Communication as culture Angelica Cruz

James Carey – A Cultural Approach to Communication “Society exists not only by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication” – John Dewey James Carey – A Cultural Approach to Communication

components of communication Transmission –communication is a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people Moral – “The moral meaning of transportation was the establishment and extension of God's kingdom on earth” – so the moral meaning of communication is the same Ritual view – directed toward the maintenance of society in time, not messages in space – linked to sharing, participation, fellowship, and the possession of a common faith Communication through a ritual lens is not dominant in American scholarship and culture – our concept of culture is weak so we don’t see communication through other means

Transmissions If newspapers are instruments of transmission, is news used to enlightening or obscuring reality? Changing attitudes? Credibility? Doubt? Does it maintain the integration of society? Does it work to maintain stability? Or promote instability of personalities?

If newspapers are a ritual view of communication… Newspaper is seen as attending mass: nothing new is learned, but a view of the world portrayed and confirmed More concerned on the role of presentation and involvement in peoples lives Is news information or drama? – “Does not describe the world but portrays an arena of dramatic forces and action; it exists solely in historical time”.

Communication as a symbolic production of reality Communication supports human existence First clause: there is a real world of objects, events, and processes that we observe – “reordering the relation of communication to reality, to render communication a far more problematic activity than it ordinarily seems”. Second: there is a language that names these events in the real world – a distinction between reality and fantasy ”The brains of each one of us does literally create his or her own world” - Biologist J.Z. Young Third: mapping space – a representation of an environment capable of clarifying a problematic situation

Mapping Space Symbolic modes include visual, oral, and kinesthetic, distinguishing two characteristics: displacement and productivity Space is manageable: reduction of information, production of different realities “To live within the purview of different maps is to live within different realities. Consequently, maps not only constitute the activity known as mapmaking; they constitute nature itself.”

The nature of communication “This particular miracle we perform daily and hourly– the miracle of producing reality and then living within and under the fact of our own productions– rests upon a particular quality of symbols: their ability to be both representations "Of" and "for" reality.”

In conclusion… We produce and maintain reality through communication The study of communication examines the actual social process where symbolic forms are created Is there an order to existence that the human mind may discover and describe?