10 Professional, Civic, and Cultural Discourse Communities
Overview
As a student at the University of San Francisco, you are part of a community that values knowledge, critical thinking, and commitment to making a positive impact in the world. There are many professional, civic, and cultural discourse communities that also hold these values in their particular fields. These communities play vital roles in society by shaping practices and policies, as well as promoting shared knowledge and understanding.
All discourse communities have members who engage in specialized forms of communication, but they often serve different purposes — professional discourse communities focus more on career and industry advancement, while civic discourse communities tend to focus on societal issues and collective action. Meanwhile, cultural discourse communities both reflect and shape cultural experiences, values, and practices. In this chapter, we’ll take a closer look at each of the various categories of discourse community, paying special attention to what their goals are and how they go about achieving them.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you’ll be able to:
- Identify the characteristics of professional, civic, and cultural discourse communities
- Analyze the unique characteristics that comprise a specific professional, civic, or cultural discourse community
- Evaluate the role of modes and norms of communication in a given discourse community in affecting power dynamics (e.g., empowering or oppressing) among both members and non-members
- Reflect on how knowledge of discourse communities can improve your writing
Professional Discourse Communities
Professional discourse communities are groups of individuals who share a specific profession, industry, or field of expertise. Like all discourse communities, they communicate in specialized ways, follow certain agreed-upon norms, and work toward goals that improve the standards and practices of their respective fields.
Key Features of Professional Discourse Communities:
- There is a focus on shared goals to help solve industry-specific problems, as well as promoting career growth for community members.
- Members tend to have specialized knowledge that is unique to their professional field.
- There is typically a shared vocabulary or jargon that enables precise communication between members.
- More experienced members may offer mentorship to guide newcomers, offering feedback, training, and opportunities for advancement.
- Many professional communities require certain qualifications or certifications to join or advance within the community.
Examples of Professional Discourse Communities
Medical Community (Doctors, Nurses, and Researchers)
- Purpose: Improve healthcare outcomes, conduct research, share medical knowledge, and develop new treatments.
- Members: Medical professionals of all kinds, including doctors, nurses, medical researchers, healthcare administrators, and therapists.
- Communication genres: Peer-reviewed journals, medical conferences, clinical trials, and patient records.
Legal Community (Lawyers, Judges, and Legal Scholars)
- Purpose: Advocate for justice, uphold the rule of law, advise clients, and influence legislation.
- Members: Attorneys, judges, paralegals, legal analysts, and law professors.
- Communication genres: Legal briefs, case law analysis, court hearings, legal documents, and negotiations.
Engineering and Technology Community (Engineers, Technicians, and Designers)
- Purpose: Design and implement innovative solutions, improve technologies, and create infrastructure.
- Members: Software engineers, civil engineers, product designers, and IT specialists.
- Communication genres: Technical reports, coding languages, blueprints, design documents, and project meetings.
Business and Corporate Community (Managers, Executives, and Entrepreneurs)
- Purpose: Drive profitability, improve business practices, and achieve corporate goals.
- Members: CEOs, CFOs, marketers, consultants, and business strategists.
- Communication genres: Business reports, pitches, corporate emails, strategic documents, and meetings.
Reflection
First, think of one professional discourse community that you are part of. Then, take a moment to answer the following questions about that community:
- What is its purpose?
- Who are its members?
- How are the members’ roles defined?
- What is one communication style used by this community?
- What is the use and purpose of that communication style?
Student Examples
Zoe Deleon and Paul Uong, “Nursing Discourse Community Analysis”
Gabriel Baruzzi, “Finance Discourse Community Analysis”
Activity: Clashing “Norms” of Discourse Communities
Watch: “Eagles Fan Sports Anchor Reacts To Final Super Bowl Score On Air” (~1 min)
Now, let’s consider the following: Why might viewers think this video is funny? How could you explain the humor as a “clash” between the norms of two different discourse communities (the professional discourse community of TV news or journalism and the cultural discourse community of sports fans, or Eagles fans in particular)?
Civic Discourse Communities
Civic discourse communities are groups of individuals united by a common interest in addressing public issues, advocating for social change, or influencing public policy. Their communication often involves activism, public dialogue, and collective action aimed at improving societal conditions. The individuals who form civic discourse communities can come from all walks of life, but are often advocates, activists, or other concerned community members. They often take a more informal, grassroots approach to their interactions with other community members and the general public. These communities generally make a concerted effort to be inclusive and open-minded to the lived experiences and perspectives of others who share their cause.
Common Examples:
Environmental Advocacy Community
- Purpose: Protect the environment, advocate for sustainable practices, and address climate change.
- Members: Environmentalists, activists, scientists, policy advocates, and community organizers.
- Communication genres: Public campaigns, petitions, social media advocacy, reports, and protests.
Human Rights Community
- Purpose: Advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights; fight against injustices such as discrimination, poverty, and inequality.
- Members: Activists, lawyers, social workers, policymakers, and humanitarian organizations.
- Communication genres: Legal documents, reports, public demonstrations, media outreach, and educational campaigns.
Political Advocacy Groups
- Purpose: Influence government policy, promote civic engagement, and advocate for particular political ideologies or causes.
- Members: Politicians, lobbyists, voters, civic leaders, and campaign managers.
- Communication genres: Political speeches, campaign materials, debates, policy documents, and town hall meetings.
Community Organizing Groups
- Purpose: Mobilize local populations to address social issues, such as those related to education, housing, or poverty.
- Members: Community organizers, local leaders, volunteers, activists, and residents.
- Communication genres: Grassroots campaigns, flyers, social media, town meetings, and newsletters.
