From “Laying the Foundations” to Building the House: Extending Orbe's (1998) Co-Cultural Theory to Include “Rationalization” as a Formal Strategy

Abstract

We extend co-cultural theory to include an additional communication strategy: rationalization. Rationalization is defined as instances where individuals provide alternative explanations for communication rather than labeling them as forms of injustice (e.g., racially insensitive, prejudice, or discriminatory). Thirty co-researchers were interviewed about Black and White communication challenges from a co-cultural theoretical lens. Participants employed rationalization to process intercultural tension. Specifically, Black participants rationalized being watched in public, racial comments, workplace practices and treatment, and racism.

Digital Media as a Context for Dating Abuse: Connecting Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies to Young Adult Women’s Well-Being

“…Grounded in muted group (e.g., Kramarae, 1981), standpoint theories (e.g., Smith, 1987), and phenomenology (Husserl, 2006), co-cultural theory provides insight into the communication strategies of people marginalized in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, and sexual orientation. Specifically, there are nine particular co-cultural communication orientations , through which 26 different co-cultural communication strategies have been distinguished (for an extensive summary, see Castle Bell, Hopson, Weathers, & Ross, 2014). A more thorough analysis of these orientations and strategies reveals that each represents an intricate selection process based on six primary factors (i.e., field of experience, perceived costs and rewards, communication approach, preferred outcomes, abilities, and situational context; see Orbe 1998).…”

A partial test of the Strong Black Woman Collective Theory

“…According to standpoint theory, a standpoint emerges after people critically and consciously reflect "on the ways in which power structures and resulting social locations influence knowledge production'' (Intemann, 2004, p. 785; see also Buzzanell, 2015;Hallstein, 2000;Wood, 2005). It is important to realize that everyone is socially located but not everyone achieves a standpoint (see Castle Bell, Hopson, Weathers, & Ross, 2015). The emergence of a standpoint is not an automatic process (Intemann, 2004).…”

“…Both standpoint theories reminds us that Black women have multilayered identities that are constructed by group membership. The group of friends may share similar lived experiences because they all identify as Black and woman, but each woman may also have different life experiences based upon her membership in other groups (see Castle Bell, Hopson, Weathers, & Ross, 2015). For example, some friends have more education than others, or are married with children while the others are single with no children.…”