Soliciting Individual Change in an Interpersonal Setting: The Case of Racially or Sexually Offensive Language

As the battleground against racism and sexism moves from change in legal and regulatory systems to change in interpersonal and cultural habits, a greater understanding of the interactions among those who challenge patterns of behavior they consider offensive and those who defend that behavior should be particularly useful. This article reports the results of a heuristic qualitative analysis of two dialogues in which some discussants sought to persuade others to cease their usage of language that the former considered racially or sexually offensive. The discussions occurred on a computer-based hotline devoted to exploring cross-cultural issues. The investigation sought to determine what were the interpersonal dynamics in the persuasion effort, and how might the persuasion efforts have been more effective. An analysis was conducted of the two dialogues based on persuasion theory and its variants—psychological reactance, cognitive dissonance, impression management, and minority influence theories-and supplemented by modern racism theory. Based on this analysis, recommendations were proposed for those seeking to influence others to cease their use of objectionable language.