com515 communication theory
the complete class notes box set
Communication Theory 08.31.04
The Public Sphere 09.07.04
The Sociological Tradition 09.14.04
Durkheim Tradition 09.21.04
Media Effects 09.28.04
Structuralism 10.05.04
Information Theory 10.12.04
Systems Theory 10.19.04
Networks & Diffusion 10.26.04 Space, Time & Communication 11.02.04 Limited Effects of Mass Media 11.09.04
course taught by dr. alex halavais
study notes by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04
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COM515 Communication Theory
Communication Theory 8/31/04
A syllabus for the class is available at: http://alex.halavais.net/files/TheoryClass
One of the readings is a short article on communication theory in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_communication
The other two may be found in Adobe PDF format here: http://schoolof.info/courses/
To-do:
; Get syllabus
; Buy books from Amazon: Severin & Tanker / Theories of Comm.
; Speed reading techniques
; Google readings
; Mark highlights in notes / Find passion
; Summarize / Find core argument
; Find connecting readings / concepts
; Bring knowledge to class
; Challenge the argument
; Response Papers due each Friday before class (Blog / 800 words)
; Cite reading to provide evidence
; White’s Writing Style Guide (online)
Communication is…
; Resistance to change over time
; Information shared between Systems
; Creating mutual understanding
; Noise to Meaningful
; Reduction of Uncertainty
; Increase utility / Shape Behavior
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
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; The Divides:
o Intentional or Unintentional interaction
o Non-human or human (preferred); has to be heard
o Process (Transmission/Laswell) or Ritual
(Context/History/Ethnography/Humanistic*/Qualitative)
o
*What is Humanistic?
Cyclic Process: Theory -> Hypothesis -> Testing -> Abstraction/Induction ->
Theory explains why there is a causal relationship between two or more things.
; Prediction is not so important in social sciences
; Explanatory power is more important
; Falsifiability: possibility for other way (Freudian)
; Validity: Degree to which results lines up with real-world (whether
it makes sense)
; Parsimony: simplest explanation
; Appropriateness: Does the theory makes sense to what you’re
studying, with relevant process and assumptions
; Theoretical Scope: Generalizability (Structuration), Mutual
uncertainty reduction between two strangers (Berger)
; Openness (compatibility): Good theories do not invalidate other
theories as much
; Heuristic Value (expandibility): easy to turn into ideas for
hypotheses
Epistomology - How to we know things? Study of Knowledge. Language. Ontological - Nature of Being/Material World. Saphire Worf/Language Axiological - Rules/Values, Habermaas (what’s the reason behind it?), Critical Studies
Covering Law (Berger): Always the case
Rules: Norms/Regularities/not a law/negotiable over time (rules can change)
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 4 of 29
Alex’s Oral Exam Questions (Littlejohn's definitions):
; What is communication? Skill is key!
; How do you determine a good theory?
; What if your criteria? Explain your criteria. ; Define Theory.
; How social science differs from natural sciences? ; How information plays in Communication? ; Transmission vs Ritual model?
Upcoming Themes:
; Public vs Private (Habermas Public Sphere, Penny Press) ; Rise of the Mass
; General idea on Dewey
; Read Mills (skip last chapter), then Parsons (only needed)
; Get Broad Ideas
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
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Public Sphere
Habermas
for mediation, legitimating function of social policy Mutual Understanding
Dewey
enables and facilitates inquiry
Mutual Growth
Social Inquiry
Habermas
Theory of communicative action
Achievement of goals (strategic action) require inquiry Different from reason for the goals (communication action) - validity claims rather than common definition
Dewey
Successful resolution of situation more important than legitimacy If validity of norms and shared values in dispute, there is no common
starting point for argument.
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 6 of 29
COM515 Communication Theory
The Public Sphere 9/7/04
Keep a public academic journal (Mills)
; PhdBlogs, CANA, Mathmagenic (KM)
Public Sphere
; Four sociological theories
; Birth of Sociology?
; Dewey said environment shaped the individual
; Question of Agency: Do we have power over our social system? ; Consequence of individual Decisions / Causes?
o Concentrate on consequences rather than causes
o Look for something observable (consequences easier than
causes; humans are erratic)
o Method
; Dewey: American Pragmatism, deductive nominalism ; How do humans organize? No clear difference b/w Private & Public ; Talcott Parsons: grandfather of cybernetics (focus on system over
individual)
o For the individual: motivational forces and mechanisms
o Reproduction: culture
; Human societies are different because of Self-Consciousness
o Human individuals examines own behavior and adjusts it
o Dewey on Friendship (1927, p. 26)
; Grounded Theory: Facts don’t reveal theory to you. You have to
start with your own theory. Theory then strongly influences how
you look at the world. The kinds of things you look for.
o Observe consequences not causes (prevent poisoning)
o Dewey’s Theory of the State (p. 18, 35)
o A way of looking at the world, design theory to benefit from
facts
o Rather than looking at motivations (Parsons)
; What is structure?
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 7 of 29
o It is the difference
o Natural difference b/w man / woman is who works and who
stays home
o Desires may be decided by structure, not individual
; Talcott Parsons
o Doesn’t like history (Unlike Spencer)
o Marx: dialectic (Hagel)
; The process in Hegelian and Marxist thought, in which
two apparently opposed ideas, become combined in a
unified whole, the synthesis
; Marx thinks that material/technology determines our
consciousness
; For Parsons, History doesn’t matter as much as
Structure
; Talking about relations with each other, whether to
society or other things
; Institutions are functional in societies:
； Situational
； Instrumental
； Integrative
; Don’t need to understand behavior (brain as blackbox),
to draw structure, and if drawn correctly, we will get a
theory
; Theory’s Appropriateness, Generalizability, (No
dynamics of society)
; Model vs Theory: Model social behavior to tell how
elements relate. It is theory which you formulate which
predict, model helps at a basic level.
; Parson’s theory seems more like a model
; Parsons knows that his theory isn’t really predictive
o Mills (Closer to Dewey than Parsons)
; We cannot blackbox individuals
; If individuals fail to comply with system, there might be
something wrong with the system
; Individual differences
; Systems approach too general
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 8 of 29
; Argues that small elite controls society (bad boy) ; Out of four schools, he is in conflict school (by himself) ; Wants to take in history
; Want something in the middle (b/w grand theory vs.
little theory) Hard to get that distinction ; Thus sociological imagination, though it is hard in
practice
o Habermas
; Ultimately what we want is agreement, through rational
discussion
; Bourgeois owned their own tools of production ; Marxist – Frankfurt School (effort to unite Freudian with
Marxist)
; Enlightenment
; Self-motivated educated individuals lead to ordered
rational discussion rather than simply emotional
argument
; Pre-conditions: Open to anyone rational
; Power is important to Mills, absent from Parsons
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 9 of 29
COM515 Communication Theory
The Sociological Tradition 9/14/04
Communication with a toy
Two school of symbolic interactionist
; Empiricalism
; Phenonelogical
20 Statement Test (TST)
1. I am a human being
2. I am a lover
3. I am a mac fan
4. I am caring
5. I am evil
6. I am cool
7. I am not who I am
8. I am me
Role vs Characteristics
80% characteristics
Pierce’s theory of meaning
; Sophisticated three-pointed structure
Humans have local rationality, depends on local interactions. One might get
irrational in other environments.
Theory of history or time, and the “Generalized Others”
Chicken and Egg question is where does it all start?
Symbol and Responses
Structuration: fractal in nature
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com
Page 10 of 29
COM515 Communication Theory
Durkheim Tradition 9/21/04
In simplest terms, why was the press the way it is today? ; The Press always takes the form and coloration of the society today. ; The readers take it more critically than in the early days, more
rational.
; Conglomerates buying over presses, less room for
comments/opinions
; Same for smaller radio stations
; Fox = conservative, good because we have another point of view ; Network news = no clear liberal slant, report as they see
Is the thesis on the press related to the Durkheim’s theory?
; Which comes first, Liberalism the cause or the consequence? ; Power? Durkheim = idea to structure
; Colins: How are structures formed?
; Durkheim: Structure through collective consciousness ; Cause and Consequence
; Last week, Blumer & Mead = Individual focused
; This week, Durkheim = groups & masses
; Durkheim “scientific theory of religion” (pg. 149)
; Social density vs Connectivity; which leads to more suicides? ; Perhaps the quality of connectivity? City vs. Countryside? ; Division of Labor leads to interdependence on people ; Dependence on oneself maybe less if you can be replaced (i.e. city)
Search for the Truth
; Structure defines the people
; Structure vs. Individual
; Milton was confident that Truth was definite and demonstrable and
that it had unique power of survival when permitted to assert itself
in a “free and open encounter.” (Pg 44)
; Belief shapes people, societies
com 515 class notes compiled by kevin lim
updated 11/14/04 http://theory.isthereason.com