Undergraduate
History of Communication Studies
Histories of the institutional formation of Communication Studies will differ between countries and across continents. Here, in the United States, Communication Studies grew out of Speech and Theatre departments and out of social sciences such as psychology, political science and sociology. The National Communication Association has been in existence since 1914, but Communication Studies did not emerge in full disciplinary force until the mid to late 1960s.
After World War 1, concern developed around rehabilitating soldiers with speech difficulties. Working out of English departments and other departments in the humanities, scholars developed ways in which to improve vocal strains, stuttering etc. through teaching public speaking, argumentation and debating. In line with the burgeoning media technologies, they also developed courses in radio announcing, speech giving, and rhetoric. Material was drawn from the classics of rhetoric - Plato, Aristotle and Cicero.
At the same time, the field of communications was also developing within the social sciences. Concern with the power and impact of growing communications media and their use as propaganda during World War 2 gave rise to the development of media effects research. Political scientist, Harold Lasswell, pioneered this area. Concurrently, sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld developed innovative techniques in the study of media audiences, in the form of surveys and focus groups, to help with marketing and industrial problems. He worked with government and industry to improve their capacities to persuade the public and efficiently organize corporate systems. This approach to communication was based on the hard sciences - defining human communication as the exchange of information, and focusing on the development of the most expedient strategies and techniques for doing this.
In the 1950s, a critical cultural dimension of communication studies developed from within anthropology, philosophy and sociology departments. Best represented in the work of the Chicago School, this approach to human communication focused on the core principles of meaning, language and thought. These thinkers focused on how and in what ways cultural meanings are created by humans in interaction with their environments. The theories of social interactionism and social constructivism came to greatly influence the future development of Communication Studies.
Against the backdrop of the rapid social changes wrought by the movements for social justice in the 1960s, communication scholars began to focus on interpersonal communication. This area of research studied nonverbal communication, issues around self-disclosure, conflict resolution, and personal development through the enhancement of interpersonal relationships. Also during the 1960s scholars in the field, influenced by the work of noted Canadian theorist Marshall Mcluhan, began to examine the social and material impacts of new media technologies on society and on human cognition.
Communication Studies began to achieve recognition as a discipline in American universities at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s. Typically, these new departments housed scholars and researchers from both the social sciences and humanities traditions outlined above.
During the 1970s and 1980s the impact of critical theory, structuralism, semiotics and post-structuralism made itself felt on U.S. campuses and the new field of Communication Studies was no exception. Combined with feminist criticism, the humanist discourses from Europe took for their critical focus the empiricist tradition of media effects research. Under the influence of critical theory, communication came to be defined as the process of constructing and sharing meaning via specific symbolic systems. The interface and interconnections between communicative forms and practices and questions of culture, power and subjectivity were actively explored.
Communication Studies at the millennium carries forward and develops on its interdisciplinary roots. Social science methods and quantitative research can still be found alive and well in Communication Studies departments. In the tradition of Paul Lazarsfeld, most of this research examines the workings of organizations and industry, and the role of communication practices within them. A focus on Speech and Rhetoric continues, underlining the principles and skills necessary to be an articulate user of language and a persuasive speaker. The development of skills in argumentation and debate are emphasized. Critical media studies and the exploration of the social impact of new media technologies also form part of contemporary Communication Studies. Here, students learn modes of analysis and critique that will enable them to interact critically and thoughtfully with their highly mediated environment and to intervene in debates surrounding the politics of media, representation and new technologies.
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