Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-260) and index.

pt. I FIRST PRINCIPLES -- 1.Communication: A Cultural Introduction -- The Foundations of Our Dialogue: Terms and Common Understandings -- Words for Change: The Power of Communication -- Public Advocacy: Process and Responsibilities -- Communication as Process -- Responsibility as Communicators -- 2.Communication and Power: A Cultural History -- pt. One The Rhetorical Tradition -- pt. Two The Elocution Era -- pt. Three The Move to Science -- pt. Four Social Constructionism -- pt. Five The Critical/Cultural Turn -- Lessons From Our Story of a Discipline -- Public Advocacy: Purpose, Audience, and Voice -- Purpose and Audience -- Voice -- Topic Selection -- Thesis -- 3. Public Advocacy: Commitments and Responsibility -- What Is Public Advocacy? -- A Model for Advocacy: Paulo Freire -- Problem-Posing Approach -- Reflexivity -- Praxis -- Listening as Public Advocacy -- Hegemony -- Compassionate Critical Listening -- Dialogic Communication -- Critical Thinking -- Public Advocacy: Integrity in Argumentation -- Reasoning -- Interrogating Reasoning -- Reflexivity Revisited -- pt. II COMMUNICATION PROCESSES AND SKILLS -- 4.Compassionate Critical Listening / Chris McRae -- Beyond Hearing: Listening as Stance -- Dialogic Listening -- Listening as Double Articulation -- Public Advocacy: Listening to Learn -- 5. Groups and Alliances in Culture / Molly Cummins -- Groups as Emergent and Evolving -- Forming -- Storming -- Norming -- Performing -- Adjourning -- Groups as Organizational Cultures -- Relevant Constructs -- Facts and Practices -- Vocabulary, Metaphors, and Stories -- Rites and Rituals -- Groups as Alliance Building -- Public Advocacy: Skills for Alliance Building -- Willingness to Engage Others -- Willingness to Admit Ignorance -- Asking Questions/Questioning Assumptions -- Listening -- Open-Mindedness -- Willingness to Dialogue -- Accepting One's Place in the Alliance -- Enacting Theory -- 6. Identity and Perception --Who Is Harper? Three: Communication Understandings -- Identity and Perception as Social Construction -- Symbolic Interactionism -- Impression Management -- Identity and Perception as Cultural Location -- Positionalities -- Standpoint Theory -- Identity and Perception as Performance -- Public Advocacy: Perception and Audience Analysis -- Perspective -- Audience Analysis -- 7. Language and Culture -- Semiotics: Structure and Symbols -- A Post-Semiotic Approach to Language -- Language as Constitutive: Ideology and Everyday Speech -- Sapir--Whorf Hypothesis -- Speech Act Theory and Performativity -- Articulate Contact -- Public Advocacy: Inclusive Language -- pt. III COMMUNICATION CONTEXTS -- 8. Embodied Knowledge and Nonverbal Communication -- Body Epistemology: Knowing -- Embodied Learning: Training and Practice -- Bodies and Identities -- Body Language: Communicating -- Chronemics -- Haptics -- Proxemics -- Artifacts -- Paralinguistics -- Kinesics -- Body Intentionality -- Public Advocacy: The Body as a Resource -- Listen to Your Body -- Practice Intentionality in Your Embodied Communication -- 9. Language and Power in Our Cultural Lives -- Six Myths About Culture -- Myth 1 Culture Is Static -- Myth 2 Culture and Power Are Separate -- Myth 3 Stereotypes Are Built on Truths -- Myth 4 Progress Is Progress -- Myth 5 Color Blindness Is Progress -- Myth 6 We're All Making a Big Deal Out of Nothing -- From Myths to Critical Understanding -- Public Advocacy: Academic Integrity and Citationality -- Academic Integrity -- Source Selection -- Citationality -- 10. Interpersonal Relationships in Culture -- Self and Other -- Frames and Play -- Patterns and Rituals -- Change and Relational Dialectics -- I and Thou -- Public Advocacy: Building Relationships, Discerning Context, and Listening -- Building Relationships -- Discerning Context -- Listening -- 11. Mediated Culture(s) -- Media in our Cultural Lives --Consuming Mediated Messages -- Your Mediated Self -- Surveillance -- Media Use, Culture(s), and Power -- Resistance -- Public Advocacy: Media Aids and Organization -- Media Aids -- Organization -- 12.Communication as a Means of Social Action -- Discipline -- Simulacra -- Difference -- Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Nihilism -- Public Advocacy: Tactics for Social Action. This undergraduate introduction to communication explores communication theory, interpersonal communication, and public communication and culture through the lens of contemporary critical theory.

Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction, Second Edition introduces communication, from intimate and interpersonal to the public and mediated, as cultural. Using contemporary critical theory, authors John T. Warren and Deanna L. Fassett focus on communication as advocacy--inherently influenced by culture, history and power. By situating communication concepts and theories within contemporary and engaging cultural scenes, the book is much more than a survey of ideas--it demonstrates the power of communication in our everyday lives.

College of Arts and Sciences