Race in Communication

Stuart Hall brings up a great point in his interview from the film Race: The Floating Signifier. He expresses his concern for the way in which race functions as a sort of “guarantee” in people's minds. In essence he is saying that common justifications used to describe a particular point of view, belief, action, etc. are generally not based on logical reasons but rather on what stereotypes are understood in that society. Because certain cultural traditions and political views, etc. are common among certain ethnicities, many people tend to understand these ideals and traditions as guarantees. Stuart certainly believes that this is not true and that people's beliefs cannot be directly associated with a genetic biological disposition. This means that the history of culture has everything to do with the ways in which people live their lives. It is the struggle or hardships of the past, that can be attributed to molding cultural ideals and not genetics. Black culture in America is an example of this and represents the growth and development of cultural ideals and the ways in which they are shaped by history. Being put in a certain position, over a long period of time, where certain conditions are to be faced, is the greatest determining factor in black culture and the struggle to overcome these challenges. It seems as though Hall is saying that biology has much less to do with the communication and social structure of society and politics than the histories of those people that are involved. It is important to understand how communication is affected by the structure of race in society. According to the video clip taken from Dateline, posted below, much of what people feel or understand about racial and cultural differences is subconscious and is not all that apparent at first look. It seems as though the stereotypes which society tends to accept, can over time, condition people to believe something that is simply not true. The Dateline video shows several professionals from different areas of expertise, being tested on their subconscious racial beliefs. While the results don't seem too surprising, it is certainly apparent that prejudice and racial stereotyping have much to do with the ways in which people are accepted in society. Although some people question the validity of the test, the findings could have serious affects on the ways in which cross cultural communication works, which in turn can affect major issues in the US and elsewhere. This idea is not only limited to black and white communication but all cross cultural communication. Do you think it is possible to communicate, cross culturally, without any bias and prejudice?


You only really need to watch about 4 minutes of this video to grasp the main idea.


In the article, Communication as Raced, these ideas are also presented in an argument that claims that the study of communication itself is raced. Because the study of communication focused almost exclusively on those who were in power, much of what people understand about studying communication could be from a biased perspective. There are many different aspects of cross cultural communication to consider when discussing this topic. The important question, is whether these issues will ever be truly resolved.