My example of Speech Codes Theory comes from my recent listening of a CD by rapper YG titled My Krazy Life. One song that particularly stood out to me is called Bicken Back Bein Bool. The spelling of the song comes from the artist’s interpretation of the phrase “Kicking Back Being Cool.” Lyrics from the song include lines such as “smoking on a bigerette” and “eating a bowl of a bereal.” YG’s use of the letter ‘b’ instead of ‘c’ and ‘k’ comes from his association with a gang who called Bloods. The rival gang to the Bloods are the Crips who have their own speech codes of crossing out the letter ‘b’ when writing it or use a ‘c’ or ‘k’ instead.

The Speech Code of the Bloods exemplify how a distinct culture has a distinct code to differentiate them from other cultures. There are terms and rules encoded in their part of speaking as well. For example, the head man of a sect of Bloods is referred to as the ‘Buddha.’ Sociologically, the code is used to symbolize the brotherhood of the gang members. Psychologically, the members are taught to live by the beliefs established by the founders of the gangs. And besides expressing themselves using the rhetoric of the gang, gang members also use nonverbal cues like making gang signs with their hands to show their associations.

Bicken Back Bein Bool

The standpoint theory by Sandra Harding and Julia T. Wood deals with the perspective from which we view the world and how that perspective shapes what we see and what is obscured from us. Harding and Wood claim that “the social groups within which we are located powerfully shape what we experience and know as well as how we understand and communicate with ourselves, others, and the world.” This theory focuses especially on gender perspectives and how women are a marginalized group. It describes the social inequalities of gender and race and how prejudice is often the result of the failure of looking from the perspective of others. The theory speaks to the value of enlarging one’s mentality by viewing from different perspectives, resulting in a more just understanding of life. An example of this can be found in the movie Remember the Titans. This film deals with racial discrimination and demonstrates the standpoint theory. A previously all-white high school football program is forced to integrate, bringing in black football players and a head coach. This change causes incredible outrage among the community, and the new players and Coach Boone are greeted with rampant hostility. Coach Boone is an incredibly professional and experienced coach, yet the community rejects his presence and doubts his ability simply because he is a different race. All the hatred and doubts exist because people fail to view the world through Boone’s perspective, which illustrates the standpoint theory.

The genderlect theory, developed by Deborah Tannen, suggests that miscommunication between men and women parallels miscommunication between two cultures. Tannen states that “masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects.” The two genders communicate in different styles; men use “report talk,” while women use “rapport talk.” Both styles are valid, yet they are mutually foreign to one another. Rapport talk involves establishing a connection with others while report talk involves commanding attention, conveying information, and winning arguments. An example of this theory can be found in the famous show Seinfeld. I feel that the characters of the show, Jerry and George, perfectly illustrate report talk in any of the countless times the debate silly social encounters. Jerry and George will become fixated on some irrelevant topic, generally related to social norms, relationships, parents, or any number of topics. The two will go back in forth in conversation, commanding the others attention and presenting their opinions over whatever it may be, both intent on winning the argument. There is never an attempt to establish an emotional connection with one another; the emphasis in the conversation is based on the facts as they understand them and what conclusions they draw from that information. Seinfeld does a great job of conveying male communication, accurately portraying the report talk that all men are accustomed to.

The speech codes theory by Gerry Philipsen involves how individuals utilize speech codes and how they influence people of different cultures. A speech code is a system of socially constructed symbols and meanings, premises and rules to guide communicative conduct. The theory involves six propositions:

1. Speech code is within every culture
2. There are multiple speech codes deployed
3. A speech code involves a culturally distinctive, psychology, sociology, and rhetoric
4. Speaking is determined by the speech codes used by speakers and listeners to create and interpret their communication
5. The rules, terms, and premises of a speech codes are encompassed in the act of speaking
6. The use of a speech code can predict, explain, and control the form of discourse in communication conduct

An example of the speech codes theory that I experienced occurred when I moved from Boston to New York. Although these places are within 2 hours of one another, the words people use vary drastically. Growing up in Boston, we would use the word “wicked” to emphasize something (“this restaurant has wicked good wings.”) However, when I came to New York I would receive puzzling looks from people when I used this term. This demonstrates the speech codes theory because the term “wicked” was directly dictated by a specific culture and was unique to the people within that culture.

