Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction, 2e Warren & Fassett
Chapter 1: Thinking Critically About Communication in Culture
Lecture Outline
Overview:
This introduction to communication studies is the perspective of the authors. This is an
important point to understand because the authors access the information from their
studies and research in communication studies. There are many ways to talk about
communication studies and what is important in communication studies but the authors
present their ideas, their agenda, and their frame of issues and ideas they find important.
Therefore, they would like you to read this material
Chapter Goals:
Identify central concerns of communication study from a critical perspective
Begin critical interrogation of communication phenomena
Explore how communication is linked to culture and power
Distinguish between communication as representation and communication as
constitutive
Define public advocacy and explore how to build a message for an audience
I. This introduction—this approach—is one perspective.
a. The authors avoid treating concepts and ideas as “objective.”
i. You, the reader, are encouraged to exercise your own judgment
when dealing with the concepts in this book.
b. You are asked to read vigilantly.
i. You ought to hold the authors accountable for their position.
ii. You should hold yourself accountable as well.
c. This book is more interested in hows than whats.
i. Hows refer to how communication functions
ii. Whats refer to definitions and concepts treated like objective facts.
d. This text does not propose to tell you how to think about the world.
i. You do not have to agree with everything in this book.
ii. You should engage the material and develop your own opinions.
II. These definitions work toward common understanding between the reader and the
authors.
a. Informed Choices means the when we act, we do so in a way that not
only makes us happy, but that also enriches our lives and the lives of
others.
b. Critical Perspective means questioning and engaging experience instead
of taking it for granted.
c. Communication is the collaborative construction and negotiation of
meaning between self and others as it occurs within cultural contexts.
i. It is collaborative as it involves people working together.
ii. The collaboration is negotiated between the participants.
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Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction, 2e Warren & Fassett
iii. It is interwoven into a system of cultures.
d. Culture refers here to a system of shared meanings and assumptions that
draw people together within a social context of shared power.
i. A system of meaning is a shared set of rules or norms.
ii. Informal and formal systems of power exist within these systems
of meaning.
e. Power is a productive tension resulting from our different locations within
culture.
i. When you are aware of your power in relationship to others, you
are experiencing a productive tension.
ii. Cultural location refers to the place a person occupies within
culture given their race, gender, social class, and so on.
f. Public advocacy refers to the ways we might reflect upon and act out
against the injustices we see.
i. Public advocacy had a central role in the founding of the United
States.
ii. Critical inquiry, or asking complicated questions and sorting out
the implications of your actions, is a necessary part of public
advocacy.
III. Communication is more than just words; communication produces, makes,
constructs.
a. Language, as part of communication, constructs social lives.
i. Its use creates and maintains relationships and social roles.
ii. Communication is not a conduit but a way of producing the social
world.
b. Viewing communication as representative means that communication is
abstract or separate from our lives and the world around us.
i. This view treats communication like a tool.
ii. It does not explain ongoing misunderstandings created by
communication.
c. This book argues that communication is constitutive; it helps create us
and what we think of as our realities.
i. Communication surrounds us, builds us, makes possible and limits
some ways of seeing and some actions.
ii. Communication produces meaning, relationships, our selves, and
sustains all aspects of our lives.
iii. Understanding communication as constitutive means exploring
how it can be used to create or undermine power and privilege,
oppression and injustice.
IV. This section provides ways to assist the students in creating messages for public
advocacy.
a. Communication is a process, not a product.
i. Because communication is a process, it involves stages or steps.
ii. A stage model is the most basic and common type of model.
b. Viewing communication as a creative process has implications for
message construction.
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Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction, 2e Warren & Fassett
i. This process is idiosyncratic or distinct for each of us.
ii. It is recursive, meaning it moves back-and-forth across stages.
iii. This process reminds us that we learn as we communicate.
V. Communication is simultaneous, complex, and ongoing, and thus, communication
is a collaborative effort.
a. Viewing communication as a process requires that we consider our
responsibilities as communicators.
b. The speaker and the listener must both take responsibility for the
communication that takes place.
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