Chapter 5 Communication and Culture 139at different schools might identify themselves in
smaller units. For example, suppose community col-
lege students consider themselves outgroups from
students attending a four-year university. If all of
these students discover that they’re rabid fans of the
Hunger Games trilogy or that they volunteered for
Habitat for Humanity, they might see each other
as ingroup members while discussing these interests
and experiences.
In addition, your group memberships are not
all equally salient for you at any given time, and
your communication reflects this. For instance,
suppose you are a female Egyptian American Mus-
lim from a middle-class family and a straight-A
student with a love of languages and a passion
for outdoor adventure sports. When displaying
who “you” are, you may emphasize your “student-
ness” (by wearing your college insignia) and sports
enthusiasm (by participating actively in sporting
events). Your race, religion, and socioeconomic status don’t come as much to
the forefront. But remember that other people treat you based on the groups
to which they think you belong. So someone else might focus on other aspects
of how you look or talk and see you primarily as “a woman,” “a Muslim,” or
“an Egyptian.”
The ways in which others perceive our social identity influences com-
munication on many levels. In the 1960s, Rock Hudson was a Hollywood
heartthrob who kept his identity as a gay man a secret. At that time, audi-
ences would not likely have accepted him in heterosexual romantic roles if
they knew that he was not interested in women. Today, straight actors take on
gay and lesbian roles (such as Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in Brokeback
Mountain). But it isn’t certain whether audiences will accept gay and lesbian
actors in straight roles. To be sure, the openly gay Neil Patrick Harris has no
problem playing the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother.
But some actors, including Rupert Everett and Richard Chamberlain, have
noted that coming out hurt their careers irreparably, and they have advised
young gay actors to maintain their privacy in regard to their sexuality (Con-
nelly, 2009; Voss, 2010).
Intercultural Communication Challenges
With all of the cultural variations that are possible in the individual and over-
lapping co-cultures to which each person belongs, it is understandable that
communication difficulties sometimes arise. Even with people you know well
who are like you in many ways, you can sometimes experience difficulties
during communication. Let’s look at three of the more pressing intercultural
challenges that communicators experience when interacting with others: anxi-
ety, ethnocentrism, and discrimination.
JOHN BOEHNER’S
tearful response upon
becoming Speaker of the
House in 2011 gained him
much media airtime, perhaps
because we are prone to
criticize open displays of
emotion from men. KEVIN
DIETSCH/UPI /Landov