MUTED GROUP THEORY (by Cheris Kramarae)

This theory explains that women and members of other subordinate groups (pauper, gay & lesbian, oldste, coloured skin people, etc) are not as free or able as men to say what they wish, because their words have been formulated and translated by a male-dominated style of communication.

Assumptions

·         Women feel different than men because of their different experience. So, they also have different perception about the world too. It’s all because there are some activies that come from work distribution.

Before industry revolution in England at 18th and 19th centuries, every job always related with house life because every member of family have to contribute for its family existence. That time, peoples were tend to work in agriculture. They never work for certain job and not salaried by another.

Then industry revolution came and made a social transform. Some field used to be a factory. Demand of labour increased. industry revolution carried work out from house and became salaried activities. Since that, men are work in public area and they take it over. Men are not work in house anymore and women are work in private space (at home). That’s all explain what’s women responsibility and men responsibility. Women have to clean her house, take care her children, cooking, etc whereas men have to work hard to get a money. So, no wonder if women knowledge are more limited than men and they often can’t handle or treat public like men.

·         Men are more dominate. Because of this politic domination, perception system of men are more dominate and it hampers women free expression.

Men are a dominant group and their experience are more selected than women experience. Men have a duty to give a name or label in social life. The consequence is women experience often doesn’t has a name. Then women have a difficulties to talk about their experiences. For example, men always have another right words to refuse what women ask to do. It can be with praises, sweet words, flatteries, touches, etc.

·         In order to could participate in society, women have to transform or change their model to be like the dominant ones.

This third assumption talk about the translate process that women have to do in order to participate in social life. Women duty is conceptualize a thought and search a vocabulary. Then select some that compatible to men thought. So women can find the best words to deliver their messages. So far, men always say something directly and women always mincing matters.

History

Edwin and Shirley Ardener’s research (social anthropologist) about social structure and hierarchy. In 1975, Edwin Ardener said, group that arrange top-storey from social hierarchy decide a communication system for that culture. Group with less power (women, pauper, gay & lesbian, coloured skin people) have to learn to work in the system which developed by the dominant group.

Edwin Ardener gave a comment about why ethnographers (most of them are men) tend to speak and listen men in culture they studied. Ardener said, they are who expert in ethnography have bias for any model type that could given to women. Because of that, Shirley Ardener said: women say something but their words are fall at deaf ear. If it always happens, they tend to stop trying communicate their opinion and start to stop thinking.

Then, this theory was developed completely by Cheris Kramarae. She’s a proffessor of speech communication dan sociolog in Illinois University. She’s also a guest proffessor at Center for the Study of Women in Oregon University and just become a decant at the International Woman’s University in Germany.

She started her research in 1974 while she lead a systematic study about the way women described at cartoon. She found that women at cartoon described as emotional, apologetic, and inconsistent. Whereas, simple and strong statement voiced by men.

Composition

·         Dominant group

Is a group that hold power in a culture. This group always get rewards from certain characteristic and perspective.

Examples: Europe-American people, men, heterosexual, younger people, and middle up class.

·         Undominant group

Another group around dominant group and usually is a subordinate of the dominant ones. This group doesn’t have access to power as much as the member of dominant group.

Example: Afro-American, gay and lesbian, women, and handicapped people.

In focusing to men and women, we have to understand those two things:

·         Sex

Refers to biologic cathegories of men and women. It determined by chromosome XX for women and XY for men. It comes naturally from God since we were born in the world.

·         Gender

Refers to learned behavior that shape feminity and masculinity in a culture. Because of that, gender can be changed and show everything that accepted by a culture in certain period.

Examples:

v  Earring is used by women before. Now, it used by men. Then using earring could be in masculinity definition.

v  Tatto is used by men. Then, used by women too. Now, using tatto could be in feminimity definition.

Proccess of Group Muted

·         Call names

Houston and Kramarae (1981) stated that women conversation are trifled. Men give a label for women conversation as gossip, twitt, grumble, or whine. Men often say to women that women say something unimportant and doesn’t have a meaning. Nonetheless, men wish women to become the good listener and support men.

·         Ritual

A lot of social rituals affect in mute women or stating women are men subordinate. One of ritual is wedding ceremony.

v  Bridegroom stand in front while bride send to him from father’s arm of the bride.

v  Bridegroom stand in right side of the ceremony leader. Traditionally, right side is a place which has a higher status.

·         Control

Men manage a lot of decisions. Media handled by men. Women conversation and contribution just get a little report in mainstream media. Much of communication practice place men as a central position and women just as a shadows.

·         Insulting

Elizabeth wrote about street insulting. Women don’t have free access in public street. Men dominate public area so women that walk there maybe will get verbal threat. Sexuals harrasment in work place is another method to say women not appropriate with place outside their domestic world.

References:

West, Richard & Lynn H. Turner. 2010. Pengantar Teori Komunikasi, Analisis dan Aplikasi.         Jakarta: Salemba Humanika.