Public Health and Wellness Community
- Purpose: Promote public health initiatives, reduce health disparities, and educate the public about healthy living.
- Members: Public health experts, healthcare providers, educators, and government officials.
- Communication genres: Health brochures, policy papers, public service announcements, and educational seminars.
Key Features of Civic Discourse Communities:
- Collective action: The goal is often to influence public policy, create social change, or advocate for a cause that benefits the community or society at large.
- Inclusive membership: Membership in civic discourse communities can be broad, often involving a wide range of individuals with varying levels of expertise. Members are united by shared values and goals.
- Public communication: Communication is typically open and aimed at engaging the broader public, often through the media, protests, petitions, and public forums.
- Advocacy: Members are generally focused on advocating for a cause or issue, whether through lobbying, education, or direct action.
- Ethical standards: Civic discourse communities often focus on ethical considerations, striving for justice, fairness, and social good.
Student Voices: Experiencing a “Clash” of Cultural Communication Norms
I can think of a lot of “insider” or “outsider” experiences to communication norms, especially since I had to move across the world from Botswana to America solely for school. Of course, I had an accent — I still do. I could understand American English and most of the social and language cues because of the movies I grew up watching. I have to say, though, they were not an accurate depiction of real life. I guess because of that, I felt a bit like an “outsider.”
There’s one thing that really took me a while to adapt to being in this new environment in the U.S. Something so simple, and yet it threw me off the first semester after I got here. That little smile that a stranger gives when you make eye contact!
Where I am from, you greet everyone you interact with throughout your day. It doesn’t matter whether or not you know them; you’re just supposed to say “Good morning” or “Good afternoon”… whatever fits the time of the day.
I don’t have a good memory for faces or names, so whenever someone smiled at me, it would send me into this spiral of overthinking, trying to remember if I knew said person or if I’d ever met them before this small interaction. Sometimes, I’d just be creeped out because, let’s face it, some of these “smiles” are just cold and forced.
I even remember saying to one of my friends, “…this is all so uncomfortable. I would rather people just ignore me and not acknowledge me than toss a fake smile my way.”
I just thought for a while that people in this part of the world are just pretentious because why would you force a smile that means nothing toward someone you didn’t even know?
I guess my experience does not really fit into “language,” but it is about a way of communication that I just couldn’t understand for obvious reasons. It made me feel like I didn’t belong to the community I was now in. I was trying to carry on the social interaction of one community into the next, which, in hindsight, was outrageous. I guess I could fit my experience into linguistic discrimination. If I am being honest, I thought less of a group of people because of that kind gesture just because I did not understand it.
This experience has also led me to consider other ways in which I may have formed opinions of people because of gestures, language forms, accents, and other language aspects without really thinking about it. I also wonder if it is something we do consciously or if it’s learned through socialization in whatever society we were brought up in?
–Katlego Botshelo, 2025
Kat is a biology major at USF.
Conclusion
In examining professional, civic, and cultural discourse communities, we uncover the profound ways in which language norms and shared goals shape communication, identity, and power in society. Each of the communities we examined functions with its own expectations and practices — whether to advance specialized knowledge in a profession, promote change in civic life, or preserve and express cultural values. While these communities often operate independently, they intersect in meaningful ways. Understanding their differences and connections is essential to becoming a more effective communicator and a valuable participant in any community.
Ultimately, understanding how discourse can be used to both empower and marginalize — and using that knowledge responsibly — will help you build more just and inclusive environments on campus, in your field, and beyond.
Works Cited
Baruzzi, Gabriel. “Finance Discourse Community Analysis.” Major Discourse Community Analysis Presentation, HONC 132: Rhetorical Communities, University of San Francisco, 20 Mar. 2025.
CBS Philadelphia. “Eagles Fan Sports Anchor Reacts to Final Super Bowl Score on Air.” YouTube, 7 Feb. 2018, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7Cuq1Qigk.
Deleon, Zoe, and Paul Uong. “Nursing Handoffs: Nursing Discourse Community Analysis.” Major Discourse Community Analysis Presentation, HONC 132: Rhetorical Communities, University of San Francisco, 20 Mar. 2025.
Eytan, Ted. “Protecting our democracy.” Flickr, 20 July 2020, www.flickr.com/photos/taffeta/50129759711/.
Fring, Gustavo. “Little Girl at Medical Check Up.” Pexels, 12 Jan. 2021, www.pexels.com/photo/little-girl-at-a-medical-checkup-7447004/.
Krukau, Yan. “Men and Women in Business Meeting.” Pexels, 29 Apr. 2020, www.pexels.com/photo/men-and-women-in-business-meeting-8613437/.
Rawpixel. “Activists.” Rawpixel, www.rawpixel.com/search/activists.
Rawpixel. “Gavel Court Hammer.” Rawpixel, www.rawpixel.com/search/gavel.
Rawpixel. “Mental Health.” Rawpixel, www.rawpixel.com/search/mental%20health.
Sperlich. “Activism is my super power.” Flickr, 17 May 2016, www.flickr.com/photos/sperlich/26514781703/.
Sperlich. “Climate Justice = Social Justice.” Flickr, 18 May 2016, www.flickr.com/photos/sperlich/26500412894/.
ThisIsEngineering. “Photo of Female Engineer Working on Her Workspace.” Pexels, 16 Oct. 2019, www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-female-engineer-working-on-her-workspace-3862632/.
Attributions
This chapter was written by Melisa Garcia with AI assistance.
AIA Primarily AI, New content, Human-initiated, Reviewed v1.0.
Media Attributions
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