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Sociocultural Tradition

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Sociocultural Tradition
Sociocultural Tradition According to Theorizing Communication, "Society would be impossible without communication… communication would be impossible without or severely limited in the absence of shared patterns of action and meaning that enable mutual understanding- that is, in the absence of society and a common culture…. sociocultural approaches range across fundamentally different theoretical styles" (Craig, Muller 2007). The main idea of the sociocultural tradition is communication produces and reproduces culture. A society’s overall communication, whether is be by person to person, group to group, or through mass media, shapes that society and makes it what it is. Our reality is constructed from our modes of communication rather than set it in stone. It changes and influences us everyday.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. Reality is constructed as people try to understand their particular and personal reality. Postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations that claim to be Universal, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each individual person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only happens through our interpretations of what the world means to each of us. Postmodernism denies the existence of any ultimate principles, and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth, which will explain everything for everybody, which is a large idea in modern society. People look for definite worlwide explanations for personal tribulations. As Toborsky said, “.. the Mediated concept of Truth, is that it first admits that there is no such thing as absolute, pure Truth. There is a reality, which may be abstract or sensual ... but one cannot access it/know it .. 'in-itself '. One can only 'know ' it within the socially constructed (or species-constructed) 'mediative-habits ' of one 's



Cited: Craig, Robert T., and Heidi L. Muller. (2007) Theorizing Communication: Readings across Traditions. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Haselhurst ,Geoff & Howie, Karene (n.d.) Postmodernism. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Postmodernism.htm Lagorio, Christine (March 3 2006) A New Age Of Celebrity Worship [Online exclusive]. CBS News Health. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/03/health/webmd/main1 366162_page2.shtml Smedley, Audrey, & Smedley, Brian D (Jan 2005) Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real. American Psychologist 60(1) 16-26 DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.1.16 Social construct. (n.d.). Dictionary.com 's 21st Century Lexicon. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social construct Mumby, Dennis, K. (1997) Modernism, postmodernism, and communication studies: a rereading of an ongoing debate. Communication Theory 7, 1-28

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