Muted Group Theory

Muted Group Theory

Michael Meagher and Nick Landolfi

Strategies of Resistance

Strategies

Critical theory - puts change into practice

• Purpose: to change the status quo
• Several Strategies of resistance

• 1 - Naming the strategies of silencing
• makes silencing accessible and identifiable
• 2 - reclaim and celebrate discourse
• Women are beginning to celebrate the forums of expression (sewing, weaving, handwork)
• New Vocab is being created
• Naming strategies is the number one strategie for change

Critique

CLOSING

Utility and Test of Time

Utility

The Process of Silencing

Test of Time

Tradition

CONTEXT

APPROACH TO KNOWING

• Silence is accomplished through a social understanding of who hold the power

CULTURAL

CRITICAL

SEMIOTIC

CRITICAL

*We also think it can be SOCIO-CULTURAL, because a relationship occurs groups can be muted due to their race or background

• Criticized for engaging in essentialism, belief that all women are essentially the same and all men are essentially the same
• Critics note that there are other influences on communication besides gender like status, age, ethnicity or upbringings
• Others claim that there is constant change so to state what men and women are like freezes the groups in time
• Other critics say that women do speak out in public forums like Hilary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice
• MGT theorists say that they are adept at translation

• Some critics question the test of time of the theory because it has not been updated since the 70’s
• MGT supporters say it does not need to be updated based on the fact it is not a hypothesis-driven theory

Harassment

• Elizabeth Kissling- men control public spaces using verbal threats and sexual harassment in the workplace
• Mary Strine- some talk in universities naturalizes harassment and sexually harassed women are labled negatively (hysterical or overly sensitive)

Control

Ridicule

Ritual

• Women's speech is trivialized and labeled as gossiping, chattering, nagging, whining, bitching
• Women's concerns, even medical, are also trivialized

• What happens in the media and what goes into history books is decided by men
• Men talk more than women in mixed-sex interactions
• Interruptions keep men in control: it is okay for men to interrupt but not for women
• Men can interrupt and change the subject of conversation but women do not have that power

• Many social rituals have the effect of silencing women or advocating that women are subordinate to men
• Ex. Marriage- groom stands at front, bride is delivered to groom, groom on right hand of minister, bride has been shown to be “preserved” by wearing white, man and wife, wife changes name

Discussion

What are some ways media forces women's voices to be silenced?

Origins of Muted Group Theory

Muted Groups Makeup

Hilary Callan

Majority Group

• Female Nurses have difficulties assuming authority due to self-definition problems
• Nurses are considered either “battle-axes who have renounced their femininity or as super-feminine angels of mercy”.

• Theory heavily focuses on women
• There are many groups that the theory can be applied to

Helen Sterk

Researcher Mark Orbe states:

• In general, the United States favors Euro-American males who are Christian
• These are the dominant group
• The group that holds the power in a given culture

The Muted Group

Inarticulation

• Much of the birthing process, which is thought to be a female experience, falls under the doctor’s language which does not illustrate how the woman feels.

Sex vs. Gender

With this in mind, anyone, not just women, who do not follow this criteria can be a part of the muted group, including

• African Americans
• Disabled people
• Asian Americans
• Gays/Lesbians

Muted groups are rendered inarticulate by the dominant group's language system, which grows directly out of their worldview and experience.

Edwin & Shirley Ardener

Men and women' relationship pertaining to muted group:

• sex - biological makeup of a person, based on chromosomes (XX vs XY)
• gender - learned behaviors that constitute masculinity and femininity

Gender can be changeable, reflecting the culture aspects

(ie, tatoos)

• Social Anthropologists concerned with Structure and hierarchy
• Groups making up the top end of the social hierarchy determine the communication system for the culture
• o Women combat a system where the language does not completely express their thoughts and their experiences are represented through a male perspective.

Men in the Muted Group

This is not to say men cannot be a part of the muted group:

• Men feel it difficult to communicate after their wives have given birth, during child rearing years

Discussion

Question

What group are you a part of that you feel may be muted? Are you a part of a group that may mute others?

The Effect of Gender

Women become part of the muted group because of the pressures for men and women to be masculine and feminine respectively

Assumptions

Cheris Kramarae- focuses the theory on communication between men and women of US & Great Britain

Second assumption

First Assumption

Because of their political dominance, men's system of perception is dominant, impeding the free expression of women's alternative models of the world.

Women perceive the world differently than men because of women's and men's different experiences and activities rooted in the division of labor.

Third Assumption

In order to participate in society, women must transform their own models in terms of the received male system of expression.

Final Assumption:

Women's Translation Process

Women are forced to adjust how they act in order to participate in social life

New Terms are Created

Women's Words

Women have been able to find words to explain their problems with their relationships with males

• Sexual Harassment
• Stalking
• Rape

Before, problems like these were seen simply as individual problems

In the workplace or social sphere:

• Women scan their words in order to better suit men's thinking
• Renders women to appear to be less fluent speakers than men

Women speaking with Women

Researchers suggest that when women speak to each other they tell stories

• Attempt to recieve help in finding the right words to encode their thoughts
• This led women creating words
• ** Personal Account **

MALE DOMINANCE

• Second Assumption - states that men are the dominant group
• Therefore their experiences are given preference over women's experiences

MALE'S WORLD

Cause: Political Dominance

• Men dominate politics
• Political dominance transcends into the workplace
• Use of patriarchial values in the workplace for advantage

Men are in charge of labeling and naming how social life works

e.g. "You're much better at making dinner than I am, you should do it"

First Assumption

Second Shift

Women in Workplace

Gender and Expression

Even women who work are expected to take care of the children and the home this is called the second shift- working women putting in eight hour at the office and another days work at home

• Study conducted where men and women were asked to come up with a word for experiences that are felt by one gender
• Women described situations of relationships, personal issues, fear ex. herdastudaphobia
• Men described situations of drinking and competitions ex. Schwarzeneggar-syndrome

Separation

• Separation for men and women began with the Industrial Revolution
• Work was taken from the home; men worked outside home while women stayed in home

Gender Polarization

• Viewing men and women as polar opposites

• Women and men are expected to do different activities
• Second shift- working women put in 8 hours on the job and another day's work at home

• The initial division led to gender polarization- viewing men and women as polar opposites
• Clara Hasse- student who stated that men and women are different and should be taught differently

Translation Process

Language

Language System

Many groups feel muted because their language system was created by people different than themselves

When women try to use a man-made language they have to go through a translation process to find the words to descrie their experiences

“The language of a particular culture does not serve all its speakers equally, for not all speakers contribute in equal fashion to its formulation. Women (and members of other subordinate groups) are not free or as able as men are to say what they wish, when and where they wish, when and where they wish, because the words and the norms for their use have been formulated by the dominant group, men.” – Cheris Kramarae