Communication studies or communication sciences is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication. There are three types of communication: verbal, involving listening to a person to understand the meaning of a message; written, in which a message is read; and nonverbal communication involving observing a person and inferring meaning. The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies also examines how messages are interpreted through the political, cultural, economic, semiotic, hermeneutic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Statistics, as a quantitative approach to communication science, has also been incorporated into research on communication science in order to help substantiate claims.
History
Communication science began in earnest when students of Wilbur Schrammâ€"the founder of the Institute for Communications Research at the University of Illinoisâ€"namely David Berlo, came to Michigan State University and founded the first General Communication Arts department in the early 1950s. Though there are other communication sciences departments elsewhere, Michigan State was the first department in the US that was dedicated solely to the study of communication sciences using a quantitative approach. It is still one of Michigan State's strongest programs and nationally ranked in the study of human communication.
Other names
Communication studies programs at universities are given various names, including "communication", "communications", "communication studies", "speech communication", "rhetorical studies", "media studies", "communication arts", "mass communication", "media ecology," "communication research," and "communication and media science." The curriculum varies based upon concentration.
Scope
Communication studies integrates aspects of both social sciences and the humanities. Much of the work being done in the field is academic in nature. As a social science, the discipline often overlaps with sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, economics, and public policy, amongst others. From a humanities perspective, communication is concerned with rhetoric and persuasion (traditional graduate programs in communication studies trace their history to the rhetoricians of Ancient Greece).
A focus on research development sets communication studies apart from general communication degrees. Many of the students that chose the field do so in order to pursue doctoral level ambitions. Requirements for undergraduate degrees focus on preparing students to ask questions concerning the nature of communication in society and the development of communication as a specific field.
In the United States, the National Communication Association (NCA) recognizes nine distinct but often has overlapping sub-disciplines within the broader communication discipline: technology, critical-cultural, health, intercultural, interpersonal-small group, mass communication, organizational, political rhetorical, and environmental communication. Students take courses in these subject areas. Other programs and courses often integrated in communication programs include journalism, film criticism, theatre, public relations, political science (e.g., political campaign strategies, public speaking, effects of media on elections), as well as radio, television, and film production. More recently, computer-mediated communication and the implications of new media for communication have drawn new research and courses.
Flexibility
Part of what makes communication studies popular is its reputation for being flexible. Graduates of formal communication studies programs take many different career paths, including university professors, marketing researchers, media editors and designers, journalists, advertising executives, actors, human resources managers, corporate trainers, professional athletes, public relations practitioners, media managers, and consultants, amongst many other professions.
Professional associations
- Association for Business Communication (ABC)
- Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
- Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)
- Central States Communication Association (CSCA)
- European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), the main European association for writing studies
- European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), the main European association for communication studies
- IEEE Professional Communication Society (PCS)
- International Association for Media and Communications Research (IAMCR), a large international association for communication studies.
- International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
- International Communication Association is the main international association for communication studies, which combines an older focus on quantitatively based social science studies with newer critical and cultural studies of communicative phenomena.
- National Communication Association (NCA): The main national professional organization covering many of the areas of communication studies in the U.S.
- Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
- Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the main organization for film studies oriented communication research
- Society for Technical Communication (STC)
- University Film and Video Association is the principle organization for the study of motion picture production
Western States Communication Association (WSCA)
Bibliography
- Carey, James. 1988 Communication as Culture.
- Cohen, Herman. 1994. The History of Speech Communication: The Emergence of a Discipline, 1914-1945. Annandale, VA: Speech Communication Association.
- Gehrke, Pat J. 2009. The Ethics and Politics of Speech: Communication and Rhetoric in the Twentieth Century. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Packer, J. & Robertson, C, eds. 2006. Thinking with James Carey: Essays on Communications, Transportation, History.
- Peters, John Durham and Peter Simonson, eds. 2004. Mass Communication and American Social Thought: Key Texts 1919-1968.
- Wahl-Jorgensen, Karin 2004, 'How Not to Found a Field: New Evidence on the Origins of Mass Communication Research', Journal of Communication, September 2004.
See also
References
