The study of human communication is not new, its roots stretch back to antiquity where the study of rhetoric and persuasion were deemed central to the formation of citizens.

However, the notion that the study communication could be defined as a separate and distinct field is relatively recent, emerging at the turn of the century. The goal of the first section of the course is to provide some context about the reasons why ‘communication’ emerged as something to ask questions about.

Why and how did communicating become a ‘problem’? We will focus on two themes relating to the development of the field: community and control. The study of communication emerges around anxieties about the collapse of traditional forms of communities as well as concerns over the excessive influence of mass media of populations. Two questions to keep in mind: how do the dislocations and relocations of people at the beginning of the 20th century relate to the study of communication? How do these concerns continue to speak to the contemporary moment?

Tuesday, September 9 –Course Introduction

Tuesday, September 16 – Communication: One Word, Many Clarifications

• James Carey – “A Cultural Approach to Communications”
• John Durham Peters – “The Problem of Communication”
• Wilbur Schramm – “The Unique Perspective of Communication: A Retrospective View”

Tuesday, September 23 – The Public Sphere: Communication and Democracy

• John Dewey – “Search for the Great Community”, Chapter V, The Public and Its Problems
• Jurgen Habermas – “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article”
• W.E.B. DuBois – “On our Spiritual Strivings”, Chapter One from Souls of Black Folk

Tuesday, September 30 – Public Relations and Mass Culture

• Edward Bernays – “Organizing Chaos” (Chapter I), “The New Propaganda” (Chapter II), “The Psychology of Public Relations” (Chapter IV) from Propaganda.
• Walter Lippman – “The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Head”, Chapter One from Public Opinion
• David Reisman – “Listening to Popular Music”

Tuesday, October 7 – Development, Communication and Post-Coloniality

• Daniel Lerner – Introduction (by Riesman) and Chapter One from The Passing of Traditional Society
• Frantz Fanon – The Negro and Language from Black Skin, White Masks