Showing papers in "Communication Theory in 2015"

A Re‐Explication of Social Norms, Ten Years Later

Abstract: We revisit some ideas from our previous article on social norms by conceptualizing norms as dynamic entities that both affect and are affected by human action; elaborating on the distinction between collective and perceived norms; summarizing key findings from studies that have adopted the theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) and thereby proposing guidelines for further expanding the purview of the TNSB; discussing the attribute-centered approach as a framework for focusing on behavioral characteristics; and highlighting areas for further inquiry into social norms.

Examining Four Processes of Audience Involvement With Media Personae: Transportation, Parasocial Interaction, Identification, and Worship

Abstract: The proliferation of visual media worldwide during the past 50 years has made mediated personalities, both real people and fictional characters, powerful agents of social change. Communication theorists have explored various forms of involvement with these personalities, generally referred to as media personae. The current academic literature that explores various forms of audience involvement with media personae lacks conceptual clarity. The present article discusses distinctions among four processes of involvement—transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship—and provides an integrated theoretical model for assessing these powerful forms of social influence.

Peering into Transparency: Challenging Ideals, Proxies, and Organizational Practices

Abstract: The current emphasis on organizational transparency signifies a growing demand for insight, clarity, accountability, and participation. Holding the promise of improved access to valid and trustworthy knowledge about organizations, the transparency pursuit has great potential for enhanced organizational effectiveness and widened democratic practice. Yet, with its most common operationalization, as information, transparency reinstalls a “purified” notion of communication devoid of mystery, inaccuracy, and (mis)representation. We apply transparency to itself by unpacking its implicit model of communication and critiquing its obliviousness to the representative nature of transparency-related messages and the attendant complexities of motivation. This critique interrogates the ambiguities and ambivalence of the transparency pursuit and demonstrates how the goals of organizational transparency are counteracted by new types of opacity.

Putting the Image Back Into the Frame: Modeling the Linkage Between Visual Communication and Frame-Processing Theory

Abstract: Given the rising use of visual and multimodal information, text-oriented framing research is at risk of losing traction with current media reality. We propose applying frame processing theory as a general framework for understanding how coherent meaning is constructed from complex stimuli, regardless of their modality: Both visual and textual information processing follow a recursive sequence of (a) selective perception/structuring, (b) decoding, (c) the construction of relations, and (d) their integration into coherent meaning. The specifics of visual and textual modalities provide varying degrees of structuring and salience within a fundamentally unified information processing process. Integrating advances from framing and visual communication research, we discuss implications for the empirical analysis of multimodal news contents, and sketch an agenda for research.

Looking Over, Looking Out, and Moving Forward: Positioning Public Relations in Theorizing Organizational Network Ecologies

Abstract: Public relations research has benefitted from theory development in the field of Communication. Yet, the contributions of public relations theory building to the larger Communication discipline are less clear. This may be due to the fact that public relations theories have focused on dyadic relationships with an organization at the center. This type of research has pursued a narrow understanding of relationships and neglected a broader understanding of how discourse shapes meaning and relationships. This article explores the social network perspective that places an organization's relationships in a wider context, its network ecology. We propose a conceptual model of how to apply social network analysis to studying systems of relationships and identify six propositions that provide guidelines for future research.

Decolonizing Communication for Social Change: A Culture-Centered Approach

Abstract: The role of communication in planned social change is portrayed as a linear conduit for inducing pro-development behavior change in the “undeveloped” world. Later versions of social change communication started incorporating culture and participation into multicultural participatory development programs. This essay suggests that development discourses, including their later incarnations incorporating culture and participation, serve as vehicles for capitalist market promotion. These new forms of planned social change communication, scripted in the narratives of local empowerment, community-based participation, and entrepreneurship, work to systematically erase subaltern communities. Building on the theoretical framework of the culture-centered approach (CCA), I examine the ways in which dialogues with the margins of development discourse resist these dominant conceptual categories of development. The subaltern, standing in for the popular, resists neoliberal interventions through her active participation in popular politics.

