ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the different forms that communication can take. It can be direct, in the form of messages exchanged between specific people, or it can be indirect, in the form of information which is transmitted less consciously through symbols, or through the shared understandings of social meaning. Communication can also be closed or open: closed communication is about conveying very specific, deliberate messages to specific targets; open communication is available to many people, and can take many forms, including variations of language and symbolic conventions. Eye-contact is also an important signal in regulating social interaction. Gestures are specific actions which we make during communication, either amplifying it or as the full communication in itself. Dress, too, has always been a powerful medium of communication. Ritual serves an important function in social life because it gives us a clear structure and some shared understandings of what is going on.
