Kimberly Foster

2-24-2015
COMM 1050
L. Jay Williams
Tech Check Paper

(revised) Muted Group Theory

While studying the Communication theory, Muted Group, one must
remember the importance in its value. (Wikipedia) This theory was firstly
developed in the field of cultural anthropology. It was established by the
British Anthropologist Edwin Ardener. The Muted Group Theory is a critical
theory that explores the asymmetrical relationship between dominant and
silenced groups.
Arderns study shows that it is men that have mainly produced ideas
and knowledge concerning the world. Consequently, the voices of women
have been ignored and muted. (Wikipedia) As part of the critical approach
to the world, the Muted Group Theory explores power and societal structure
in relation to the dynamism between dominant and subordinated groups.
My Methodology
When I first look at this particular assignment, it seemed difficult. I
went straight to the textbook, read through the Muted Group chapter, and
marked the main sources that looked reasonable. Still, that wasnt enough. I

went back through the chapter and marked all of the main key words.
Additionally, I looked up all the cited publications on the Internet to see if a
newer edition was out. I also checked to see if the authors that wrote the
textbook have come up with more editions. I was surprised to find more
information than expected.
Books
After looking through the cited pages, I went to the library in hopes of
finding more books on the Muted Group Theory. I specifically wanted the
ones that were newer than 2006 or 2008. There were plenty of
documentaries and books on all kinds of theories. I got excited and went in
search for one on my particular theory. Im not sure if I was looking in the
wrong spot, but I didnt seem to find anything that caught my eye. Still, my
research wasnt even almost complete, so I moved on to my next step.
Internet
Searching through the internet, was slightly different than books. With
my previous key words that I highlighted, I found a ton of pages and websites
regarding my theory. I spent many hours drifting through all of these pages
to hopefully find some reliable and reasonable sources. I found only a few
with verified ideas, reasoning, and thoroughness. Yet, I have also found many
bogus and pages of just junk with no such qualities.
After I have save all of the good pages, I looked through them again for
more recent dates than the textbook had to provide. Although most were

written by previous university and college students, several were out of date.
Plus, their sources and bibliographies were very insufficient. That just about
narrowed it down to three to four pages and websites. My favorite one was a
narrative, storytelling, and power in a childrens community. (Davis)

It is a story about a family with children with disabilities and the people
who are helping them, shows the power of speaking in narratives, and
the liberation of understanding in narratives. It looks at the issues of
narrative truth, meaning, embodiment, believability, and empathy in
the context of power, marginalization, and control. It illustrates that
thinking through a narrative approach DE marginalizes the Other and
lets us form more equal connections through our joint life experiences.

The other few pages got saved in my COMM 1050 files for future references.
With the research that I had, I moved on to the next section.
Popular Press
Im not sure if it was just me, but a few internet sources was just not
enough so I resorted to the popular press. It was tough finding anything on
the Muted Group Theory, so I went to the SLCC Library Database. I found an
article called Muted Group Theory Excerpts. (George Mason University
Communicatino Dept) It was a great article regarding the muted group
theory, so the first thing I checked was if this article was in the date range
that I was looking for. Luckily, it is. I printed it out and also saved it with my

COMM 1050 files. I hope to be able to use this sources also, in my near
future.
Media (Newspaper, TV, Radio, Etc.)
Moving on to the media, I found that it is slightly similar to the popular
press section. I found hundreds of movies and TV series regarding the muted
group theory, but I didnt find any specific documentaries. I didnt feel that
the movies were good enough when I lacked proof with documentaries. At
this point, I resorted to the newspaper. I found some great articles from the
New York Times. (Seiler) Cheris Kramarac has expanded the Muted Group
Theory, and outlined the basic assumptions of muted group theory in these
terms.

Because men and women have different experiences (based on the

division of labor in society), they perceive the world differently.

Men are politically dominant in society, and their systems of perception
are therefore dominant, which prevents womens perceptions from

being publicly adopted.

Women must translate their own ways of understanding into terms of
the male world-view in order to participate in public life.

Based on research findings, Kramarac suggests a number of hypotheses

about womens communication.

Women have more difficulty expressing themselves than men have. A

common female experience is to lack a word for a feminine experience,

because men who do not share the experience have not developed a

term for it.

Women understand men's meanings more easily than men understand

women's.
Women have created their own means of expression outside dominant

male system.
Women tend to express more dissatisfaction about communication

than men express.

Women often make efforts to change the dominant rules of

communication in order to get around or to resist conventional rules.

Traditionally, women have been less likely to coin new words that

become popular in society at large.

The things women find humorous are quite different from the things
men find humorous.

The information that I found in this article was just not enough, so I moved
on to anything on the radio. Searching through old you tube videos, radio
recordings, etc. I seemed to find nothing about my topic. Regardless, I ended
my media research with not much but the exceptional article from the
newspaper.
In this paper, I have used technology and books to finding good
information on The Muted Group Theory. Particularly, information that had
information up to date. I feel like I have presented some useful information
on Arderners theory. I also found many sources that explained some ideas of
how women really are muted throughout many places of the world. I do feel

that this theory is needed, and I recommend this theory to most if not all
communication students.

Works Cited
Davis, Christine S. "Sylvia's Story (Narrative, Storytelling, and Power in a Children's
Community Mental Health Systems of Care)." 2013.
http://qix.sagepub.com/content/12/6/1220.full.pdf+html.
George Mason University Communicatino Dept. "Muted Group Theory Excerpts." 30
March 2007.
Seiler, Robert M. "Human Communication in the Critical Theory Tradition." 2007.
Wikipedia. Muted Group Theory. 16 January 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muted_group_theory>.