ABSTRACT

Originally published in 1983. The conventions, institutions and practices of communication today are issues of great concern to all. Using a dual approach, this book evaluates communication today in all its facets. On the one hand, an investigation of communication can be viewed as an intellectual task –thus emphasizing basic issues of the human condition; on the other hand, communication can be examined in a practical manner, in the context of current social problems, operational decisions, and questions currently facing researchers. This text brings these two together so that the practical issues of communication can be viewed as they relate to the human condition itself.

part 1|36 pages

The Foundations — Feedback and Reflexion

chapter 1|9 pages

The Idea of Feedback

chapter 2|9 pages

Interdependency and Human Needs

chapter 3|9 pages

Reflexion and the Social Order

chapter 4|7 pages

Modes of Human Communication

part 2|36 pages

The Empirical Enclosures — Modes of Reality Integration

chapter 5|9 pages

The Classical Models of Information

chapter 6|9 pages

Instrumental Information

chapter 7|8 pages

Social Information

chapter 8|7 pages

Information and Codification

part 3|32 pages

Intersubjectivity — Modes of Symbolic Interaction

chapter 9|6 pages

Language

chapter 10|7 pages

Story Systems

chapter 11|9 pages

Symbols and Symbolization

chapter 12|8 pages

Symbol Internalization

part 4|29 pages

Bias — The Semiotic Web

chapter 13|9 pages

Perceptual Bias

chapter 14|8 pages

Interactional Bias

chapter 15|9 pages

Representational Bias

part 5|33 pages

The Production of Culture

chapter 16|11 pages

Media and the Public

chapter 17|10 pages

The Development Process

chapter 18|10 pages

Culture and Social Meaning

part 6|22 pages

Principles and Practices

chapter 19|8 pages

The Legitimation process

chapter 20|8 pages

Research, Designs, and Judgments

chapter 21|4 pages

The Human Conversation