Chinese Communication Theory and Research


Book Description

A systematic examination of Chinese communication scholarship and comprehensive critique of its theories and methodologies are long overdue, and in this new collection of essays by a multicultural group of scholars, both aims are achieved. Focusing on such relatively new fields as Chinese health communication and Chinese communication on the internet, the volume addresses key questions about the state and the future of its field. Both challenging and complementing the Western views of communication, it advances theories of cultural and intercultural communication while at the same time broadening our understanding of the relevance of Chinese communication studies to communication studies overall, and the ways in which this subdiscipline points the way toward a new and more complicated future. The essayists, whose origins include the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, bring their many perspectives to bear on what is the most comprehensive and inclusive review of Chinese communication research literature published in English. Of great benefit to Western and Eastern communication theorists, philosophers of social science, and Asian studies scholars, Chinese Communication Theory and Research is an invaluable guide to an increasingly complex and significant field of study.




Communication Theory


Book Description

Communication Theory: Eastern and Western Perspectives focuses on the processes, methodologies, principles, and approaches involved in communication theory. The selection first elaborates on Asian perspectives on communication theory; Chinese philosophy and contemporary human communication theory; communication in Chinese narrative; and contemporary Chinese philosophy and political communication. Discussions focus on the structure and function of China's political communication system; philosophical principles of Chinese communism; embodiment of reason in experience; and dialectic completion of relative polarities. The text then examines Korean philosophy and communication, practice of Uye-Ri in interpersonal relationships, and the teachings of Yi Yulgok. The publication examines the double-swing model of intercultural communication between the East and the West; interpersonal cognition, message goals, and organization of communication; and the convergence theory of communication, self-organization, and cultural evolution. The book also ponders on the practice of Antyodaya in agricultural extension communication in India and communication within Japanese business organizations. The selection is a valuable reference for researchers interested in the Eastern and Western perspectives of communication theory.




Chinese Internet Buzzwords


Book Description

As the Internet has reshaped the way we communicate, people’s reading has become more fragmented and attention has been directed to a more concise and general form of language that outlines the most important information. This language of the internet, a language system that concentrates on the content of events and public emotions, has emerged and received wide currency. This monograph is one of the first books to examine the language of the internet in the Chinese context. By analysing content and discourse, the author examines Chinese website buzzwords since 2010. She reveals the mechanisms of generation, the cultural nature and political characteristics of the network language, analyzes the causes of its emergence and popularity, and highlights its social and academic significance. Meanwhile, she argues that research in the area is essentially interdisciplinary, involving not only perspectives from Journalism and Communication Studies, but also Philosophy, Culture, Linguistics and Sociology. Students and scholars of Communication Studies and Journalism, as well as Culture Studies should be greatly interested in this title.




De-Westernizing Communication Research


Book Description

The rise of postmodern theories and pluralist thinking has paved the way for multicultural approaches to communication studies and now is the time for decentralization, de-Westernization, and differentiation. This trend is reflected in the increasing number of communication journals with a national or regional focus. Alongside this proliferation of research output from outside of the mainstream West, there is a growing discontent with communication theories being “Westerncentric”. Compared with earlier works that questioned the need to distinguish between the Western and the non-Western, and to build “Asian” communication theories, there seems to be greater assertiveness and determination in searching for and developing theoretical frameworks and paradigms that take consideration of, and therefore are more relevant to, the cultural context in which research is accomplished. This path-breaking book moves beyond critiquing “Westerncentrism” in media and communication studies by examining where Eurocentrism has come from, how is it reflected in the study of media and communication, what the barriers and solutions to de-centralizing the production of theories are, and what is called for in order to establish Asian communication theories.




The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory


Book Description

The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory presents a comprehensive collection of original essays that focus on all aspects of current and classic theories and practices relating to media and mass communication. Focuses on all aspects of current and classic theories and practices relating to media and mass communication Includes essays from a variety of global contexts, from Asia and the Middle East to the Americas Gives niche theories new life in several essays that use them to illuminate their application in specific contexts Features coverage of a wide variety of theoretical perspectives Pays close attention to the use of theory in understanding new communication contexts, such as social media 2 Volumes




