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Communication Theory at the Crossroads. Edition No. 1

  • Book

  • 352 Pages
  • February 2025
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 6007643
A generative conceptual framework for empowering diverse groups and individuals to make productive and creative choices together

Communication Theory at the Crossroads proposes a new way of thinking about communication to generate new insights, promote new interaction practices, and directly address a new set of human problems. Rooted in a systemic constructionist perspective, this groundbreaking volume provides the theoretical foundation for fostering mutually beneficial solutions to contemporary issues of divisiveness, interdependence, rapid social change, technology-mediated human experience, and other contemporary social difficulties.

Rather than merely explicating a novel conceptual framework, Communication Theory at the Crossroads positions students as active and engaged social scientists equipped with a unified, fully integrated theory they can use across traditional divisions of communication to navigate their complex, rapidly changing world.

Throughout the text, the authors identify the limits of the communication theories currently in use, discuss the critical choices facing today’s communication students and scholars, explain the theory of relational constructionism, and much more.

Helping students frame their understanding of life difficulties and use theory-based concepts to inform their choices, Communication Theory at the Crossroads is an essential textbook for mid-level undergraduate courses in Communication Theory and Human Communication.

Table of Contents

Author’s Preface xiii

1 Theorizing as an Everyday Activity 1

Preview 1

Implicit Theories and Window Bashing 1

Implicit Theorizing and Phronesis 9

Phronesis in Aristotle 10

John Dewey and Theory-in-Use 11

Phronesis, Preunderstanding and the Possibility of Productive Communication 13

Assumptive Preunderstandings 14

Assumptions About the Nature of Things 14

Assumptions About Determining What is True 17

Assumptions about the Just, Good, and Beautiful 19

Communication Theorizing as a Form of Phronesis 20

Explicit Reflection on Theories 21

Normalization of Failure 22

Changing Problems, Changing Theories 22

Review 23

Discussion Questions 24

Exercise 24

References 25

2 New Social Conditions and the Challenge to Existing Implicit Theories 26

Preview 26

Everyday Theorizing and Repetitive Failure 26

Why Do People Continue to Window Bash? 27

Common Sense and Unwitting Consent 28

Self-Referentiality of Systems 31

System Reproductivity 33

Intervention in Repetitive Failures 34

A Transformed Social World 35

Rapidity of Contemporary Life Changes 35

Interdependence and Pluralism 37

Growth of Mediation 42

Interaction Design 44

Review 49

Discussion Questions 49

Exercise 50

References 50

3 Evaluation of Theories 51

Preview 51

Making the Implicit Explicit 51

Mirrors and Lenses 52

Theory as a Mirror of Nature 54

Explanation/Prediction/Control 56

Domain Specification 56

Hypothesis Testing 56

An Example 57

Theory as a Lens on the World 59

Making the World We Want 65

Developing a “Communication” Theory 66

Review 68

Discussion Questions 68

Exercise 69

References 69

4 A Typology of Theories 70

Preview 70

Ways of Thinking about Communication 70

Common Native Theories of Interaction 71

Teleology of Interaction 72

Teleology of Influence 72

Teleology of Participation 73

Dominance of Influence 74

Conceptions of Meaning and Human Experience 75

Prototypical Theories of Communication 80

Quadrant 1: Strategic Communication 81

Quadrant 2: Liberal Democracy 84

Constructionism and the Limits of Liberal Democracy 85

The Primacy of Personal Experience 86

Freedom of Speech and Speaking Forums 86

Persuasion and Advocacy 87

Scale and Representation 88

Quadrant 3: Cultural Management 88

Quadrant 4: Generative Democracy 91

Review 93

Discussion Questions 94

Exercise 94

References 94

5 Relational Construction of Human Experience 95

Preview 95

Common Implicit Story of Communication 95

Relational Constructionism 97

Relational Encounter 97

Indeterminant Nature of the Outside 98

Subject Positions and Experience 99

The World as Attended To 101

Political Nature of Subject Positions 102

Politics of Institutional Practices 104

Language as Positioning the Subject 107

Language as Representation 108

Language as a Tool of Personal Expression 109

Language as Constitutive of Experience 110

Review 116

Discussion Questions 116

Exercise 117

References 117

6 The Politics of Experience 118

Preview 118

Pluralism and Difference 118

Differences and Claims in Life Arenas 120

Types of Claims and Arenas of Difference 122

Relation to the Interior: The Politics of Authenticity 123

