STANDPOINT THEORY EXPLORATION 1

Benjamin Wickham
Jodie Jones
COMM 1080
December 7th, 2019
Overview

Imagine you’re in a car trying to get over to another lane. Another car is just close

enough behind you in the other lane that you’re uncomfortable getting over, but the car in front

of you is close enough that you don’t want to speed up too much, so you signal to get the person

behind you to slow down a bit and let you over. Instead of slowing down, though, you wait for a

moment, and then they speed up, and you have to wait for them to pass you before getting over.

Most people in this situation might be anywhere from mildly annoyed to enraged at this

other driver who wouldn’t even slow down a little for them to get over. It’s easy to overlook that

this other person might not have realized how close they were and assumed that the driver

getting over was trying to let them pass because of the hesitation. While this is more of a

situational standpoint, it’s very easy for people’s upbringing, living arrangements, or social

status to affect their opinions and actions. This is Standpoint Theory, and it explains how our

interactions may be misinterpreted by others because of differing standpoints, which affect our

views in different ways. As we better understand the standpoints of ourselves and others (and

how they differ) we will be better able to treat others respectfully and overcome the

communication barriers that often arise between people of separate standpoints.

Theory/Concept

On the Communication Theory website under The Standpoint Theory it states “The most

influential factor that regulates a perception is through experience. The tradition and culture also

shape up a person’s perception to a certain degree.” (The Standpoint Theory, 2014). From this

we can learn that the experience of a person’s life is key in understanding their actions and
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opinions. A 58 year-old man from London will likely have different opinions from a 19 year-old

woman from New York City. While that’s obvious, the reasons are easy to misinterpret (“It’s

natural for a woman to be different from a man/an american to be different from a brit. It’s in

their blood/genes.”) the genes are only partially to blame. The different stimuli and experiences

that befall people of these demographics are the biggest factors in their differing opinions and

perspectives, not the other way around.

Analysis

Wood gives some good examples of this. One is of a man named Frank and his fiancee,

Cheryl. Frank discusses his disagreement with Cheryl about their wedding. According to him he

is “from a farming family in a small town” while her family is “upper-crust, old-money types.”

While planning their wedding they came to a disagreement about how big of an event the

wedding to be. Cheryl was sure they needed it to be a big event, invite all of their friends, make

it a fancy affair, while Frank “rather take the money a fancy wedding would cost and save it as a

nest egg for us.” (Wood, n.d., p 28). While it’s easy for Frank to call it a waste, or even stuffy or

frivolous, Cheryl and her family have taken it as something expected, and not to make it a big

affair would be downplaying the importance of the event or even their dedication to the

marriage. While for Frank it’s pomp, for Cheryl it’s an outward expression of her love for him.

Another example arises in International Communications. Reynolds describes the

different cultural views on time and how they come up in unexpected ways in international

business. The chapter opens with the interesting juxtaposition of an English and Chinese

proverb: “Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.” (English), and “Wise men are

never in a hurry” (Chinese) (Reynolds, 2011, p 27). The ways societies view time can differ a

lot. Reynolds says that the three ways are Linear, schedule-oriented, no nonsense, no time wasted
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style used in Germanic and English views; Flexible, multi-tasking, relationship oriented style

found around Latin America and the Mediterranean, and Cyclical, the past-pondering, slow,

repetitive style found in Oriental countries. Another illustration the disparities in these views of

time comes in the story of Walther Habers. A commodities trader, he was on a business trip to

Milan, where a buyer arrived late, causing him some schedule conflicts. The trade went on, but

after a number of delays, Habers was incredibly frustrated, saying he would never again “allow

such a waste of time”. According to Reynolds, his buyer wasn’t even aware of Habers’

frustration and didn’t even realize it was a problem at the time. His Flexible viewpoint of time

told him that everything was fine, while Habers’ linear viewpoint told him otherwise. (Reynolds,

2011, p 28). This is a classic example of standpoint theory. The buyer’s view of time was so

different from Habers’ he didn’t realize he was offending until the offense had been made.

Habers wasn’t even unfamiliar with Mediterranean culture (according to Reynolds he was well

travelled), he just had such a strict viewpoint of time ingrained in his standpoint that his buyer’s

seeming disregard of time was borderline offensive to him, the same way that in the earlier

example Frank’s seeming disregard for he and Cheryl’s wedding ceremony could have come off

as offensive to her.

Reflection

This theory is very interesting to me, because there have been many times where I felt

like others were disregarding something important to me (part of my core beliefs) and I felt that

they didn’t appreciate me or thought badly of me personally because of the way they treated me

or acted around me. This research has made me rethink the way I see others.

I think it’s very easy to take offense when someone seems to disagree with us, because

often it’s difficult to see things from their point of view. For example, I am very religious, and
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often it frustrates me when people say bad things about my church. Sometimes I believe that

there are many people trying to attack my church because they don’t agree with it, so it’s easy

for me to feel attacked when people mention negative aspects of it, even if there is still room for

improvement in that area. What can sometimes be a learning experience for me and others can

sometimes lead to us trying to defend ourselves, and overlooking the ways we can improve. I

believe understanding the standpoint of an outsider-looking-in can help us to understand why

people say the things they do so that we can at least not feel like these comments are attacks, but

rather suggestions. Even if they don’t fully understand the situation and their suggestions aren’t

useful (I’m sure there are things we can work on as well), just listening to them respectfully can

be a good way to improve our relationships and make this world a more positive one to live in.

And that’s the point of communication, isn’t it?

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References

Wood. (n.d.). Wood-Standpoint Theory. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from

https://slcc.instructure.com/courses/532413/files/92352483?module_item_id=10111083.

Reynolds, S., Valentine, D., & Munter, M. (2011). Guide to cross-cultural communication.
Boston: Prentice Hall.

The Standpoint Theory. (2014, July 7). Retrieved from

https://www.communicationtheory.org/the-standpoint-theory/.