Co-Cultures

As societies become more culturally diverse, there is also an increased awareness of how various cultures, and groups of people within them, interact. In any society, there’s usually a group of people who have more power than others, that is, the ability to influence or control people and events (Donohue & Kolt, 1992). Having more power in a society comes from controlling major societal institutions, such as banks, businesses, the government, and legal and educational systems. According to Co-Cultural Communication Theory, the people who have more power within a society determine the dominant culture because they get to decide the prevailing views, values, and traditions of the society (Orbe, 1998). Consider the United States. Throughout its history, Euro-American, wealthy men have been in power. When the United States was first founded, the only people allowed to vote were land-owning males of European ancestry. Now, more than 200 years later, Euro-American men still comprise the vast majority of U.S. members of Congress and Fortune 500 CEOs. As a consequence, what is thought of as “American culture” is tilted toward emphasizing the interests, activities, and accomplishments of these men.

Members of a society who don’t conform to the dominant culture—by way of language, values, life style, or even physical appearance—often form what are called co-cultures: that is, they have their own cultures that co-exist within a dominant cultural sphere (Orbe, 1998). Co-cultures may be based on age, gender, social class, ethnicity, religion, mental and physical ability, sexual orientation, and other unifying elements, depending on the society (Orbe, 1998). U.S. residents who are not members of the dominant culture—people of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and so forth—exist as distinct co-cultures, with their own political lobbying groups, Web sites, magazines, and television networks (such as Lifetime, BET, Telemundo, and HERE TV).

Because members of co-cultures are (by definition) different from the dominant culture, they develop and use numerous communication practices that help them interact with people in the culturally dominant group (Ramirez-Sanchez, 2008). These range from denial of co-cultural identity to conformity with negative stereotypes associated with the co-culture. For example, they might:

Self-Reflection

Each of us belongs to several co-cultures, though we may strongly identify with some co-cultures more than others. Which of your co-cultures comes to the forefront of your identity? Which identifications seem less powerful? (For example, you may identify strongly as a Latina but not identify as strongly as a Catholic.) How might your answers affect your communication with others?

Question

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How might these communication practices work in real life? Imagine an African American couple moves to a largely Euro-American suburb. They socialize primarily with their white neighbors—never displaying any indication of their African American heritage other than their skin color. Meanwhile, their son dresses in sagging pants, wears a do-rag, and blasts gangsta rap through Beats headphones. Through these behaviors, he actively strives to conform to stereotypes about young black males. Despite their differences, all these behaviors have the same goal: managing the tension between African American co-culture and the dominant Euro-American culture.

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Would you classify the people and activities shown above as ingroupers or outgroupers? What specific aspects in each image make someone seem similar or dissimilar to you? How does this classification influence your communication?

(Left to right) © Bob Sacha/Corbis; © Kevin R. Morris/Corbis

As discussed in Chapter 3, our perceptions of shared attitudes, beliefs, and values based on cultural and co-cultural affiliations can lead us to classify those who are similar to us as ingroupers and those who are different as outgroupers. This, however, can be a dangerous trap. Just because someone shares a particular co-culture with you (say, your race or sexual orientation), it doesn’t mean that you are truly “the same.” For example, you and a classmate might both be “white” (the same race), but you may be Irish-Catholic and she may be Russian-Jewish, with a host of different ethnic and religious factors that affect your interpersonal communication. In fact, you may be more similar to an Asian American classmate who shares your religious dedication and your socioeconomic background.