ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with arguments and illustrations of how communication theory represents a basic perspective in the understanding of human activities on a par with, for example, the historic and the economic perspectives. It focuses on presenting an explicit approach to communication proper. Communication constitutes a basic precondition for all social intercourse. Language can be studied from various perspectives and various conceptual frameworks and models can be exploited for this purpose. The foregoing analysis should have made clear the potential explanatory value of communication theory and the potential fruitfulness of adopting a communication perspective in the study of human behaviour. To assess the explanatory value of current communication theory, the field of communication-oriented research on schizophrenia was reviewed critically. The conceptual framework for what may be called a social-developmental theory of communication is presented and a method devised for further empirical explorations of communication according to this conceptual framework is advocated.
