Communication Traditions and Their Theories

Reality is not an objective set of arrangements outside us but is constructed through a process of communicating in groups, society, and cultures.

focuses on patterns of interactions rather than individual characteristics or mental modes.

Theory: Symbolic Interactionism

…focuses on signs and symbols.

Theory: Burke's Dramatism

…is the process of knowing through direct experience. It is the way in which humans come to understand the world. Theory: Muted Group Theory

examines how power, privilege and oppression are the products of certain forms of communication.

Theory: Cultural Studies of Stuart Hall

Careful, systematic observation.

Looks for cause and effect relationships

Theory: Social Penetration, Uncertainty Reduction, Social Information Processing.

Theory: Rhetoric of Aristotle


more art than science

Interactional View