A Pragmatic Study Of Prejudice Against Identity In Bystander Intervention

Bystander intervention is relatively under-research in pragmatics,and little research has been made on prejudice against identity and interveners‘ responses in this public context.The present study is dedicated to a pragmatic study on the phenomenon of bystander intervention with its focus on the data in which the wrongdoers show prejudice against the victims‘ identity,attempting to explore how interveners respond to the wrongdoers‘ prejudice against the victims and unearth the relational sensitivities,i.e.the constraints that can affect the harmonious relationship in public contexts.Prejudice against one‘s identity in this study refers to the phenomenon that the wrongdoers show unreasonable and unfavorable feelings towards other people because of their social class,age,physical or mental imperfectness.Based on the theoretical framework of rapport management(Spencer-Oatey 2008;Spencer-Oatey and Franklin 2009)and drawing on the data from a Chinese camera show What Would You Do(Ni Hui Zen Me Zuo)of GRT Satellite Channel,the current study attempts to answer the following three questions:(1)How do wrongdoers show prejudice against victims‘ identity?(2)How do interveners respond to wrongdoers‘ prejudice against victims‘ identity?(3)Why do interveners respond in the ways listed in question two?In light of the above questions,this study has made the following findings.Firstly,four types of devices adopted by wrongdoers in showing prejudice against victims are found: creating differences;denying victims‘ equal access to a place,something,or a job;making continuous complaints or unreasonable demands;and ridiculing the victims publicly.All these immoral acts happen in public occasions and the wrongdoers treat victims in these ways just because of the victims‘ identity of being a migrant worker,a person with physical or mental imperfectness or being aged.Since these behaviors are fundamentally improper,bystanders usually step up to stop the wrongdoers.Thus,this study further explores how interveners respond to wrongdoers‘ prejudice against victims‘ identity.Drawing on the findings of the first question,six types of means of responses are found in the data: claiming sameness with the victims;claiming equality for the victims;emphasizing the principle of zhongyong;pointing out that the wrongdoer has threatened the victims‘ face;claiming concern and understanding for victims‘ situations and feelings;and claiming respect for the victims.Thirdly,based on the theory of rapport management and the responses of interveners,the study probes into the bases of interveners‘ judgments by exploring the relational sensitivities violated by the wrongdoers in the eyes of interveners.There are five relational sensitivities detected in the data: respect,equality,zhongyong,face,and empathy.Respect,zhongyong and empathy are the three most frequently-occurred relational sensitivities.Seeing that wrongdoers run against such principles,interveners will step up to intervene and protect the victim so as to defend the social norm.Interlocutors should pay attention to such norms in interpersonal communication.This study has made some contributions to the present research.Firstly,it touches upon the moral order which is a frontier in politeness research by looking into the relational sensitivities in bystander intervention.It also testifies the feasibility and universality of Spencer-Oatey‘s theory of relational sensitivities and brings something new into the theory.Secondly,this study examines some emic features of bystander intervention in China by drawing on the data from a Chinese camera show.Practically speaking,since it is not uncommon for us to come across conflicts between other people in public settings,the present study offers some guidance for us to decide how to intervene in a conflict in public and what social rules we can employ to defend against wrongdoers.