Harmful Speech in Intergroup Encounters: An Organizational Framework for Communication Research

Abstract

Verbally disturbing communication, or what is broadly referred to as harmful speech (e.g., racist, sexist, and ageist speech), is a growing but fragmented area of inquiry in need of integration. In an effort to capitalize on various traditions’ insights and make connections across academic boundaries, the authors present a model for summarizing findings and generating and guiding research for several intergroup forms of deprecating speech. To begin, seven of the more established research areas—verbal aggression, gender, age, physical disability, ethnicity, jurisprudence, and rhetoric—are overviewed. These are then integrated into a model that describes the dynamics and processes underlying the type of communication that results in harm. The general utility of the framework lies in (a) its comprehensive elucidation of many types of harmful speech; (b) its specificity, because it allows for the complexity and interaction of a variety of situational, psychological, affective, social, and communicative factors; and (c) its ability to serve as a complex and heuristic model that can frame and guide future research.