Introduction to Communication Criticism: Methods, Systems, Analysis and Societal Transformations
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 280
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 280
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Teaching communication criticism is an art, an aesthetic performance, a skill, and a practice that must be adapted to the specific and unique personalities of the students within a classroom.
In publication for over four decades, Introduction to Communication Criticism: Methods, Systems Analysis, and Societal Transformations explores the degree to which methods of communication criticism can be used to enhance the conceptual power and understandings of students, motivates them to explore the nature of symbol-using on their own, and presents how they can improve their critical communication and symbol-using skills.
No longer an anthology of readings, the new edition of Introduction to Communication Criticism is a full-featured textbook. This metamorphosis of delivery and content includes student friendly pedagogical features such as chapter objectives, key terms, exercises, and more.
Featuring new authors James W. Chesebro, David T. McMahan, and Dale A. Bertelsen, Introduction to Communication Criticism:
- Presents the basic vocabulary and principles of communication criticism.
- Discusses three orientations (Communication methods, societal transformations, and communication systems) to communication criticism.
- Examines the role of communication technologies as a relatively new mode of criticism and speculates about the future of communication criticism.
PART I—THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION CRITICISM
Chapter 1: Foundations of Communication Criticism
Rhetoric
Communication
The Critical Impulse
An Inquisitive Awareness
Information Quest
Ascription
Significance
Social Objective
Criticism
Criticism Is Evaluative
Criticism is Self-Reflective
Criticism Is Reason-Giving
Criticism Is Generative
Criticism Is Persuasive
Criticism Assesses Effectiveness
Criticism Is Entertainment
Orientations to Communication Criticism: Three Points of Departure
Societal Transformations
Communication Systems
Communication Methods
Final Thoughts on Critical Orientations
Final Thoughts about the Scope and Function of Communication Criticism
Key Terms
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
Chapter 2: What Critics Do and How They Do It: An Initial Approach to Communication Criticism
Engaging in Communication Criticism
Step One: Isolating the Object of Study
Step Two: Securing Multiple Perspectives of the Object of Study
Step Three: Self Analysis
Step Four: Developing the Research Question and Rhetorical Focus
Step Five: Formulating Arguments
Step Six: Composing the Critical Essay
Step Seven: Reconsidering Ethical Judgements
Final Thoughts about What Critics Do
Key Terms
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
PART II—TRADITIONAL CRITICISM
Chapter 3: The Neo-Aristotelian Approach
The Life and Work of Aristotle
Four Interim Conclusions
The Range of Meanings Associated with the Word Rhetoric by Neo-Aristotelian Critics
A Description of the Neo-Aristotelian Method
Five Points of Neo-Aristotelian Perspective
Illustrating Neo-Aristotelian Criticism
Isolating the Object of Study
Securing Multiple Perspectives of the Object of Study
Developing the Research Question and Rhetorical Focus
Formulating Arguments
Composing the Critical Essay
Reconsidering Ethical Judgements
Extending Neo-Aristotelianism as a Critical System
Final Thoughts about the Neo-Aristotelian Approach
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
Chapter 4: The Historical Approach
Case Study #1: The Flag Rising on Iwo Jima
Case Study #2: National War Memorials at the Beginning of the 21st Century
Observations and Conclusions Regarding the Historical Approach
Historical Analyses Influence Us
Historical Analyses Are Not Typically Examined in Terms of Aristotelian Concepts
Historical Reconstructions Are Themselves Critical Endeavors
Histories Portray Selective Patterns of Causation in Discursive and Iconic Forms
Histories Constitute Unique Genres of Discourse
Methods Dominated 20th Century Histories
Historians Have Provided Some Guidelines for Critical Analyses
Final Thoughts about the Historical Approach
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
Chapter 5: The Ecelctic Approach
Eclecticism: Historical Development and Centrality in Criticism
Societal Context for the Eclectic Critic
The Link Between Communication and the Eclectic Critic
Assumptions of Eclectic Criticism
Reflexiveness Dominates the Critical Act
The Critic Is Fundamentally and Explicitly a Participant
The Abstract Integrity of an Approach Is of Little Concern
Illustrating Eclectic Criticism
Final Thoughts about Eclectic Criticism
Chapter Exercises
Endnote
Chapter 6: The Generic Approach
Historical Development of the Generic Approach
Distinguishing Characteristics of the Generic Approach to Criticism
The Study of Systems
The Study of Transactions
The Study of Theory
The Study of Patterns
The Study of Definitions
Focal Points of the Construction of Communication Genres
Final Thoughts about the Generic Approach
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
PART III— SYMBOLIC FORM AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
Chapter 7: The Dramatistic Approach
Burke’s Philosophy of Criticism
Action and Motion.