Relation to Specific Others: The Politics of Identity and Recognition 128

Relations to Generalized Others and Society: The Politics of Order 130

Relation to the Outer World: The Politics of Knowledge 132

Relation to the Future: The Politics of Life Narratives 135

Relation to Morality: The Politics of Distribution and Justice 139

Review 141

Discussion Questions 141

Exercise 142

References 142

7 Constructing Worlds Together 143

Preview

Relation of Relational Claims 143

People Frequently Confuse Claims 146

Consequences of Articulation 147

Disarticulation and Interaction Design 150

Interpretive Processes and the Fluid Nature of Meaning 152

Aligning Meaning Processes 155

Alignment and Framing 156

Alignment of Claims in Systems 158

Complex Flow of Meaning Making Over Time 159

Competing Meanings Often Exist 160

Meaning Production has no Clear Beginnings or Ends 161

Working with Confusing Claims 162

Nonalignment is Often Repeated Over Time 164

Review 165

Discussion Questions 166

Exercise 166

References 166

8 Developing Free and Open Communication 168

Preview 168

Working with Difference 168

Returning to Interaction Teleology 170

Moral Foundation for Free and Open Communication 172

Reciprocity as an Implicit Normative Claim 174

Implications of Reciprocity 176

Genuine Conversation 177

Genuine Conversation at the Breakfast Table 178

Difference and Conceptions of Genuine Conversations 180

Contestation: The Opening of Communication Where Before None Seemed Needed 183

Free and Open Communication Designs 185

Deliberation 186

Dialogue 188

Collaboration 189

Collaborative Versus Strategic Orientation 189

Representation and Who is at the Table 190

Problem-Talk and Outcome-Talk 191

Distinguishing Wants and Interests 192

Grade Change to What End? 193

Collaboration Beyond Resource Limited Situations 193

Review 194

Discussion Questions 195

Exercise 195

References 196

9 Strategic Communication 197

Preview 197

Stopping of Communication Where It Is Needed 197

Openly Strategic Communication 198

Latently Strategic Communication 200

Discursive Advantages 202

Discursive Closures 205

Disqualification 205

Naturalization 206

Natural Laws of Basketball 207

Neutralization 207

Nondiscussibility 208

Subjectification of Experience 210

Meaning Denial 211

Strategically Reopening Communication 212

Resistance 212

Metacommunication 213

Rhetoric 214

Strategic Action 214

Review 214

Discussion Questions 215

Exercise 215

References 216

10 Interpersonal Interaction 217

Preview 217

Interpersonal Relationships 217

Interaction Systems 218

Holism 218

Equilibrium 219

Recursivity 219

Emergence 220

Alignment Processes 220

Acceptance, Rejection, and Disconfirmation 221

Taken-For-Granted-Knowledge 223

Coherence Expectations 225

Episodes and Scripts 228

Casting 230

Mixed Messages and Meaning Denial 233

Undesirable Repetitive Patterns 235

Review 240

Discussion Questions 240

Exercise 240

References 241

11 Interaction in Organizations 242

Preview 242

The Organizational Context 242

Relational Construction and Organization 243

Communication in Organizations 245

The Turn to Culture 249

Culture as Relational Construction 251

Emotions 252

Identity 253

Social Order 254

Knowledge 255

Life Narratives 256

Justice and Distribution 257

Neoliberalism 258

Corporate Colonization 258

Free and Open Communication 261

Collaboration in and Between Organizations 262

Getting Social Values into Decision Making 263

Traditional Forms of Public Value Inclusion 264

Stewardship 264

Consumer Choices 265

Limits of Government Intervention 266

Emerging Forms of Public Value Inclusion 268

Benefit Corporations (B-Corps) 268

Stakeholder Models 269

Review 270

Discussion Questions 271

Exercise 271

References 271

12 Social and Mass Media 273

Preview 273

The Growth of Mediation 273

Mediation and Latent Strategy 275

The Myth of Transparency 275

Transforming the Sensual 276

Content and Latent Strategy 279

The Blurring of Message Types 279

Culture Industries 280

Promises and Concerns 281

More Connectivity281

Increased Capacity to Respond 282

More and More Widely Shared Information 284

More Diverse Content and Receiver Selectivity 287

Ownership and Commercial Interests 288

Ownership Bias 288

Commercial Bias 290

Medium Design Biases 292

Increasing Choice and Content Diversity 295

Greater Integration of Systems 296

Democratic Potential 298

Media Literacy and Media as a Change Agent 299

Communication as a Public Utility 300

Development Choices 302

The Facilitation of Democracy 303

Review 304

Discussion Questions 305

Exercise 305

References 306

13 Analysis of Cases and Interaction Design 307

A Final Word 314

Reference 314

Appendix: Chapter Briefs 315

Index 327

Authors

Stanley Deetz University of Colorado, Boulder. Gary P. Radford Fairleigh Dickinson University. Michael Vicaro Penn State, Greater Allegheny.