“The team members were very tolerant”: social interactional ideologies and power in an intercultural context

Article / Journal

Author(s) / editor(s):
Melisa Stevanovic , Milene Mendes de Oliveira

Year: 2025

Keywords: intercultural communication; ideological dilemmas; interpretative repertoire; power; social interactional ideologies
Language(s): English

Abstract:
Speakers may resort to different inferences and expectations in intercultural encounters. These expectations are influenced by speakers’ socialization processes in speech communities and networks, as well as by the local interactional demands and power dynamics in the communicative situation. While interactional sociolinguistic studies have unveiled intercultural mismatches in how contextualization asymmetries operate in the here-and-now of interaction, less attention has been given to speakers’ normative expectations of good and bad social encounters, as reflected in retrospective accounts of interactional experiences. This article uses critical discursive psychology to examine social interactional ideologies, as German and Chinese students (home and exchange students, respectively) reflect on their experiences in a virtual intercultural game. As an analytical tool, we use the notion of “interpretative repertoires,” i.e., culturally shared ways to construct generally recognizable versions of objects. Our analysis of reflection reports written by the game players shows repertoires addressing ideal behaviors and ideal group features, which tend to place the German students in a more favorable position than the Chinese students. We discuss how local and historical power dynamics are blended in the repertoires and point to the need to critically engage with the social interactional ideologies that exist – but often go unnoticed – in intercultural settings.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/multi-2024-0108/html?lang=de&srsltid=AfmBOooMiANT1wT77D2bMOI68aSIJa0PyV5qdf9_yTZi90tP54X5Aj9O

Post created by: Lymor Wolf Goldstein

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