Edward Henriquez

COM 491-A Senior Seminar in Communication Theory

Dr. Berkos
Sunday, September 13th, 2015

Chapter 1: The Nature and Evolution of Theory

Summary
In this first chapter, the authors dive deep into the essentials of understanding what
theories of communication are. Early in the chapter, we get Littlejohns definition of
a theory which is a set of related propositions used to classify and explain aspects
to the universe in which we live. After giving that definition and elaborating on the
idea of concepts which are building blocks for these theories, the authors add a
piece to these concepts by way of correlations and adding a scientific element to
the creation of theories.
In terms of a theorys conception, the chapter discusses steps such as research and
publications and the steps in between it takes social scientist to create a theory and
have it accepted by a certain field within the social sciences. The chapter then
starts to conclude with the different way we can sort theories and their similarities
and differences. The chapter offers five different categories that theories can be
classified by. Examples of these include: a theories focus, value, methods, and
scope.
The chapter then gets into the different phases research goes through and there are
four general periods: increment growth were new theories are being added,
development growth where existing theories get improved or elaborated on,
canonical development where theories remain pretty steady and the final period is a
revolution where a particular field may decide to head in a completely different
direction and theories become revolutionary and new.
Ending the first chapter, we see the functions that theories fulfill and the questions
one might ask when interpreting a theory. There are nine key points that theories
help us understand and better interpret things in our everyday lives. Finally, there
are questions that we as interpreters should ask ourselves when understanding a
theory and these questions fall into the areas of relating the theory to my own
personal experience, does the theory make me think about interesting questions,
and how far does this theory allow me to generalize. Overall, the chapter gives an
overview of the function of theories and what one must be keeping in mind when
faced with a theory.

Application
One aspect of the chapter that made me think about a real life example was the
section on Research and Publication. This piece reminded me of the film The Theory
of Everything. As I was reading the multiple steps of how theories go from the
drawing board all the way to a published journal article or monograph I couldnt
stop thinking about the movie. In the movie, the initial phases of ones research are
clearly portrayed in the movie especially those times when a Stephen Hawking

discusses with his peers his idea and receives feedback and then later on presents it
to his professor and scholars of the field. In addition he also gets invited to present
his work at different conventions which is another phase in creating the thesis. From
the movie, I was also able to draw the comparison with the different growth periods
of theses. In the movie Hawkins has his original thesis but then goes back and
changes it completely and so I made the connection that what he was doing was
developmental growth and a small revolution.

Questions
Question 1: Does a lack of empirical data take away from the validity of a thesis
compared to a more data driven thesis? Why or why not?
Question 2: Can you think of a modern day example of a subfield of communication
that is going through incremental, developmental, and canonical growth and a
revolution?

Chapter 1: Understanding and Evaluating Mass

Communication Theory
Summary
In his first chapter, Stanley Baron wants us to understand the concept that is Mass
Communication Theory, yet he doesnt explain the term itself until the end of the
chapter. Instead he breaks up the one theory into multiple ones and wants the
reader to this of Mass Communication not as one theory but as four theories.
To each of the theories, there are three elements that make them differ. They are:
ontology, epistemology, and axiology. Ontology is the nature of reality and what is
knowable, epistemology is how knowledge is created and expanded and axiology
is the proper role of the values in research and theory building.
The first theory is postpositivist theory which is based on empirical observation and
is most similar to the scientific method and its usual use is social scientific.
Hermeneutic theory is the study of understanding, and interpreting actions and
texts (movie, TV show, or speech). This means that the theory can be sown
through the observers interaction with what he is trying to study via complete
immersion. Critical theory is the third and it seeks emancipation and change in a
dominant social order. Critical theory looks to citizen an aspect of our lives in order
to change that aspect.
There is a fourth theory which doesnt look to represent or seek any sore of change
is the normative theory and what it looks to do is to judge the operation of a given
media system against a specific social systems norms or ideals.

Application
Reading the chapter and more specifically the section on hermeneutic theory I was
struck by how it relates to today where most people make generalizations based on
one interaction or comment and become completely close minded about a subject.

An example of this is after 9/11 the stereotyping and racial profiling towards Middle
Easterners because people though that they were all terrorists. Rather than trying
to understand more about them, the public decided to treat these people as if they
were terrorists without knowing anything about them besides their physical
appearance.

Question
Question: Due to the increase in technology, are mass audiences shrinking and are
mass communicators tailoring their content to accommodate a smaller and similar
audience?