Critical Communication Studies: Essays on Communication, History and Theory in America

The development of critical communication studies, with its adoption and integration of theoretical constructs from Pragmatism, Critical Theory, and Cultural Studies, has been a lively and complex process. Critical Communication Studiesdescribes the intellectual and professional forces that have shaped research interests and formed alliances in the pursuit of particular goals. Hardt reflects on the need to come to terms with the role of history in academic work and argues that terminologies, areas of scholarly interest and the domination of specific models of communication are products and expressions of cultural and historical conditions. Hanno Hardt locates this intellectual history within a context of competing social theories and in the proximity of social and political realities.CriticalCommunication Studieswill provide a substantive foundation for understanding the field and will be a major text in courses dealing withcommunication history and theory.