From mood to meaning: : The changing model of the user in entertainment research

Abstract: In recent years, entertainment theory has undergone a paradigmatic shift: The traditional conceptualization of entertainment as an exclusively pleasurable affective state has been significantly extended by recent two-factor models. These models have introduced a second dimension of entertainment that incorporates more complex nonhedonic experiences, such as the search for meaning or intrinsic need satisfaction. They have not only crucially altered the way communication scholars conceptualize the audience of media entertainment but also our discipline's view on the effects of entertaining media content. The present article discusses the implications of this changing model of the media user both for entertainment theory and research as well as for the discipline of communication as a whole

Active Audiences? The Debate Progresses But Is Far From Resolved

Abstract: The study of media audiences has long been hotly contested regarding their supposed power to construct shared meanings, to mitigate or moderate media influences, or to complete or resist the circuit of culture. Transformations in the media environment add further grounds for contestation over audience activity or passivity, so–called, given the increasing mediation and digitalization of all dimensions of modern societies. Yet despite such persistent contestation, audiences are often taken for granted within communication theory as, implicitly, an invisible and indivisible mass. The article notes that the audience project—and thus a grounded recognition of significance of ordinary people's collective and individual experiences of living in a digital age—seemingly must be reasserted for each generation of scholarship, rearticulating their role in relation to each new phase of sociotechnological change and, perhaps most interesting, reflexively rethinking “audiencing” as the very conditions of modernity are globally reconfigured. After reflecting on the possibility that Western audience researchers have come to take for granted the wider context of audiences' lives, the article observes that one benefit of globalization is a renewed necessity for researchers to articulate that which is taken for granted and thus seek ways to reinsert audiences into the wider analysis of the circuit of culture.

Disciplines in the field of communication for development and social change

Abstract: This article provides an overview of subdisciplines in the field of Communication for Development and Social Change. Different subdisciplines of communication science are analyzed to assess their connection to the field. Building on these subdisciplines the article reviews health communication, agricultural extension and rural communication, and environmental communication as practice-based subdisciplines of Communication for Development and Social Change. By assessing the current development and communication approaches within the different subdisciplines, the article aims to better understand the current state-of-the-art of the field and identify future imperatives.

Organizational Communication Meets Queer Theory: Theorizing Relations of “Difference” Differently

Abstract: In this essay, I show how further engagement with queer theory can contribute to organizational communication theorizing about difference. After reviewing the theoretical roots of difference and intersectionality research in organizational communication, I draw from queer theory to articulate three guiding principles for queer difference research: (a) emphasizing the notion of normativity; (b) adopting an anticategorical approach to difference, intersectionality, and normativity; and (c) advocating a politics that challenges normativity. I conclude by discussing both the relevance and potential of queer theory for all communication theorists and suggest that further engagement with queer theory is consistent with putting communication at the center of explanations to social reality

Core Theories of Political Communication: Foundational and Freshly Minted

Abstract: This article presents and evaluates the essential tenets of a selection of core theories of political communication that leading scholars produced before and after the advent of media abundance, digital communication, and the Internet. From the earlier Foundational Legacy period, a number of theories of media effects, conceptualizations of the politics-media axis, and typologies for comparative analysis of political communication systems are discussed. From the digital era, a number of more freshly minted theories of voice, actors' roles, and holistic and normative perspectives are then considered. In conclusion, the article paints a largely positive picture of the state of political communication theory but also specifies certain needs for further theory development in this highly productive area of communication scholarship

Three challenges for communication and global social change

Abstract: The field of communication and social change is periodically subjected to new questions and directions. Because the field has historically straddled academia and the aid industry, theoretical debates and programmatic directions were symptomatic of shifts in both settings. The current situation is no exception. Recent debates in communication scholarship and trends in global aid have set novel questions and priorities. The purpose of this article is to discuss three challenges that need attention: the fragmentation of the field, the paucity of research on policy advocacy, and the links between participation and aid effectiveness. Addressing these challenges is necessary to produce crisp theoretical propositions about the linkages between communication and social change and engage in current debates in global aid.

