Michael·H·Prosser

Intercultural “Identity Theories” Applied to the Election of Barack Obama as President of the United States

Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor, College of Journalism and Communication

Shanghai International Studies University

William B. Gudykunst notes and explains three intercultural theories related to identity: identity management theory (IMT) as proposed by W.R.Cupach and T. Imahori, identity negotiation theory, developed in large part by Stella Ting-Toomey, and cultural identity theory,
presented by M. J. Collier and M. Thomas.
The identity management theory is based on the concept of interpersonal communication competence, which naturally relates to
intercultural communication competence (ICC). Identity theories can provide expectations for behavior and motivate individuals’ behavior.
Cultural and relational identities can be seen as central to the identity management theory. The Chinese concept of “face” can be applied
to this theory as dialectical tension develops, which incorporates three phases, 1.fellowship versus autonomy face, 2.competence versus autonomy face, 3.autonomy versus either fellowship or competence face.Because outside forces develop positive or negative stereotypes in
intercultural communication competence and face, individuals must work diligently to utilize the positive stereotypes and overcome the
negative ones.
Identity negotiation theory demonstrates that individuals negotiate their concept of identity with their own perceptions of their multiple
identities and those perceptions of others with whom they communicate. Again, individuals’ resourcefulness in negotiating the identity or
identities which they see for themselves and those which others see for them helps them to manage their own security-vulnerability and inclusion-differentiation. The more secure the individuals’ positive selfidentification , the greater is their own identity coherence and global
self-esteem, and the greater their membership in collective esteem, the more resourceful they are when interacting with strangers, who
may be positive or negative in their perceptions of the individuals under consideration. The specific motivations to communicate with
strangers, whether positive or negative in their perceptions of the individuals leads them to be resourceful in communication with the
strangers.
The cultural identity theory includes Collier and Thomas’ five axioms: 1. the more that norms and meanings differ in discourse, the more
intercultural the contact, 2. the more individuals have intercultural communication competence, the better they are able to develop and
maintain intercultural relationships, 3. the more that cultural identities differ in the discourse, the more intercultural the contact, 4. the
more one person’s ascribed cultural identity for the other person matches the other person’s avowed cultural identity, the more the
intercultural communication competence, 5.linguistic references to cultural identity systematically have important contacts with
sociocontextual factors such as participants, type of communication episodes, and topics.

Utilizing a combination of these identity theories, this paper will analyze Barack Hussein Obama’s 2008 US general election strategies
of establishing his own persona. As a self-proclaimed “very unlikely candidate” for the American presidency, with a white American mother and Kenya father, he was forced constantly, first by Hilary Clinton in the primary elections, and then by the John McCain and Sarah Palin
campaign to create enduring and new identities for himself after charges by his opponents, both by members of the campaign and by
individual and sometimes hostile voters, of being too inexperienced to become president, to “paling around with terrorists,” to being
“other,” and therefore not a real American, to possibly being a Muslim, or an Arab, or a socialist, to being a celebrity with no substance,
and implicitly, as an African-American and therefore a member of a co-cultural or inferior outgroup as untrustworthy to lead the United
States as the first black [biracial] president.
Nonetheless, the McCain campaign seemed inconsistent in its direction and efforts to defeat Obama through negative idenfication of him,
by selecting a highly unprepared Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running-mate and thus lessening his Republican stereotype of him as too inexperienced, by his announcement in September, 2008, that the American economy was fundamentally in good shape on the very
day that Lehman Brothers collapsed as a financial institution, by his decision to “suspend his campaign” to go to Washington to help solve
the impending financial crisis and to postpone the first presidential debate, while causing more problems than he solved, and then under
taking the debate after all, by his inadequate performance in the three presidential debates, by his inability to show how his identify was
vastly different than President Bush with whom he had voted 90% of Bush’s eight years as president, by a very toxic year for the
Republican Party’s election chances, and by his and Palin’s very negative campaign tactics against Obama. Basically, it was McCain who kept trying to change his own identity from a war hero, and living his life as a man of honor, while promoting his “maverick” identity, and
denying his own identity as so closely linked to President Bush.
In the meantime, implicitly utilizing these identity theories, Barack Obama remained calm, cool and unflappable, accommodating and
adapting to all of the charges and changing circumstances that developed and using his co-cultural status to draw in large levels of
electoral support by African-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, the young and often new voters, and many independent and some
Republican voters. The endorsement of former Secretary of State in the first Bush administration, Colin Powell, identifying Obama as a
“transformational figure” aided him in being conceived as a serious and outstanding candidate who was more likely to lead the US better
than McCain could do.
Obama’s debates and charges that a McCain victory represented a third term for Bush, his even approach to international issues and the
financial crisis when McCain became perceived as inconsistent and constantly changing his own identity, Obama’s decision not to attack
Palin directly as another outgroup member in terms of a co-cultural setting for women being a candidate for vice president all worked to
Obama’s increasing popular and Electoral College votes. The Obama-Biden team won 52% of the popular vote to 47% for McCain-Palin,
with 97% of the African-American vote and 67% of the Hispanic vote, and receiving 365 Electoral College delegates versus 162 for
McCain.
Not only did Obama-Biden win in a “landslide,” but as a result of the election, November 4, the Democrats now hold 57 Senate seats to
the Republicans’ 40 seats, and 255 Democrat House of Representatives seats versus 174 Republican seats. One meaning of this
overwhelming victory was that more voters identified positively with Obama than with McCain. Three of the most important reasons for
Americans to vote for Obama included his ongoing campaign statements that he would withdraw US troops from Iraq, his proposed tax
reductions for 95% of Americans, and his convincing argument that he could better reform health care than McCain would do by saying
in the third Presidential Debate that health care is a right for all Americans, while McCain only said that it is a responsibility for the US government to assist Americans to have adequate health care.
Finally, Obama’s Middle East and European tour, his address to 200,000 people in Berlin, his speeches to 50,000 to 100,000 individuals
during the campaign, the general loss or the US’ global reputation during the eight Bush years, and his implicit application of the identity
theories, all led to a historic victory which was celebrated by leaders, newspapers, and ordinary citizens in many countries throughout the
world. Overcoming many challenges, which are related to these three intercultural theories, Obama assumes office on January 20, 2009
with a near mandate for his chief campaign slogans, “Change we can believe in,” “Change we can understand,” and “Yes, we can.” In the end, these slogans demonstrated his ability as a first term senator to defeat Senator McCain who had been a member of Congress and the Senate for twenty-six years, and to give a vision to Americans and others around the world for change. His references both to the
Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” made a very powerful impression on the 200,000+ participants at his
victory speech in Grant Park, Chicago, on November 4, and to millions of persons around the world who held large celebrations in honor of his and Biden’s victory.
In this way, we can see that the three identity theories all were powerfully applied, at least implicitly, by Obama in his election campaign
for the American presidency.

Reference
Gudykunst, W.B. (2003). Intercultural communication theories. In W.B. Gudykunst, Ed. Cross-cultural and Intercultural Communication.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage