The Work and Workings of Human Communication

by Sanders, Robert E.

• ISBN13: 9781119706489
• ISBN10: 1119706483
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-04-13
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Discover the fundamentals of human communication with this comprehensive and insightful resource

Written in four sections, The Work and Workings of Human Communication identifies the underlying fundamentals that make our communication distinctively human. These fundamentals are the common ground that tie together the many topics and subject matters covered by the study and discipline of communication. They are also the basis of the unique contribution of the communication discipline to the social sciences.

Professor, researcher and theorist Robert E. Sanders starts by focusing on what is unique about human communication and moves on to an examination of the complexities of scientific inquiry in the social sciences in general and in the communication discipline specifically. At the heart of the matter is the fact that humans are thinking beings who can make choices and therefore are not entirely predictable. This points towards new topics and questions that are likely to arise as the discipline evolves.

Sanders' approach leads to recognition of the fact that communication is at the center of how humans build our ways of life and participate together. By focusing on the underlying fundamentals that give rise to the discipline's topics and subject areas, The Work and Workings of Human Communication encourages students to engage in independent thought about what they want to contribute by:

• Emphasizing the importance of communication in creating, sustaining or changing—and participating in—our ways of life on an interpersonal level and on a societal level
• Recognizing that human communication is inherently collaborative; people affect situations by interacting with others, not acting on others
• Explaining the history, current agendas and possible future of the social science side of the Communication discipline

A perfect resource for new graduate students in introductory communication courses who have an interest in the social science side of the discipline, The Work and Workings of Human Communication is also highly valuable for undergraduate communication and liberal arts students who don't possess a background in the discipline.

Author Biography

Robert E. Sanders is Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He has previously served as Editor of Research on Language and Social Interaction and as Chair of the Language and Social Interaction Divisions of the National and International Communication Associations. 

Table of Contents

Section 1: Preliminaries

1.       Communication among Animate Creatures, Especially Us Humans

2.       The Overall Effectiveness of Human Communication

Section 2: Fundamentals of Human Communication

3.       The Human-Made Environment(s) We Create and Participate in Communicatively

4.       Our Expressive Means and Communication Media

5.       Making Communication Work in the Human-Made Environment

Section Three: The Communication Discipline and Its Place Among the Social Sciences

6.       The Communication Discipline’s Foundation and Evolution

7.       The Communication Discipline’s Subject Areas

8.       Positioning the Communication Discipline Among the Other Social Sciences

Section Four: Being Scientific in The Social Sciences

9.       Achieving Scientific Goals in the Social Sciences

10.   The Data and Methods of Social Science Research

11.   The Role of Theory in the Sciences Generally and the Social Sciences Specifically

12.   Summary and Conclusions