Defining discrimination across cultural groups: Exploring the [un-]coordinated management of meaning

Through an inductive, qualitative methodological frame, this study examines 957 stories of discrimination collected as part of a larger study on uncertainty in oppressive forms of communication. Specifically, this paper focuses on how a large, diverse group of individuals defined their experiences with discrimination – based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and abilities – in similar and different ways. Using a coordinated management of meaning theoretical frame of analysis, several thematic insights are explicated demonstrating the (1) core elements of communicative discrimination across narratives, and (2) diverse nature of meaning-making across different cultural groups. Following a description of these interpretive findings, directions for future research and implications for praxis are discussed.