, CHINKBROAD, STUD, RUG RAT, GIFTED CHILD, MODEL MINORITY


Identity springs from many sources

• US government

• Family

• Self

• Religion

• Reference groups

• Speech community

Identity: who you think you are

Many source of identity including self

Media


Psychological Centrality

Fourth

Tertiary

Secondary

Primary



What groups do you identify with?

List ten groups you belong to.1.23.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

Rank them from 1-10 with one being the most important.1.23.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

What are the top three?


What does it mean to be?

Complete the following sentences

1. your race/ethnicity2. Your gender3. Your class4. Your sexual orientation5. Your religion6. You r age7. Your citizenship status: citizen, immigrant, etc.


Race in America

AFRICAN AMERICAN :ORIGINS IN AFRICA SUB SAHARA (12.50%) (2050 15%)ASIAN/ PACIFIC ISLANDERS: ORIGINS ON THE PACIFIC RIM (6%) (2050 11%)

EUROPEAN: ORIGINS IN EUROPE 69% (2050 49%)

HISPANIC: SPANISH AS FIRST LANGUAGE, SPANISH LAST NAME, MESTIZO (MIX NATIVE AMERICAN AND CASTILIAN SPANISH) 15% (2050 25%)

NATIVE AMERICANS: IDENTIFY BY TRIBAL AFFILIATION

1%


World Population7 billionAfrican Descent: 20%

Asian Descent: 60%

European: 20%

Women: 51%

Children: 25%

Men: 49%

Disabled: 20%

Queer: 10%


Diversity Categories

Race: Identity based on physiological characteristics, biologically determined

Ethnicity: identity based on learned factors such as language, traditions,values, history, ways of thinking,

Gender: identity based on psychological orientation, biological characteristics (genitalia), social role, DNA

Class: identity based on socioeconomic class

Sexual orientation: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, Queer

Age: chronology, mental, legal

Religious: identification by spiritual beliefs

Ability: resources to complete necessary and daily task

Communication, Self and Society

COMPLEX VARIABLES THAT SHAPE WHO WE ARE ACROSS EXPERIENCES AND LIFESPAN


Education

Communication Self and Society