Intergroup Communication

Intergroup communication occurs when one or more social group memberships (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, nationality) are salient and affect the way people communicate. This chapter summarizes foundational theory and research on this topic, including the evolutionary basis for attention to social groups and language in social categorization; a social identity approach (comprising social identity theory and self-categorization theory), which explains how social group memberships influence and are influenced by communication; communication accommodation theory, which speaks to how people adjust their communication in response to salient social groups; vitality, which provides insight into the long-term trajectory of language groups in society; and research on intergroup contact and common ingroup identity as means to improve intergroup dynamics. The chapter concludes by highlighting areas for growth and questions for further investigation.