Social communication theory revisited: the genesis of medium in communication

ABSTRACT

This article presents novel insights related to the scholarly tradition which conceives communication as both a primary and continual social accomplishment. As is argued below, communication holds within it a strong productive capacity. As such, communication is highly consequential in the way it prefigures and manages both the activities and materials linked to the coordinated production of meaning. Building upon this position, the article conceives of a medium as a momentary instantiation facilitated in patterns of communication. The article uses the foundations of Sigman’s Social Communication Theory (SCT) to probe what a general theory of communication might look like if it conceives medium not as existing prior to communication but rather as made in the very process of communicating itself. The article includes a brief empirical application of this newly assembled perspective and is designed to spark debate about what communication is, how it is accomplished, and why it matters as an independent object of study.

Acknowledgments

A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2015 meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association, Queenstown, New Zealand (July). The author wishes to thank the input of multiple, anonymous reviewers of the manuscript as well as the editor of the journal for the assistance he provided in navigating the publication of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ The media ecology tradition represents a strong contrast to this norm. By not limiting an investigation of the consequentiality of media to the content carried within them, this subfield brings media of communication – irrespective of their content – into a unique focus. The present article seeks to approach medium at a slightly higher level of abstraction and in a way germane to empirical study. For this reason, the present article places its focus on Social Communication Theory as a source of fresh inspiration on the nature of medium in communication. This move is not meant to diminish the rich history and impressive volume of media ecology scholarship. The present article simply represents a different starting point and approach to both medium and communication. Cali (2017) and Strate (2017) provide interested readers with comprehensive overviews of the history, method, and outputs of the field of media ecology.

² Sigman (1987) states unequivocally that “All of communication is social. Interpersonal communication is what is seen when the analyst limits his/her observations to copresent moments and messages, without examining multiorder, multiepisode patterns and functions (Sigman, 1987, p. 67).”

³ Other scholars how follow the lead of Birdwhistell (1970) but do not use the verbiage social communication include Goffman (1983) and Leeds-Hurwitz (1989).:

⁴ In contrast to the North American tradition, residential colleges like the one I studied are constructed with private, single-resident rooms.