The Field of Communication

The Field of Communication

Chapter 2, entitled “The Field of Communication in Historical and Contemporary Perspective”, gave us an overview of how communication developed and has changed over the years. Communication is a potpourri of areas that are interwoven by symbols, meanings and ethics. It maybe personal, interpersonal and media based. This well written chapter was quite interesting and informative for a number of reasons.

The writer, as if putting her communication skills to use, opens up the chapter with how her father regaled her with family stories as a child. It is through these stories that she was able to discover who she was as an individual. Simple though this was, she used it to make the comparison that in order to appreciate the various entities of communication as we have it today, it is important to know its history. Communication started with great ancient theorists like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. It was through them that we have learnt how to speak effectively and persuasively, to be able to manipulate and deceive, to speak well, and engage in discussion and debate about issues of the day. It is because of them that we are able to determine if a speaker is credible or not; whether the speaker has the ability to appeal to his listeners emotions; and if the presentation is based on sound reasoning or not; to arrange ideas in such a way that it is delivered with grace, clarity and vitality.

It must be noted that communication encompasses all facets of life. It is used in research. It was evident in the civil rights movement and the rights of women in the 1960’s. As health problems escalated, communication on health issues surfaced. The cultural background of individuals also emerged. I noticed that when communication began it was mainly an intellectual process for the intellectual elite. As more and more people became involved in the communication process however, I realized that those who might have been left out of vital discussions that affected them, like...

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