Symbols and Motives
Definition of Humans and Guilt-Redemption
Structure in Burke’s Criticism: Identification and the Pentad
Identification
The Pentad
Kenneth Burke’s Shift to Ontology
Final Thoughts about the Dramatistic Approach
Endnotes
Chapter 8: The Fantasy Theme Approach
Origins of Fantasy Theme Analysis
A Description of the Fantasy Theme Approach
Fantasy Theme
Fantasy Type
Rhetorical Vision
Chaining Out
Fantasy Theme Approach Applications and Challenges
Final Thoughts about the Fantasy Theme Approach
Key Terms
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
PART IV—TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA CRITICISM
Chapter 9: Analyzing Traditional Communication Technologies
Communication Technology Perspective
Medium or Technology
Foundations of the Communication Technology Perspective
Approaches to a Communication Technology Perspective
Semiotic Analysis
Signs, Signifiers, and Signifieds
Orders of Meaning
Syntagms and Paradigms
Advantages and Disadvantages of Semiotic Analysis
Genre Analysis
Semantic and Syntactic
Aesthetic, Ritual, and Ideological
Auteur Analysis
Artistry and Media
Isolating Auteurs
Audience-Centered Criticism
Understanding Audiences
Criticism and Social Science
Analysis of the Audience
Final Thoughts about Analyzing Traditional Communication Technologies
Key Terms
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
Chapter 10: Analyzing the Internet
A Brief Guide to the Communication Technology Perspective
The Internet and Structural Analysis
Numeric Representation
Packet Switching
Modularity
Automation
Interactivity
Convergence
Hyperlinking
Synchronicity
The Internet and Cognitive Analysis
Knowledge and Information
Emotionality
Individuality
Extensionality
Presence
Virtual Realities
Virtual Identities
The Internet and Sociological Analysis
Global Connectivity
Social Space Separated from the Physical
Heightened Collaboration
Creation of New Social Groupings
Demographic Distinctions
Transforming Power Relations
Institutional Transformation
Final Thoughts about Analyzing the Internet
Key Terms
Chapter Exercises
Endnotes
PART V— IDEOLOGY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS: THE FUTURE OF COMMUNICATION CRITICISM
Chapter 11: The Epistemic Approach, the Cultural Studies Approach, and a Future for Communication Criticism
The Epistemic Approach
Characteristics of the Epistemic Approach to Criticism
Issues of the Epistemic Approach
The Cultural Studies Approach
Seven Underlying Commonalities or the Shared Orientations Operating within Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies: Methodological Issues
Methodological Procedures Relevant to Cultural Studies
A Future for Communication Criticism
Endnotes
Glossary
Index
James W. Chesebro is Retired University Distinguished Full Professor of Telecommunications and Director of Graduate Studies of the Digital Storytelling master’s program in the Department of Telecommunications at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, USA. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
In the discipline of communication, Dr. Chesebro has specialized in the study of media as symbolic and cognitive systems. Since 1966, he has maintained a sustained focus on dramatistic theory, methods, and criticism with specific applications to television. Since 1981, this orientation has been extended to all media systems, with conceptual attention devoted to media literacy and media technologies as communication and cognitive systems.
He has held a number of significant offices in the communication profession. He was President of the National Communication Association (NCA) in 1996 and President of the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) in 1983. He has edited NCA’s online journal Review of Communication, served as Editor of NCA’s Critical Studies in Media Communication and was the Editor of ECA’s journal Communication Quarterly. From 1989 through 1992, he was the National Communication Association’s Director of Educational Services in Washington, D.C.
James W. Chesebro is also a prolific author. He has authored several books, including Internet Communication, Communicating Power and Gender, A Century of Transformation: Studies in Honor of the 100th anniversary of the Eastern Communication Association, Extensions of the Burkiean System, Analyzing Media, Computer-Mediated Communication, Public Policy Decision-Making, Orientations to Public Communication, and coedited the third and fourth editions of Methods of Rhetorical Criticism. He has also published over 100 articles in national communication journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Communication Monographs, Communication Education, Text and Performance Quarterly, and Journal of Applied Communication Research.
James W. Chesebro’s contributions have been recognized with a host of awards. He received three awards from the National Communication Association, including its monograph of the year award, distinguished service award, and Kibler award for contributions to diversity. The Eastern Communication Association has presented him with its Everett Lee Hunt Scholarship Award twice, identified him as one of its “Distinguished Research Fellows” as well as one of its “Distinguished Teaching Fellows.” In 1993, he received the National Kenneth Burke Society’s Distinguished Service Award and the National Kenneth Burke Society’s “Life-Time Achievement Award” in 1999.
James W. Chesebro has taught at several institutions, including Ball State University, Indiana State University, North Dakota State University, George Mason University, Queens College of the City University of New York, the University of Puerto Rico, Temple University, the University of Minnesota, and Concordia College.
James W. Chesebro, Ph.D. / Retired Distinguished Full Professor of Telecommunications and Retired Director of the Master of Arts Digital Storytelling Program in the Department of Telecommunications at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
Chesebro’s Current U.S. Mailing Address:
1307 South Center Street,
Terre Haute, IN
47802-1119
Chesebro’s Current Telephone Number: 812-243-7669
Chesebro’s Current Email Address: jchesebro@ma.rr.com
Dale A. Bertelsen (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University 1989), Professor of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania served as President of the Eastern Communication Association (1995–1996), President of the Speech Communication Association of Pennsylvania (1991–1992), Editor of Publications for the Kenneth Burke Society (1991–1993), Book Review Editor for Critical Studies in Media Communication (1999–2001), and Editor of Communication Quarterly (2001–2003). He is co-author of Analyzing Media: Communication Technologies as Symbolic and Cognitive Systems (Guilford, 1996) and has published in journals such as Communication Education, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Communication Quarterly, Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Russian Journal of Communication and The Speech Communication Teacher. In 2004 Dr. Bertelsen was a Fulbright scholar lecturing at Karazin National University in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He is currently listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and the Directory of American Scholars.
David T. McMahan has taught courses that span the discipline of communication, including courses in interpersonal communication and personal relationships, media and technology, communication education, theory, and criticism. McMahan’s research interests also engage many areas of the discipline, with much of his research devoted to critical analysis and to bridging the study of relationships, technology, and media. His work has appeared in numerous journals and edited volumes, and he is the author of numerous books, including multiple editions of Basics of Communication and Communication in Everyday Life as well as Internet Communication. A tremendously-active member of the discipline, McMahan’s endeavors include serving on a number of editorial review boards, serving as editor of the Iowa Journal of Communication, and serving as president of the Central States Communication Association. He has also received multiple awards for his work in the classroom and has been the recipient of a number of public service and academic distinctions, including being named a Centennial Scholar by the Eastern Communication Association.