The cultivation theory, developed by George Gebner, examines how the long term effects of television shape our culture and beliefs. Cultivation theory focuses on how “those who spend more time watching TV are more likely to see the “real world” through TV’s lens” (370). The more time people spend engrossed in TV programs, the more likely they are to associate the social reality portrayed on television as reality. Gebner created a three step analysis to evaluate the content and effect of media: process analysis, message system analysis, and cultivation analysis. Gebner’s theory can be seen in any detective crime drama. Whether it is CSI, Law and Order, or any similar show, each and every episode follows a very consistent pattern. Each episode begins with a crime scene (usually very violent) and is followed by a systematic series of following clues and interviewing/interrogating people which ultimately lead the detectives to the guilty party in a fairly short amount of time. Justice is always served in the end of an episode. For someone who watches these programs frequently, they are influenced by the reality created by the show and more likely to associate what they see on TV with real life. Any real detective can tell you that these shows glorify the violence and drama to satisfy the audience and the idea of always catching the killer in a timely fashion is far from reality.

The agenda setting theory by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw talks about the mass media’s ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda. If something is covered frequently and prominently, the public will place more importance on the issue. In short, the media influences what the audience deems important by the extent to which they cover a topic. I found this to be true with the extensive media coverage of the disappearance of flight 370. For months it seemed nearly every media outlet was providing constant coverage of this tragedy. Granted the loss of an airplane is incredibly tragic and newsworthy, but the degree to which this issue was discussed and the coverage of every minute detail related to the story made the issue seem vastly more important than anything else going on in the world. I generally am not persistent in keeping up with current events, yet with the consistency to which this issue was broadcasted to the public, I found myself and my peers constantly checking for new developments. This demonstrates the Agenda setting theory perfectly; the media deemed the salience of this issue to be so great that the public, myself included, paid far more attention than it did to other prevalent issues.

Semiotics, according to Roland Barthes, involves verbal and nonverbal signs. Semiology is a subject that deals with production of meaning through signs. Semiotics is broken down into the signifier and the signified. A signifier is the physical form of the symbol and the signified is the meaning we assign to the symbol. A very simple example of this is a traffic light. When arriving at an intersection, the driver will look up at the traffic light and use the color that is displayed to make a decision. We make this decision based on the meaning we assign to each color. A green light means “go,” yellow means “slow down,” and red means “stop.” The symbols themselves don’t tell us what to do, but instead it is the way we interpret those symbols that formulates our response.

Agenda Setting Theory is a theory that discusses a number of attributes that shape what the media chooses to present to the public and how they intend to portray those ideas or topics. The theory addresses the concern of who has an effect on the media’s shaping and choosing of these events and explains that there are a number of editors, politicians, PR professional and other groups that influence these subjects. These people first decide what the Salience or the importance of a subject matter in order to determine what and where these topics will then be displayed. They are also chiefly important in shaping how these ideas will be views by the public and how to convince the public to align with their own opinions on the subject matter. The first thing that comes to mind is the recent issue of the Clippers owner, Donald Sterling who was accused of a racist comment in the privacy of his own home. The media and the officials from the NBA have framed the story so that the vast majority of people will have a negative impression of this owner for his admittedly discriminatory comment. In general it seems that the media overlooks the fact that the evidence was obtained in an illegal manner and that it is potential against our American rights to take someone’s property. The NBA very quickly attempted to disassociate with this Sterling in an attempt to keep the coherence of their fan base and so as to not alienate a majority black player community.

This theory shows the relationship between men and women and one another’s goals of communication. First, she recognizes the categorization between men and women in terms of communication. She concludes that men are driven by status, and women are driven by a connection. This Hypothesis is seen ever day. One day driving from Virginia to Florida with my parents we got lost. My father driving of course, was convinced he knew where he was going. after countless hours going in circles trying to figure out where we were my mom hesitantly insisted that we ask someone for directions. My dad being the macho man he is decided to try and figure it out himself. We finally reached our destination after being hours off of schedule but nevertheless, my father did it with no help. This story illustrates the genderlect theory, the way my mother wanted to stop was more or less rational as to my dad’s clouded rational decision making over come by his pride and be a “man.”

Standpoint theory is a method that analyzes discourses within a subject. A standpoint as we all know is the way that an individual looks at the world, which will shape the way they live and perceive their surroundings. Our standpoint is often shaped by our experiences in our social groups. Standpoints of individuals are often associated with groups of people such as ethnicities or genders. The first example that comes to mind for me comes from a psychology study that I had the chance to examine this year that shows how the standpoint of one-person effects the actions we will take. In this study individuals from different race groups as well as occupations were asked to do one of two things when shown the picture of the individual. The picture would either be a white or black male who were holding a wallet or a gun and then were instructed to either shoot or do nothing to the individual. In a number of cases the young black men with wallets were “shot”, showing how the standpoint and how we have been trained to think of individuals effect how we will act.