Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 41

Unfortunately, the way I have dealt with this conflict after many years of being emotionally abused is to ignore his family. They never even call our house anymore now, and will only visit if expressly invited by my husband, which to me has meant some stress reduction, while I also feel very sorry that these misunderstandings exist; they exist because of cultural differences. I do not believe that his family is aware of their prejudicial behavior. The entire problem is said to exist because I am disrespectful and from a supposedly lower class.

— Heidi (Source: Martin & Nakayama, 2000:306)

Social Contexts. The choice of how we manage conflict may depend on the particular context or situation. For example, we may choose to use an avoiding style if we are arguing with a close friend about serious relational issues in a quiet place. In contrast, we may feel freer to use a more confrontational style in a social movement rally.

For example, Jacqueline, from Singapore, is often very annoyed with U.S. Americans who comment on how well she speaks English, because English is her first (= native) language even though she is ethnically Chinese. She used to say nothing in response; now sometimes she retorts, "So is yours." Jacqueline may believe that she is engaging part of a longer antiracism struggle against the stereotype that Asians cannot speak English. Viewed in this context, the social movement of antiracism gives meaning to the conflict that arises for Jacqueline.

Many conflicts arise and must be understood against the backdrop of existing social movements. Social movements are large-scale efforts designed to change something in contemporary society. For example, the women's suffrage movement was not an individual effort, but a mass effort to give women the right to vote in the United States. Many similar contemporary social movements give meaning to conflicts. They include movements against racism, sexism, and homophobia; movements to protect animal rights, the environment, free speech, civil rights; and so on. College campuses are likely locations for much activism.

There is, of course, no comprehensive list of existing social movements. They arise and dissipate, depending on the opposition, the attention, and the strategies they use. As part of social change, social movements need confrontation to highlight whatever injustice is being done.

Confrontation, then, can be seen as an opportunity for social change. In arguing for a nonviolent approach to change, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., emphasized in his paper “Pilgrimage in nonviolence” published in 1958 that this strategy used nonviolent confrontation:

Nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. . . . [It] does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through non-cooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.

This type of confrontation exposes the injustices of a society and opens the way for social change, to avert the continuation of this injustice. Although nonviolence is not the only form of confrontation employed by social movements, its use has a long history – from Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for India's independence from Britain to the civil rights struggle in the United States to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Images of the violent confrontations that arose from nonviolent marches tended to legitimize the social movements and delegitimize the existing social system.

Some social movements have also used violent forms of confrontation. Groups such as the Irish Republican Army and independence movements in Corsica, Algeria, Kosovo, and Chechnya have all been accused of using violence, which tends to label them as terrorists rather than social movement protesters. To understand communication practices such as these, it is important to study the social context in which the movement operated. Social movements highlight many issues relevant to intercultural interaction.