People from different cultures are always striving to create an awareness of the self-image or face as they communicate with other individuals. The face is often described as the desired social image in a relational or international setting (West & Turner, 2013). During communications, it is vital to protect the face and behave successfully with others. However, maintaining such aspects cannot be easily accomplished by all talk participants. When an individual is involved in a situation that may predispose them to lose face or damage it somehow, such acts are often regarded as face-threatening situations (West & Turner, 2013).
Recently, I was involved in a face-threatening situation that made me lose face. During the December holidays, I borrowed money from one of my friends since I wanted to hang out with my friends. I promised my friend that in mid-January, I would have refunded her back the money. However, things did not go well as planned, and I failed to give back the money. Since I had no other means of getting money, I decided to ignore my friend’s calls and kept silent. One evening, my friend visited me at our place and threatened me, “if you don’t refund my money by the end of this month, I will hire a gang who will inflict pain in you” This statement alone sent shivers down my spine. According to facework, when face has been threatened, whether positively or negatively, communicators often tend to seek some form of recourse to restore their partner’s face. According to the politeness theorists, most speakers may choose to use the politeness strategy based on how the face threat was perceived (West & Turner, 2013). When my friend had realized that my negative face had been threatened, she sent an apology and promised that she made the remarks out of anger. My friend further used the tact facework and asked me to decide on another date to pay her back the money. These concepts related to face work, tact facework, negative face, and politeness strategy are illustrated in this situation since they laid a foundation for restoring face.
(Chapter 29) Evaluate the Feminist standpoint Theory using the evaluating theory concepts from Chapter 3. Please support your evaluation by connecting three or more of the evaluative theory concepts into Feminist Standpoint Theory.
The Feminist Standpoint theory is crucial in our societies since it offers a framework that helps us understand women’s position relative to the existing power systems. The framework is founded on the knowledge that is generated from the everyday lives of individuals. This theory is essential since it gives women’s voices authority (West & Turner, 2013). According to the theory, knowledge from women, their experiences, and communication behaviors are primarily shaped by the social groups to which they belong to. According to the theory, it has three main claims. The first states that knowledge is socially situated (West & Turner, 2013). The second aspect relates to the fact that marginalized groups are socially located, making it possible for them to be aware of things surrounding them and ask questions. Lastly, the theory claims that it is focused on research, especially those related to power relations should focus on the marginalized groups (West & Turner, 2013).
Using the evaluating theory concepts, the Feminist standpoint theory can be practically utilized. This is because this theory offers a detailed description and narrative regarding the causal effects of power structures on knowledge. The theory also advocates for a specific inquiry route, an aspect that primarily begins from standpoints arising from shared political struggles in marginalized communities. The testability of this theory is also apparent. Since the emergence of the Feminist theory standpoint theory in the 1970s, it offered a foundation for the voices of women being heard. This aspect helped them occupy various positions in power. The social groups in which women interacted formed a basis for them voicing their opinions and communicating about things affecting them in their surroundings. The scope is also an essential aspect of the feminist standpoint theory. The theory’s scope is not broad since it is tasked with assisting us in understanding women’s position relative to the existing power systems. The theory also aims to acknowledge women’s diversity by welcoming their views.
