Social Identity, Race-Based Categorizations, Language, and Intergroup Communication

Race is a construct of an intergroup nature that is inextricably linked with status-based hierarchies that have serious implications for social justice. Focus on language and communication highlights much-needed inquiry into how people navigate race-based intergroup contexts, especially in understudied contexts that present a complex intergroup space to examine race-based identities. Context is pertinent for racial categorizations and is closely linked to social identity at regional, state, and national levels of categorization. We apply an intergroup communication lens to two specific race-based contexts – police-civilian interactions and collective action – to highlight future questions that have implications for social justice. Additionally, we discuss Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) – an interpersonal and intergroup theory of language and communication – and its application to race-based intergroup contexts. We draw on research in understudied contexts to propose future directions for research and theory in “language, race, and social justice.”