Revisiting “Organizations as Discursive Constructions”: 10 Years Later

Abstract: In this article, we express our appreciation for the honor accorded our 2004 Communication Theory article, “Organizations as Discursive Constructions.” We do this through situating the 2004 article historically so the reader can appreciate the milieu that surrounded the publication of this piece. We also trace the different ways that scholars have applied the ideas in this publication, including the debates and critiques of this perspective. Finally, we look to the ways in which “organizations as discursive constructions” might be extended to research on materiality and the dialectical interplay between organization and disorganization

The Constitutive Metamodel: A 16-Year Review

Abstract: This article reviews the uses that have been made of the constitutive metamodel (R. T. Craig, 1999) in the first 16 years since its publication. The metamodel has been widely cited as a shorthand reference to the field, and has been used as a device for teaching theory, reflecting on communication problems from multiple perspectives, and assessing particular theories or subdisciplinary areas in relation to the field as a whole. Scholars have also proposed new traditions of communication theory and at least one revised conception of the traditions in general. Critiques of the metamodel have focused on questions of epistemological bias, disconnection of theory from research, the definition of traditions, and the potential for productive dialogue in the field.

Media Influence, Ontological Transformation, and Social Change: Conceptual Overlaps between Development Communication and Public Diplomacy

Abstract: Development Communication and Public Diplomacy are twin products of US political science and Cold War foreign policy As contemporary diplomatic and development policies continue to converge, new ways of interpreting the relationship between the fields are necessary This article analyses the 2 fields' emergence out of modernization policy and their reliance on a common conception of process: namely, that information propagated through media channels alters how foreign citizens know the world around them, and that this transformation can lead to positive social change More recent paradigmatic shifts toward participatory communication models demonstrate that both fields have moved toward inclusive conceptualizations of influence and social change, but key differences suggest that they still have much to learn from each other

Historical Institutionalism in Communication Studies

Abstract: New institutionalism is a collection of institutionalist theories, including historical institutionalism, sociological institutionalism, and rational choice institutionalism. This article focuses on historical institutionalism in communication studies. First, we note that historical institutionalism—a dominant approach in political science—has appeared in relatively few studies of media and communications. Second, we describe the historical institutionalist approach. Third, we describe the historical institutionalist method in detail, breaking it down into 6 steps and demonstrating its usefulness, especially in the areas of communication history and communication policy and law. In the final section, we further develop our contention that the field of communications is a fruitful one for the development of historical institutionalism, and that historical institutionalism is a useful approach for communication scholars, especially in the areas of communication history, policy, and law.

Cripping Communication: Speech, Disability, and Exclusion in Liberal Humanist and Posthumanist Discourse

Abstract: In this article, I bring communication and disability studies into dialogue, arguing that speech communication has long been a dilemma within liberal humanism and posthumanism. While humanism venerates speech as the most privileged manifestation of rational human identity, it defers the immanent tension in speech between universal and particular by excluding nonnormative voices from the realm of rational discourse. The reconfiguration of the humanist subject into the posthuman privileges informationally flexible and malleable bodies. The disabled speaker provides an important critique of the ableism and exclusion latent within communication theory and offers new modes of thinking about posthuman communication as an embodied and impure activity based on noise, relationality, and reciprocity.

Transnational Feminism, Global Governance, and the Reimagination of the Organization–Society Relationship: A Case Study of the Women's Environment and Development Organization

Abstract: This study further destabilizes the traditional view of the organization–society relationship in which organizations are largely divorced from the publics they represent. A critical case study of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), a transnational feminist organization working across national and geographic borders for inclusive global governance, reveals that its global governance discourse mediates: (a) Western liberalism's neglect of difference by centering typically peripheral voices; and (b) postmodernity's moral relativism by developing and implementing global norms. A global intermediary between powerful decision-making bodies and historically underrepresented citizens, WEDO is an exemplar of how transnational feminist organizations are reconfiguring the organization–society relationship in a postmodern era.

