The Political and Epistemological Constituents of Critical Communication Research

Abstract

What distinguishes critical approaches from other communication research is their redefinition of the question of causality and their concern with the ways in which "the control of knowledge.. .is fundamental to the exercise of social power." Critical mass communication research is not a single entity, but rather a range of developing alternative approaches to the study of communication. Within such diverse research areas as international communication, the social implications of new communication technologies, the political economy of communication, the sociology of mass communicators, and cultural studies, researchers have attempted to articulate and implement approaches that address the role of' communication in the exercise of social power. Implicitly, if not in most cases explicitly, these approaches have developed in opposition to liberal/pluralist social theory. Recent attempts to define just exactly what it means to do critical research (14, 17, 23, 24) oversimplify the differences between critical research approaches and other research. These oversimplifications have led to the characterization of the diEerences in terms ofa series of simple dichotomies: empirical versus critical; administrative versus critical;repressive science versus emancipatory science. These dichotomies are insensitive to the diverse range of critical approaches, while at the same time mystifying the complex political and epistemological commitments that underlie and link that diversity.

A historical account of the hypodermic model in mass communication

“…The message may have to be adapted for those variables, but the model still holds true. Slack and Allor (1983) emphasize the point made above. "Often what have been presented as alternatives to the hypodermic model," they state (p. 213), "have merely been elaborations."…”

Social Action Media Studies: Foundational Arguments and Common Premises

“…These writings have been identified by a variety of social action media scholars as the inspiration for their understanding of media content, audiences, and effects. Theoretical work of this kind is long overdue in the social action literature, and it is consistent with that conducted by scholars writing in the cultural (or "reception") field of media studies (e.g., Allor, 1988aAllor, , 1988bCarey, 1989;Corner, 1980;Ellis, 1980;Fiske, 1987;Grossberg, 1984;Heck, 1980;Slack & Allor, 1983;Weedon, Tolson, & Mort, 1980). The present effort begins by identifying some of the principal distinctions between social action and "traditional" media approaches.…”

Scholarly communities and the discipline of the communication discipline

“…Toulmin's writings share the same point of view as those of Foucault, as both writers claim that we are taught the methods and techniques of a particular style of research and we socially construct (Berger & Luckmann, 1966) our professional reality around this indoctrination. Some of us identify with nomothetic social science (Berger, 1977), others with interpretivists (Putnam 8c Pacanowsky, 1983), and others with the critical school (Slack & Allor, 1983). Unfortunately for some, this ingraining sets up concertive control apparatuses (Barker &.…”