Communication as Process: Review and Commentary

Abstract

For more than two decades, communication scholars have talked about communication as process. Yet, little of their research has been consistent with their philosophical discussion. Process has been used in at least four senses: (1) as mystery, (2) as complex organization, (3) as change over time, and (4) as an activity—processing. When we recognize that communication is a make-believe process, not natural, not subject to laws of nature except indirectly, we can begin to attack problems of hierarchical and probablistic definitions of major concepts, attempting to meet Whitehead's criterion that the “what of being is the how of becoming.” Organization can be viewed as the change in relationships, relationships can be viewed as the basic unit of communication analysis, and both information and control can be defined in probabilistic and relativistic terms, leading to such propositions as the more information one has, the less control one has.