5.4 Communication Privacy Management Theory

  • CPM is under a boarder context as compared to only disclosure. It’s the dialectical tension of private information between revealing and concealing under a rule management system.

  • Guiding maxims:

    • Assumption maxims:

      1. public-private dialectical assumptions: dialectical nature of revealing and concealing

      2. privacy management assumptions:

        • We are entitled to our private information
        • people should control the flow of private information
        • managing private information is not absolute
      3. boundary metaphor assumptions

    • Axiomatic maxims:

      1. Conceptualizing private information ownership: one can be authorized, or unauthorized co-owners of information.

      2. conceptualizing private information control: privacy rules are applied based

        1. core criteria: culture, gender, privacy orientations
        2. catalyst: privacy rules adapt to changes.
      3. conceptualizing private information turbulence: gossip breaks privacy

    • Interaction maxims:

      1. shared privacy boundaries: there is a boundary around the shared information.

      2. coordinating privacy boundaries: co-own, co-manage, 3 operations:

        1. privacy boundary linkages: alliances between a discloser and recipients

        2. private information co-ownership rights: privileges and expected responsibility for co-owners of private information.

        3. privacy boundary permeability: the amount of openness within a privacy boundary. managed boundary in

          1. disproportionate way
          2. intersected way
          3. Unified way
      3. ramifications of privacy boundary turbulence

  • Application:

    • (Petronio 2007): translational aspect
    • (Bute, Brann, and Hernandez 2017): Orgasm and alcohol on communication after sexual activity.
    • (Brummett and Steuber 2014): interracial partners disclose relational information to social network members. They both experience power struggles while managing private and relational information.
    • (Denes and Afifi 2014): miscarriages are bound by societal-level expectations about how they should be talked in interpersonal communication.

References

Brummett, Erin A., and Keli Ryan Steuber. 2014. “To Reveal or Conceal?: Privacy Management Processes Among Interracial Romantic Partners.” Western Journal of Communication 79 (1): 22–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2014.943417.
Bute, Jennifer J., Maria Brann, and Rachael Hernandez. 2017. “Exploring Societal-Level Privacy Rules for Talking about Miscarriage.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 36 (2): 379–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407517731828.
Denes, Amanda, and Tamara D. Afifi. 2014. “Pillow Talk and Cognitive Decision-Making Processes: Exploring the Influence of Orgasm and Alcohol on Communication After Sexual Activity.” Communication Monographs 81 (3): 333–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2014.926377.
Petronio, Sandra. 2007. “Translational Research Endeavors and the Practices of Communication Privacy Management.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 35 (3): 218–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909880701422443.