Dialogic Perspectives

Abstract

Dialogic perspectives toward communication take a holistic approach to the human condition, recognizing that human systems are constituted by tensions that must be managed and are informed by a commitment to working with difference in ways that engage the full humanity and complexity of “others” in order to sustain the emergence of meaning making. Dialogic perspectives draw on a number of philosophical approaches including the work by Bakhtin, Bohm, Buber, Freire, Gadamer, and Habermas. Dialogic perspectives may be distinguished by their emphasis on description or prescription, whether they view dialogue as an epistemological or an ontological practice, and their stance toward power. Dialogic perspectives engage research in different ways as communication scholars may treat the overall research act as a dialogue, conduct analyses of dialogically structured communication, or use dialogically oriented tools to generate their research projects.