ABSTRACT
Two very different understandings of the communication process emerged in Western cultures during the nineteenth century. Cultural theorist James Carey refers to these two perspectives as the transmission view and the ritual view of communication. The transmission view envisions communication as a process of sending, transmitting or delivering information in order to control others. Drawing on a transportation metaphor, and favoring technological advances within the communication process, the transmission view focuses on sending messages over distances in order to distribute common knowledge and ideas. In contrast, the ritual view associates the communication process with the ancient notion of communion. From the perspective of a ritual view of communication, people share customs, beliefs, ideas and experiences, a process that reinforces and maintains a common culture. As we compare the transmission view and the ritual view of communication, we can see that these perspectives also serve as metaphors that illustrate fundamental differences between qualitative and quantitative research.
