Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice

When reading the book Interracial Communication Theory into Practice I, found that Stand point theory is based around one’s perceptions of the world being, largely influenced by social group membership. Our life experiences are shaped by interaction with other cultures and social groups such a race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and so on (Orbe, Harris 12). The two author’s research exemplifies that your experience with any race or culture effects how you view them. Another idea related to stand point theories is that social location shape people lives (12). “In simple terms, this concept helps people understand that a person’s racial/ethnic identity influences how that person experiences, perceives, and comes to understand the world around him or her “(12).

Furthermore, in an outside article I found that Stand point theory assumes that people have the same beliefs as the people of the social group they belong to. Your stand or perspective view is related to your knowledge and social inequalities. “Standpoint Theory presents us with another way of viewing the relative positions, experiences, and communication of various social groups. It has a clear political, critical bent, and it locates the place of power in social life. It has generated much controversy as people find it either offensive or compatible with their own views of social life. Certainly, ST is heuristic and provocative. The theory may be compatible with other theories, enabling us to combine them to get richer explanations for human communication behaviors “(West , Turner , 2004). Relatively to this article, a poor Asian American doesn’t view the world the same way a rich Caucasian does.

As a child I grew where some people would call “the hood” or “the ghetto”...

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...y that is?

Listening to other people in regards to their culture has brought me to gain knowledge about them. I think it’s interesting how people come to our country for a better opportunity and an education. To even fathom that in other parts of the world a woman with an education is looked down upon. I didn’t read up on this in a history class, my friend told how it was for her personally. I’ve had both positive and negative experiences with race; we will never be able to change how everyone feels. Some people with always be biased, prejudice, and racist and that’s simply unfortunate on their part.

Works Cited

Orbe, Mark P., and Tina M. Harris. Interracial Communication: Theory into Practice. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008. Print.

West, Richard, and Lynn H. Turner. "Standpoint Theory." Standpoint Theory. Mcgraw Hill, 2004. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.