Читать книгу Health Communication Theory - Группа авторов - Страница 18

Much has been written about communication theory as an area of study over the last several decades. Perhaps the most frequently cited and well‐known work on communication theory was published by Robert Craig (1999) in the journal Communication Theory. Among the many important points made by Craig is an insightful discussion of the multiple disciplines from which communication theory has developed. These varying disciplinary roots have led to rather different conceptualizations of the nature of theory and its application in the broad field of communication. Craig notes that acknowledging these differing roots is more fruitful than arguing about the validity of varying theoretical approaches. Craig identifies seven traditions of communication theory. His discussion has become foundational to our understanding of theory in the field of communication.

Building on this work, Babrow and Mattson (2003, 2011) identify how these traditions apply to health communication scholarship. They trace the following lines of research and knowledge in this discussion: (i) rhetorical (“the practical art of persuasive discourse”, Babrow and Mattson 2011, p. 25); (ii) semiotic (“intersubjective mediation by signs and sign systems”, p. 26); (iii) phenomenological (“communication as dialogue or experience of otherness”, p. 26); (iv) cybernetic (“information processing by which systems are able to function”, p. 27); (v) sociopsychological (a focus on behavior expressing psychological systems, states, and traits producing a variety of effects); (vi) sociocultural (symbolic processes producing and reproducing sociocultural patterns that are shared within a group); and (vii) critical traditions (which focus on “material practices and hegemonic ideologies that distort communication” p. 29). More of the theories to be discussed in the remainder of this volume focus upon sociopsychological and sociocultural traditions than on the other traditions (for exceptions see Ho and Sharf, Chapter 14 in this volume). Understanding the conceptualization of communication and theory on which a particular theory is based is important in order to adequately assess the value of that theory and research.