An Ecology of Communication: Cultural Formats of Control (Communication and Social Order) - Softcover

Altheide, David L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0202305333 ISBN 13: 9780202305332

Publisher: Aldine de Gruyter, 1996

Synopsis

Altheide's new book advances the argument set in motion some years ago with Media Logic and continued in Media Worlds in the Postjournalism Era: that in our age, information technology and the communication environments it posits have affected the private and the social spheres of all our power relationships, redefining the ground rules for social life and concepts such as freedom and justice.

Articulated through an interactionist and non-deterministic focus, An Ecology of Communication offers a distinctive perspective for understanding the impact of information technology, communication formats, and social activities in the new electronic environment. As more routines, rituals, and activities incorporate such technologies within their organizational cultures, new sorts of activities are added and previous ones are changed according to an underlying logic explored in these pages. Various chapters illustrate some of these altered and redefined organizational cultures: bureaucracy, the mass media, computer formats, war, surveillance, and testing, among others.

About this title

About the Author:

David L. Altheide is Regents' Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Arizona State University. A former president for the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, he has focused much of his work on the role of mass media and information technology for social control. Among his previously published books are two from Aldine de Gruyter: Media Worlds in the Post journalism Era (with Robert P. Snow) and An Ecology of Communication.

Review:

“An Ecology of Communication is a must for those with interests in communication and technology. While some of the chapters previously appeared in print, there is a wonderful freshness to the meshing of old and new material. The book also is a must for anyone offering seminars in science and technology, communication, or specialized courses in the sociology of culture. Finally, as a pedagogical tool it provides an innovative application of well-established concepts from symbolic interactionist paradigms.”

—Karen A Cerulo, Contemporary Sociology

About this edition

• Publisher: Aldine de Gruyter
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0202305333
• ISBN 13: 9780202305332
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258