Innovations in Communication Theories


Book Description

This book offers a novel approach to innovations in theories of communication and social development. It proposes that "the man is the message". It argues that communication is woven into the fabric of people’s daily lives, and a scholar with a keen eye, an open heart and an inquiring mind should be able to capture the ubiquitous phenomena of communication and turn them into theoretical observations and even innovations. Although most of the propositions in this book cannot be tested empirically, at least for now, owing to the limitations inherent in current research methods, they complement the empirical studies of communication based on measurement.With due understanding that Western social sciences, including communication studies, focus on analytical thinking and the fine division of disciplines, this book takes a more synthetic approach to analyzing communication, often integrating and contextualizing its various factors and channels and categories in analysis and writing. Providing a holistic picture of communication that features the crux of the matter—how to reach and capture the heart and soul of people without any attempt to manipulate their minds, it is more humanistic than many other books on communication studies. Although much of the thinking in the book is seemingly Chinese, it nevertheless has a universal appeal.




Technomobility in China


Book Description

Winner of the 2014 Bonnie Ritter Book Award Winner of the 2013 James W. Carey Media Research Award As unprecedented waves of young, rural women journey to cities in China, not only to work, but also to “see the world” and gain some autonomy, they regularly face significant institutional obstacles as well as deep-seated anti-rural prejudices. Based on immersive fieldwork, Cara Wallis provides an intimate portrait of the social, cultural, and economic implications of mobile communication for a group of young women engaged in unskilled service work in Beijing, where they live and work for indefinite periods of time. While simultaneously situating her work within the fields of feminist studies, technology studies, and communication theory, Wallis explores the way in which the cell phone has been integrated into the transforming social structures and practices of contemporary China, and the ways in which mobile technology enables rural young women—a population that has been traditionally marginalized and deemed as “backward” and “other”—to participate in and create culture, allowing them to perform a modern, rural-urban identity. In this theoretically rich and empirically grounded analysis, Wallis provides original insight into the co-construction of technology and subjectivity as well as the multiple forces that shape contemporary China.




Theories and Models of Communication


Book Description

This unique volume offers an overview of the diversity in research on communication, including perspectives from biology, sociality, economics, norms and human development. It includes general social science and humanities approaches to communication, from systems theory to cultural theory, as well as perspectives more specifically related to communication acts, such as linguistics and cognition. The volume also features chapters on the participants and various elements in communication processes, on possible effects and on wider consequences of mediation (with technical media). The scope of the contributions is global, and the volume is relevant to both the empirical and the philosophical traditions in human sciences. Designed as a stand-alone collection to engage undergraduates as well as postgraduates and academics, this is also the first book in, and an introduction to, the De Gruyter Mouton multi-volume Handbooks of Communication Science.




Human and Mediated Communication around the World


Book Description

This book is unique in the sense that it offers a comprehensive review and analysis of human communication and mediated communication around the world. This is one of the first attempts to do so in a systematic, comprehensive way. It challenges the assumption that Western theories of human communication and mass communication have universal applicability. It surveys the applicability of mass communication theories to other than Western cultures. The book explains the influence of culture on all forms of communication behavior, be it personal, mediated or mass communication. It presents communication theories from around the world, incorporating a vast body of literature from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. This updated information on important international perspectives that includes both interpersonal and mediated communication is presently not readily available in other sources. The book offers an integrated approach to understanding the working of electronic means of communication that are hybrid media combining human and mediated communication. These new media that are often presented as universal are even more culture-bound than the traditional media.




The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Discourse Studies


Book Description

In response to the cultural challenges in society and scholarship, this handbook presents the conceptions, assumptions, principles, methods, topics and issues in the studies of cultural forms of human communication—cultural discourses—by experts from around the world. A culturalist programme in communication studies (CS), cultural discourse studies (CDS), as represented in this handbook, is a new current of thought in human and social science and a form of academic activism, but above all, it is a fresh paradigm of research committed to enhancing cultural harmony and prosperity on the one hand and facilitating intellectual plurality and innovation on the other hand. This handbook is the first of its kind; it is concerned with the identities of, and interactions between, the world’s diverse cultural communities through locally-grounded and globally-minded, culturally conscious and critical approaches to their communicative practice. Contributors apply such insights, precepts and techniques, not merely to discover and describe past and present communication, but also to design and guide future communication. This handbook is ideal for scholars and students interested in cultural aspects and issues of communication/discourse, as well as researchers of other fields looking to apply cultural discourse methods to their own projects.