Gee defines Discourses (capital D) as “saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing, believing combinations” (6). Why is this “combination” important for Gee? Gee offers a couple examples. Offer your own example of a Discourse in your response.
Gee describes Discourses as ” a sort of identity kit”. The key word in his description is “kit”. A person’s Discourse is all the traits that they have picked up by “being a member of a primary socializing group (family, clan, peer group)”. This combination is important for Gee because a person’s Discourse is not simply the way they talk, but it directly impacts the way they interact, think, and their values. I grew up in the Bay Area in Northern California, which is very culturally diverse. I have always valued and appreciated the other cultures that people come from, whether they be the same as my own or not. I had the experience of living in a small town in Nebraska during my senior year of high school and noticed that the people who had lived there their whole lives had different beliefs and values than me.
Gee breaks down Discourse into some different types or categories. What is the difference between a primary and a secondary Discourse? Why is Gee’s distinction between dominant and nondominant discourses important?
A primary Discourse is picked up by an individual while they are growing up and is directly impacted by their environment, surroundings, and the people they are around. A secondary Discourse are obtained through “various non-home-based social institutions- institutions in the public sphere, beyond the family and immediate kin and peer group”. Secondary Discourses are learned and picked up on as people leave their home environment and experience new environments and surroundings as they explore more of the world. Gee’s distinction between dominant and non dominant Discourses is important because the dominant Disourses are “secondary Discourses the mastery of which, at a particular place and time, brings with it the (potential) acquisition of social “goods”(money, prestige, status, etc.)” as Gee explains it. The non dominant Discourses focus more on one social group, and does not have a broad horizon with society itself.
Cuddy’s research explores nonverbal communication, as she tells us (para. 4). Why is this nonverbal behavior important to those who would be in the Discourse of business? Be sure to provide evidence from Cuddy in your response.
This nonverbal behavior is important in the Discourse of business because body language speaks large volumes to other people who may be judging you. Cuddy mentions an experiment her and her peers preformed involving job interviews and body language. The results spoke for themselves. She stated, “We want to hire these people, all the high-power posers. We don’t want to hire these people”. The people they did not want to hire were the individuals who showed “low power poses”. This is important in the Discourse of business because it is important to seem like an “alpha” in the business world and have a strong, confident demeanor.
