Communication Theory | Response Paper

The Standpoint Theory

Sahil Avi Kapoor | 20140121136 | PGP 1 (B)
Objective
Through this response paper, I sought to present an understanding of the Standpoint Theory with
reference to the past and present of Racial Discrimination.
Response
Racial Discourse is an extremely common flaw of modern media communications. Issues,
consequences and effects of racial discrimination are far reaching and somewhat all pervasive.
Thus, an inherent awareness of racially influenced and prejudiced media depictions is extremely
important for informed audience perceptions. In fact these covert, easily miss-able depictions are
most often overlooked unless one particularly searches for them. These misplaced references to
caste, class and racial differences are testimony to institutional discrimination being yet prevalent.
The images tend to reinforce prejudices towards the identities of the powerful and the powerless.
I conducted a simple Google Image Search for the word affluent and it conveyed the message
loud and clear. In the massive variety of images that the search threw up, each and every images
depicted white ethnicity and the trend wasnt limited to the first page. If this wasnt enough,
another Image Search for the word poor returned an exclusive selection of non white. Thus,
racial discrimination might not be as prominent a media debate as it was a few decades back, but
by no means is it extinct. What varies is the standpoint, which could be that of the rich, the middle
income groups or the deprived. And what governs these distinct standpoints are the varied
experiences and external factors that one faces in his/ her individual lives.

To fully understand the impact of the racial discourse in these images, the discussion must turn to
the Cycle of Socialization that explains how social identities are formed and what their impact
is. There is a great deal of academic discussion and analysis regarding racial discourse and one of
the fundamental authorities on this subject is B. Harro. His commentary on the Cycles of
Socialization and Liberation provide a solid basis from which to analyze images of racial discourse
and their impact on the population. The basis of these cycles is the idea of social identity, we are
each born into a specific set of social identities, related to the categories of difference mentioned
above, and these social identities predispose us to unequal roles in the dynamic system of
oppression (Harro, 2000, p. 45). By identifying with a certain social group, a person is going to
drift toward the stereotypes portrayed for that social group. In this case, social identity contributes
heavily to how a person of a particular race lives his or her life, We get systematic training in
how to be each of our social identities throughout our lives (Harro, 2000, p. 45). These images
are exactly the kinds of systemic media that project a social identity onto a person, of any race, but
negatively so in the case of people who are not white.

Sahil Kapoor

The impact that these influences have on the people they apply to is profound. Racial discourse
like this is considered a major contributor to the ethnicity-based discrepancies in social and
financial conditions, The persistence of economic and social inequality along racial lines is
supported by racial ideologies generalized belief systems that explain social relationships and
social practice in racialized language (Doane, 2006, p. 256). These ideologies both explain and
perpetuate the status quo, which many people would consider to be prejudiced and oppressive. The
problem is that it is communicated so fundamentally that it is difficult to correct. According to
Doane (2006), racial ideologies and racial politics are in a state of constant flux, as intellectuals
and social movements challenge and defend the status quo. This political struggle is played out
via racial discourse, which I define as the collective text and talk of society with respect to issues
of race (p. 256). In the case of these images, the discourse is subtle and passive, but
unmistakable. The dominance of white images on magazine covers, virtually regardless of the
magazines content, and the implications of poor and wealthy imagery leaves little room to
doubt which side of the racial discourse is favored by mass media.
Socioeconomic Class and Racism
A major cause of biased racial discourse is that it has been the way it is for so long. White people
do represent a disproportionate amount of the powerful and wealthy and their influence contributes
to perpetuating the stereotype, Dominant groups enjoy disproportionate access to the vehicles of
transmission for discourse, including government, educational institutions, and the media (Doane,
2006, p. 256). It does not matter how many people challenge the status quo or, in the case of social
workers, how many individuals are helped back onto their feet after succumbing to the oppression
of their social identity. The only real change will happen when the system is acknowledged as the
problem and challenged at its highest levels, adopting a system racism framework entails
recognition that the ultimate solution to racial inequality involves major changes in social
institutions and sharing resources and power (Doane, 2006, p. 268). So the role of social workers
must extend both to those they serve and to the system that they represent; and in turn, that system
must respect and listen to those social workers who have firsthand knowledge of what the practical
effects of contemporary racial discourse are.
It is difficult to affect change in a system that is so contented with itself and so skilled at covering
up its prejudices. As Dijk (2004) stated in his article on racial discourse, in reference to older and
more extreme expressions of prejudice, Since today just blatant forms of verbal discrimination
are generally found to be politically incorrect, much racist discourse directed at dominated ethnic
group members tends to become more subtle and indirect (p. 352). As has been suggested, images
like these, both in bookstores and on the internet, do not overtly attack or esteem any particular
race, but they indirectly indicate clear divisions of image. Dijk (2004) described this phenomenon
as a specific strategy, According to the overall strategy of positive Self-presentation and negative
Other-presentation, neutral or positive topics about Us are preferred, whereas the negative ones
are ignored or suppressed (p. 353). This kind of social arrangement creates still more difficulties
for social workers because it clearly aligns them against the people they are trying to help.
In terms of the Cycles of Socialization and Liberation, these images fit neatly into certain
stages. They actively contribute to Harros (2000) Institutional and Cultural Socialization step
of the Cycle of Socialization (p. 46). This step represents the first exposure a person has to mass
Sahil Kapoor

media and general public perception, outside of their own home. Since a childs parents were
likely exposed to the actors of this step, it is likely that a child is already familiar with the
stereotypes perpetuated by the media, but once a child encounters it firsthand, in a bookstore or on
the internet, in the case of the cited images, it becomes a part of his or her social identity (Harro,
2000, p. 48). Both sides of this coin dictate the challenges that social workers face when coming
up against issues of social identity that have been instilled by racial discourse. Not only do they
have to work against the pressure to fit unfortunate stereotypes that the people they work with are
stuck in, but social workers themselves will be perceived according to the standards of social
discourse. A white social worker would be perceived as wealthy, privileged, and generally alien
by people of other races who have had their image of white people shaped by the media.
Conclusions
These images also represent an opportunity for change. In Harros (2000) Cycle of Liberation,
they represent a component to the Getting Ready step about which he wrote, Once we know
something we cant not know it anymore (p. 54). This basic principle indicates that, once a person
becomes aware of the problem, it becomes obvious that there is a problem. While a person might
walk by a magazine rack or run a Google search dozens of times in a week, he or she might not
consider the racial discourse of those mediums until becoming aware that such a thing
existed. And then he or she would spot it every time. The prevalence of the systemic prejudice
might one day become its own enemy in this way, because as subtle as it is, it cannot hide its
effects from an informed eye.
In a system like the one that exists in modern America, social workers are fighting a losing
battle. Racial discourse is so fundamental to modern media, and so heavily biased in favor of the
white power structure, that changing it seems an impossible task. But great social change has
happened before and it can happen again. The need for social workers will never go away because
there will always be members of the population down on their luck or faced with crushing
obstacles; but if race could be removed from the equation then their load might be lessened and
the challenges they face on the job might be reduced.

Sahil Kapoor