Analyzing Strategic Responses to Discriminatory Acts: A Co-Cultural Communicative Investigation

This qualitative content analysis explores the multiple ways in which individuals respond to acts of discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, and disability. This study examines 258 stories of discrimination using a co-cultural theoretical frame of analysis to empirically assess those interactive structures that perpetuate the communicative system of how co-cultural discriminatory acts become reproduced in everyday life. Specifically, the focus is on identifying the co-cultural communication orientations and practices that are enacted as responses to discrimination and to discern if these strategies vary based on co-cultural group membership. Following a description of thematic insights, directions for future research in terms of co-cultural theory, memorable messages, microaggressions, and responses to discrimination are discussed.