Lecture 5: Seven Communication Theory Traditions PDF

Lecture 5: The seven different traditions of communication theory Understanding Communication Theory, part 2 5. The socio-cultural tradition—communication as the creation and enactment of social reality All human societies produce and reproduce their ‘ways of life’ (culture) through social intera...

Lecture 5: The seven different traditions of communication theory Understanding Communication Theory, part 2 5. The socio-cultural tradition—communication as the creation and enactment of social reality All human societies produce and reproduce their ‘ways of life’ (culture) through social interactions Social Interactions – how we understand meanings, roles, and cultural values Communication plays important role in this Attempts to understand the important role that communication plays in social interactions 2  5. The socio-cultural tradition—communication as the creation and enactment of social reality Production of culture – The many ways that a society creates its culture Reproduction of culture – How a society maintains its culture through tradition and practices Communication and language play key role in these two processes 3 The Circuit of Culture (Du Gay et al., 1997) 1.Representation 2. Identity 3. Production 4. Consumption 5. Regulation 4  The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Whorfianism) The idea that language has power and can control how we see the world Language is a guide to your reality, it shapes your thoughts You make sense of the world through the framework of your language 5 The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis – Two Concepts Linguistic Relativity: Language reflects the reality of its speakers People perceive the world in different ways according to their language Different languages lead to different patterns of thought 6  The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis Language determines thought Linguistic Determinism: Different languages impose different conceptions of reality 7  The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis - Summary Linguistic Linguistic relativism determinism language Language influences the defines and way we see the limits the way world we see the world 8 6. The critical tradition— communication as a means to challenge social injustices The German Frankfurt School Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Members Leo Lowenthal, Eric Fromm, Walter Benjamin, and Jurgen Habermas 9 6. The critical tradition— communication as a means to challenge social injustices Society often marked by inequalities among its members Social institutions and customs often try to hide or deny these inequalities Communication plays a key role in these relations of inequality 10  6. The Critical Tradition – Main propositions 1. The taken-for- granted systems of society The critical 2. Power structures tradition seeks to and beliefs that understand: dominate society 3. Whose interests are served by those power structures? 11 6. The critical tradition - communication as a means to challenge social injustices The critical tradition asks questions such as: Who does and does not get to speak? What does and does not get said? Who stands to benefit from a particular system? What role do the mass media play in all these? 12 6. The critical tradition— communication as a means to challenge social injustices Media literacy leads to better understanding Media literacy sharpens the individual’s awareness Media literacy is empowering Ethics of communication – solidarity with suffering human beings 13  7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Study of people’s perceptions of the world Phenomenon – object, event, condition Phenomenology – intentional analysis of everyday life from the perspective of the person who is living it The study of consciousness and how we experience the world as individuals 14 7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Key scholars: Edmund Husserl Martin Heideggar Jean-Paul Sartre Maurice Merleau-Ponty Stanley Deetz 15 7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Central propositions – actual lived experience is the basic data of reality Knowledge is found in conscious experience Language is a vehicle of meaning 16 7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Individuals get meaning directly through experience of a particular thing (phenomenon) Dialogue is important Dialogue allows us to know of the experience of others 17 7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Phenomenological tradition attempts to answer two questions: Why is it so hard to establish and sustain authentic human relationships? How can this problem be overcome? 18 7. The phenomenological tradition — communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue Congruence - harmony between our actions and our true feelings Carl Rogers - three Unconditional positive regard — to conditions for respect others regardless of their personality and position relationship change: Empathic understanding — put yourself in other’s situation 19 8. The ethical tradition—communication as people of character interacting in just and beneficial ways Do communicators have obligations? What are the obligations of communicators? 20  The ethical tradition—communication as people of character interacting in just and beneficial ways Principles about what is morally right or wrong Communication ethics – about right and wrong communication practices Communication can liberate or oppress, hence a moral act Issues of right, fair, just and virtuous communication are always present 21 The ethical tradition—communication as people of character interacting in just and beneficial ways The NCA’s “Credo for Communication Ethics” includes: 1. Advocates truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason. 2. Taking responsibility for consequences of our communication 3. Aim to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and responding to their messages 22  The ethical tradition—communication as people of character interacting in just and beneficial ways Full disclosure (include all relevant information) Broadly, ethical communication Truth and accuracy involves: Avoiding language of manipulation, discrimination or exaggeration 23 Some examples of unethical communication Plagiarism Stealing someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. Selective misquoting Deliberately omitting damaging or unflattering comments to paint a better (but untruthful picture ) of you or your company Misrepresenting numbers Increasing or decreasing numbers , altering statistics or omitting numerical data. Distorting visuals Making a product look bigger or changing the scale of graphs and charts to exaggerate or conceal the differences. Misleading the public by Fake news fabricating/inventing stories 24