Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents fundamental issues concerning the nature and prospects of communication models. It explores a broad array of theoretical perspectives and constellations, from empiricism and realism to pragmatism and constructionism. The book focuses on the relationship of models constructed by communication theorists and models formed in ordinary metadiscourse. It discusses the issue of modelling within a broader debate concerning empirical/descriptive versus constitutive/prescriptive approaches in communication research. The book offers reassessments of largely neglected viewpoints and novel proposals for the writing of communication history, and also some new approaches to modelling the broader social and institutional aspects of communication. It illustrates the potential fruitfulness of translating between the explicit models of communication theory and the largely implicit models of ordinary metadiscourse; and concludes with a timely call for more systematic studies of the methodologies of such translations.