Communication faculty Stanback and Pearce (1981) referred to these non-dominant groups as “subordinate social groups”. They noted 4 ways in which the non-dominant groups tend to communicate with the dominant groups. They asserted also that, “From the perspective of the dominant group, the behaviors in each form of communication are appropriate. However, the meaning of these behaviors to the members of the lower-statused group are quite different, making them different forms of communication with different implications for the relations among the groups”.[4]
In the study of communication, Stanback and Pearce as well as Kramarae used Muted Group Theory to help explain communication patterns and social representation of non-dominant cultural groups Kramarae (1981) believed that “those experiences unique to subordinate group members often cannot be effectively expressed within the confinements of the dominant communication system”.[5] She suggested that people within these groups create alternative forms of communication to articulate their experiences. Although, Kramarae used muted group theory to communications strategies of women she suggested that the framework can be applied with equal validity to a number of dominant/non-dominant relationships (Orbe, 1996).[6]