Preface | p. xvi |
Thinking About Communication and Theory | |
Opening | p. 1 |
Values of Studying Communication Theories | p. 2 |
Knowledge of the Field | p. 2 |
Practical Value | p. 2 |
The Focus of Communication Theories in Action | p. 4 |
Selective Focus on Theories | p. 4 |
Attention to the Process of Theorizing | p. 4 |
Tensions Among Theories | p. 4 |
Communication as a Field of Study | p. 7 |
A Definition of Communication | p. 9 |
Values of Communication | p. 11 |
Personal Impact | p. 11 |
Relationship Impact | p. 12 |
Professional Impact | p. 13 |
Cultural Impact | p. 14 |
Breadth of the Communication Field | p. 15 |
Intrapersonal Communication | p. 15 |
Interpersonal Communication | p. 17 |
Group and Team Communication | p. 17 |
Public Communication | p. 18 |
Performance | p. 19 |
Media and New Technologies for Communication | p. 19 |
Organizational Communication | p. 21 |
Intercultural Communication | p. 23 |
The Heart of Communication Research | p. 24 |
Symbolic Activities | p. 25 |
Meaning | p. 27 |
Careers in Communication | p. 28 |
Research | p. 28 |
Public Relations and Advertising | p. 28 |
Education | p. 29 |
Consulting | p. 30 |
Human Relations and Management | p. 30 |
Summary | p. 31 |
Key Concepts | p. 31 |
Understanding Communication Theories | p. 32 |
The Goals of Theory | p. 33 |
Description: What Is It? | p. 34 |
Explanation | p. 36 |
Understanding, Prediction, and Control | p. 37 |
Reform | p. 39 |
Standards for Evaluating Theories | p. 41 |
Scope: How Much Does the Theory Describe and Explain? | p. 41 |
Testability: Is It Testable? | p. 44 |
Parsimony: Is It Appropriately Simple? | p. 45 |
Utility: Is It Useful? | p. 46 |
Heurism: Does It Generate New Thought or Insights? | p. 46 |
Balancing Criteria for Evaluating Theories | p. 47 |
A Perspective for Studying Theories | p. 48 |
Theories Reflect Points of View | p. 48 |
Different Theories Are Not Necessarily Incompatible | p. 49 |
Theories Have Limited Focus and Scope | p. 51 |
Summary | p. 51 |
Key Concepts | p. 53 |
Building and Testing Theory | p. 54 |
Building Blocks of Theory | p. 54 |
Views of Human Nature | p. 65 |
Ways of Knowing | p. 60 |
Purposes of Theory | p. 63 |
Focus of Theorizing | p. 65 |
Testing Theories | p. 68 |
Hypotheses and Research Questions | p. 68 |
Quantitative Research | p. 70 |
Qualitative Analysis | p. 73 |
Critical Scholarship | p. 76 |
Assessing Research | p. 77 |
Summary | p. 79 |
Key Concepts | p. 79 |
Communication Theories | |
An Early Communication Theory | p. 81 |
General Semantics | p. 81 |
The Special Character of Symbols | p. 82 |
Symbols Are Arbitrary | p. 82 |
Symbols Are Abstract | p. 83 |
Symbols Are Ambiguous | p. 84 |
Meanings Are Contextual | p. 84 |
Remedies for Misunderstanding | p. 88 |
Etc. | p. 89 |
Indexing | p. 89 |
Feedforward | p. 90 |
Critical Assessment of General Semantics | p. 92 |
Too Simplistic | p. 92 |
Misrepresents the Character of Symbols and Language | p. 92 |
Lacks Applied Value | p. 93 |
Summary | p. 94 |
Key Concept | p. 95 |
Theories About Symbolic Activity | p. 96 |
Symbolic Interactionism | p. 96 |
Mind | p. 97 |
Self | p. 98 |
I and ME | p. 98 |
Role Taking | p. 99 |
Critical Assessment of Symbolic Interactionism | p. 102 |
Dramatism | p. 103 |
Identification | p. 105 |
Guilt | p. 106 |
The Dramatistic Pentad (Hexad) | p. 108 |
Critical Appraisal of Dramatism | p. 109 |
Narrative Theory | p. 111 |
The Narrative Paradigm | p. 112 |
Good Reasons | p. 113 |
Narrative Rationality | p. 114 |
Critical Assessment of Narrative Theory | p. 118 |
Summary | p. 120 |
Key Concepts | p. 121 |
Theories About Performance | p. 122 |
Dramaturgical Theory (Performance in Everyday Life) | p. 123 |
Dramaturgical Model | p. 124 |
Impression Management | p. 126 |
Front Stage/Back Stage | p. 127 |
Critical Assessment of Dramaturgical Theory | p. 128 |
Performance Ethnography | p. 130 |
Ethnography | p. 130 |
Direct, Bodily Experience | p. 131 |
The Hermeneutic Circle | p. 132 |
Personal Narrative | p. 133 |
Responsibility | p. 135 |
Critical Assessment of Performance Ethnography | p. 137 |
Performance as Political Action | p. 139 |
Performativity | p. 139 |
Cultural, Political Critique | p. 141 |
Critical Assessment of Political Performance Theory | p. 143 |
Summary | p. 144 |
Key Concepts | p. 145 |
Theories About How Individuals Construct Meaning | p. 146 |
Rules Theory or the Coordinated Management of Meaning | p. 147 |