Metacognitive model of ambivalence: The role of multiple beliefs and metacognitions in creating attitude ambivalence

Abstract: Although research suggests political ambivalence prevails in the American public, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms through which a person's attitude structure and relevant antecedents interact to create ambivalence This article aims to summarize and synthesize the results of existing studies on ambivalence in order to construct a coherent theoretical framework to explain various ambivalence phenomena identified across the social sciences First, relevant studies and conceptualizations of ambivalence are reviewed Next, drawing from the metacognitive model and belief accessibility, potential relations and mechanisms are presented wherein multiple beliefs and metacognitions are related to the attitude object to create ambivalence Last, the theoretical contributions and implications of the proposed model are discussed

Citizens' Media in the Favelas: Finding a Place for Community-Based Digital Media Production in Social Change Processes

Abstract: Though theories of citizens' media offer fruitful discussions on how to encourage marginalized communities to participate in media production, they often do not consider the role of material produced in larger social change projects. Drawing on the case of Viva Favela, a digital journalism project based in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, we can see a conflict between two views on how to orient material produced locally with larger social change agendas: one that seeks to make the site a network for collaborators in favelas across Brazil and another that seeks to use it as an advocacy tool for addressing problems facing Rio's favelas. Addressing this conflict entails reconsidering how citizens' media projects coordinate between opposing interests and goals.

Extending the Examination of Audience Involvement With Media Personae: Response to Brown

Abstract: A large body of research has demonstrated that audience involvement with media characters can facilitate media effects in important ways. Over time, our understanding of the various processes of audience involvement has grown more nuanced but the relationships among these constructs remains unclear. As Brown notes in his paper, some conceptual confusion persists and we still lack a comprehensive model for understanding these interrelationships. Brown's paper offers a crucial step forward by positing a model of how individuals progress from transportation and parasocial relationships to identification and worship based upon increases in intensity and duration. Here I discuss some of my additional thoughts on these interrelationships that were inspired by Brown's fine work in advancing this model

Making Communication Theory Matter

Abstract: This article considers the role of theory in the development of communication as a field of inquiry. Arguing that the relationship between the parts and whole of the field has not been adequately understood, it suggests that embracing a fuller understanding of communication's singularity might work better for both communication scholars and those situated in other fields of inquiry

TED Talks on International Development : Trans-Hegemonic Promise and Ritualistic Constraints

Abstract: Despite their global popularity and relevance to Communication for Development (C4D), TED talks have not yet been systematically examined from the vantage point of C4D. We offer the first theoretical and empirical investigation of both content and structure of talks on international development by leveraging definitions of C4D as well as literature on mediatization, rituals in international relations, and online activism. Our analysis suggests that TED talks succeed in disseminating ideas and sparking public interest. At the same time, they reflect institutionalized, corporatized modes of mass communication rooted in elitist discourses and practices. Contrary to popular perceptions, we therefore conclude that while TED talks are an effective vehicle for information dissemination, they are an unlikely catalyst for social change.

Expanding Ethnography of Communication Research: Toward Ethnographies of Encoding

Abstract: The Ethnography of Communication research agenda, as it has been incorporated into the field of Communication over the past 3 decades, has made considerable contributions to our understanding of the cultural and social coding of language-in-use. This article argues that further development of this research agenda requires ethnographies that attend to processes of encoding, including their precoded phases, and pay greater attention to the temporality, performativity, and materiality of communication. This is illustrated with reference to the rapidly shifting contemporary techno-social environments communicators face today

Theorizing Interpersonal Communication: Progress and Problematic Practices

Abstract: This commentary looks at theory development and use by scholars who study interpersonal communication. It highlights both progress and challenges for the future

The Many Spaces of Theory: Perspectives on a Dispersed Future

Abstract: This note of commentary examines the divergent contexts within which theoretical work on communication is now undertaken and identifies some of the underlying factors in play. It suggests that further disconnection between areas of conceptual engagement is likely to occur, whatever the quality of specific theoretical advances, and that is highly unlikely that “cross-field” initiatives seeking improved coherence will be able to counter the underlying dynamics of dispersal.

Passé Media: Communication and Transportation on Commuter and Computer Buses

Abstract: This essay proposes the concept of “passe media” as a contribution to scholarship that combines communication and geography, as well as to work that foregrounds background processes of networked, digitized social production. Passe media, communication and transportation technologies that both connect endpoints and are acclaimed only until the next technology arrives, reveal at least three attributes: (1) a novel way to conceptualize mobility, (2) the transformation of use-value to exchange-value, and (3) the continued ecological imprints of digital technologies. To illustrate, we turn to the bus, deployed both for transportation (commuter buses) and communication (computer buses). We argue that the moment of the bus highlights the ways in which spaces of connection are simultaneously privileged and ignored, highlighted and effaced