Hierarchy of Meanings | p. 147 |
Rules | p. 151 |
Logical Force | p. 154 |
Critical Assessment of CMM Theory | p. 157 |
Constructivism | p. 158 |
Cognitive Schemata | p. 158 |
Cognitive Complexity | p. 161 |
Person-Centeredness | p. 163 |
Critical Assessment of Constructivist Theory | p. 164 |
Summary | p. 166 |
Key Concepts | p. 166 |
Theories of Communication Dynamics | p. 167 |
Interactional Theory | p. 167 |
Communication Systems | p. 168 |
Levels of Meaning | p. 173 |
Punctuation | p. 174 |
Communication and Power | p. 175 |
Critical Assessment of Interactioanl Theory | p. 177 |
Dialectical Theory | p. 179 |
Root Terms | p. 179 |
Relational Dialectics | p. 182 |
Responses to Dialectics | p. 185 |
Critical Assessment of Dialectical Theory | p. 187 |
Summary | p. 189 |
Key Concepts | p. 190 |
Theories About Communication and Relational Evolution | p. 191 |
Uncertainty Reduction Theory | p. 192 |
Laws of Behavior | p. 192 |
Theoretical Axioms | p. 193 |
Beyond Personal Relationships | p. 194 |
Critical Assessment of Uncertainty Reduction Theory | p. 196 |
Social Exchange Theory | p. 198 |
Evaluation of Relationships | p. 199 |
Standards of Comparison | p. 200 |
Equity and Inequity | p. 202 |
Critical Assessment of Social Exchange Theory | p. 204 |
Developmental Theories | p. 207 |
Viewing Relationships Developmentally | p. 207 |
First-Generation Developmental Theories | p. 208 |
Second-Generation Developmental Theories | p. 210 |
Relationship Trajectories | p. 210 |
Critical Assessment of Developmental Theories | p. 214 |
Summary | p. 215 |
Key Concepts | p. 216 |
Theories About Communication Cultures | p. 217 |
Communication and Culture | p. 218 |
Standpoint Theory | p. 219 |
Locations in Cultural Life | p. 220 |
Situated Knowledges | p. 221 |
Accuracy of Different Standpoints | p. 222 |
Standpoint's Relation to Communication | p. 223 |
Critical Assessment of Standpoint Theory | p. 225 |
Speech Communities | p. 227 |
Speech Community Theory | p. 227 |
Rules of Communication | p. 228 |
Misunderstandings | p. 230 |
Critical Assessment of Speech Community Theory | p. 232 |
Organizational Culture | p. 233 |
Organizations as Cultures | p. 233 |
Communication and Organizational Culture | p. 234 |
Thick Description | p. 239 |
Critical Assessment of Organizational Culture Theory | p. 240 |
Summary | p. 241 |
Key Concepts | p. 242 |
Theories of Mass Communication | p. 243 |
Technological Determinism | p. 244 |
Media History of Human Civilization | p. 245 |
The Medium Is the Message/Massage | p. 247 |
Hot and Cool Media | p. 249 |
Critical Assessment of Technological Determinism | p. 249 |
Cultivation Theory | p. 251 |
Cultivation | p. 252 |
The Power of Synthetic Reality | p. 254 |
Assumptions of Cultivation Theory | p. 256 |
Critical Assessment of Cultivation Theory | p. 259 |
Summary | p. 264 |
Key Concepts | p. 266 |
Critical Communication Theories | p. 267 |
Feminist Theories | p. 268 |
Gender | p. 269 |
Patriarchy | p. 269 |
Patriarchal Universe of Discourse | p. 270 |
Multiple Ways of Knowing | p. 271 |
Critical Assessment of Feminist Theories | p. 273 |
Muted Group Theory | p. 275 |
Masculine Bias | p. 275 |
Muted Language/Muted Experience | p. 276 |
The Power to Name | p. 277 |
Resistance to Dominant Discourses | p. 278 |
Critical Assessment of Muted Group Theory | p. 280 |
Cultural Studies Theories | p. 281 |
Culture | p. 283 |
Ideological Domination | p. 284 |
The "Theatre of Struggle" | p. 286 |
Overdetermination | p. 287 |
Response to Dominant Ideologies | p. 288 |
Critical Assessment of Cultural Studies Theories | p. 289 |
Summary | p. 291 |
Key Concepts | p. 293 |
Communication Theories in Action: A Final Look | p. 294 |
An Integrating Perspective on Communication Theories | p. 294 |
The Process of Theorizing | p. 295 |
Communication Theories in Review | p. 299 |
The Value of Theoretical Plurality | p. 302 |
Putting Theories into Practice | p. 303 |
Theories Cultivate Understanding | p. 303 |
Multiple Theories Promote Social Progress | p. 306 |
Communication Theories in Social Contexts | p. 307 |
The Frontiers of Communication Theory | p. 308 |
The Critical Edge in Theorizing | p. 308 |
Postmodern Puzzlings | p. 309 |
Postmodern-Poststructural Communication Theories | p. 311 |
Summary | p. 315 |
Key Concepts | p. 316 |
Glossary | p. 317 |
References | p. 331 |
Name Index | p. 355 |
Subject Index | p. 359 |
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