This course is about communication on various levels. Over these 9 weeks we will cover a number of theories, cases and applications in the field of communication science. We will start with the foundational concepts of communication theory, defining what the theory is and going through a number of approaches to communication itself. Each week you will have a test to check on your progress and understanding. We also have a final text in the end of the course and a little bit of writing. As Oscar Wilde said, if you cannot write, you cannot think. If you cannot think, others will do thinking for you. So we find writing and reflecting pretty important for our classes. Along the course we provide you with in-class materials: lecture presentations, articles and additional readings. If you really want to get into the topic, don’t avoid this extra work. Although a substantial part of this course is theory-based, communication theory has a very practical application. Communication is an underlying process which creates and develops relationships, communities, societies. We communicative on a daily basis via a variety of means and channels. In our globalised and increasingly interconnected world, communication skills are essential in both the personal and professional spheres. It is our goal to leave you with a contextualisation and conceptualisation of communicative processes that will poise you to hone your own communicative skills — in other words, to put theory into practice.
What is Critical in Critical Theory?
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From the course by National Research University Higher School of Economics
Communication theory: bridging academia and practice
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
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From the lesson
Theory guided communication
The final lecture revises all the chapters discussed so far and brings some insights on how theory can be applied to practice. Here we also introduce you to some aspects that haven't been covered.
Meet the Instructors
Olga SolovyevaLecturer
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
Maria MordvinovaHead of BA Program in PR and Advertising
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
So, over the previous week,
you were talking about critical theory.
But what is critical in critical theory?
We use this term, critical,
when we want to talk about criticism,
or judgment, or something with a negative connotation.
Well, now you know, the critical theory is nothing like that.
It's just another point of view on the ways how society is functioning.
But in this part of our lecture,
I want to refer to the critical theory and go through it once again,
as well as to think about the essential skill of critical thinking
which will be quite useful for you to go through the critical tradition one more time.
So, we started with the Marxism.
We recall to the foundations of the orthodox,
Marxism covering the critique of political economy and ideology.
Marx's concept of society seems that there is
a base and a superstructure where the former shapes the latter,
and the latter maintains the former.
According to Marx, the economy is the base of all social structure.
That is why Marx criticizes the ideology,
emphasizing that there is not any abstract essence,
there is only social relations.
After that, we moved to
the Marxist heritage which is the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory of Society.
As you remember, critical theory is a synthesis of Philosophy and Social Science,
which was established in order to uncover
repressive tendencies and weakness of the modern social structure.
I do want to add Horkheimer,
elaborated the concept of cultural industry to explain
the logic of our consumer society and popular culture.
Humans in such society are passively manipulated,
and throughout political change was quite hopeless,
and it was seen as quite hopeless.
Marcuse and the concept of the one-dimensional society
was another stage of our pathway throughout the critical theory.
Marcuse was also worried about the future of capitalistic society,
and he elaborates the concept of one-dimensional society
which is administrated by the political establishment.
People are reduced to the particular social functions and have no critical thinking,
which we'll try to develop later.
And this lack of
the critical thinking gives them and takes them away from the two-dimensional thinking.
So, they only reproduce what is the establishment ideology,
which is transferred for them from top to the bottom,
and it can be also transmitted through
the main source of the news and the main agenda site or the mass media.
After that, we moved to the Jurgen Habermas.
And Habermas did not only criticize the modern society,
but he also tried to explain its transformation in order to
suggest some strategies which will be useful in our coming,
the state of the social structure.
He elaborated the idea of the public sphere which is quite commonly known
as the public of private individuals who join in debate in various issues.
Basically, he even introduced
the communicative action as this possible mode of coordination of human life.
And overall, described the ideal species situation for
a productive human communication and following collaborative decisions.
So, public sphere, this is the place and this is the concept where
everyone can be heard and everybody will hear the other opinions.
And ideal communicative situation might be not really real in
our time frame and in our conditions and within the different context,
but this is something we need to chase.
This is something we need to focus on while we're developing our public institutions,
so we can functions more fully as the society.
So, we also, after that,
kind of covered what has become with the critical theory of the society beyond Habermas.
Still, the question is,
what is the relationship of labor and communication?
Four are paradigms which are two types of reductionism,
dualism, and dialectic allow answering this question.
But the theory of recognition of Alex Honneth has become the most significant one,
assuming that social recognition is the presupposition of the whole communicative action.
So, the theory was developing and changing throughout the time,
and we do still plays a very important role of
this power balance and the power relationship as well as media and
communication media as the source of this influence and
the tool to transmit the agenda and opinions to the society,
as well as to manipulate society somehow,
and communication as an essential process which does co-create
the reality and actually shapes the reality through out the public discourse.
So, as we already refreshed and we now remember all about the critical theory,
here, we want to refer to the intellectual skill of analysis which is critical thinking.
We mean by critical thinking,
thinking with some sort of complexity,
getting above the surface of the knowledge,
exploring various cultural, historical,
and ideological factors that might influence our understanding of the reality.
So, basically here, we talk about the knowledge, the essence of knowledge,
and the way how do we understand and perceive this knowledge which is
transmitted to us throughout different sources.
So, what comes with the critical theory?
While we used to follow the mainstream idea that the knowledge
communicated by the public institutions as schools or even when we are speaking here,
by me right now,
must be factual and neutral.
But paying attention to the main assumptions of the critical theory,
we can reconsider somehow the knowledge which comes to us.
As in the reality,
knowledge tends to be socially constructed.
And after that, we understand that we have
this sort of thinking problem as the knowledge is being socially constructed,
and it might have some influences throughout the context of the situation.
We need to think about the way how we're thinking about the problem.
So, if we have some sets and certain criterias,
and certain context we living in,
do we really consider it as being stable
or do we take it away from our mind and consider it critically?
It can be the case of discrimination for some reason.
For example, you do not believe in the discrimination,
but it doesn't stop you from actually engaging in the process of discrimination.
So, if you don't think about it,
it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist,
and it doesn't mean that you are finally doing it.
So, we need to be present and aware of
the constant threat of this lacking or missing thinking,
even thinking about the way how we are thinking.
Sounds quite confusing.
Okay, let's move on and talk about what is thinking critically about the problem.
Thinking critically about the problem moves us to the totally different approach from
purely believing to the conscious and careful analysis.
Considering confronting points of view and the cultural aspect in the broadest way,
we will have a different approach to the way how
the reality is structured and to the way how do we approach this reality.
So, what can be the idea of the lifestyle?
What kind of life should we live?
Well, lesser thought would insist on inevitable and continuous progress,
while my other opinions,
they might end up in peace and mindfulness in everyday routine.
So, what is the way?
How do we actually live this life?
Is it somehow affected by the cultural context,
by the ideological context,
by some message which was transmitted,
those who are in power in order to kind of create our reality and get us stuck there?
Are we driven by our values?
Or we do use and we commit to the values
which exist in our culture by just accepting them?
While that's an ongoing discussion that would provide a lot of room for thinking and
further understanding on the whole essence of the way how do we get the knowledge,
and how do we shape it through our experiences,
and how do we understand the reality.
So, thinking critically about the problem leads
us to the way how do we express what we are thinking.
It can be two. It can be informed knowledge or an opinion.
Opinion is devoted to what we build upon the common sense understanding, what's going on?
On the contrary, we do have informed knowledge.
And informed knowledge which is something we're trying to follow here,
something we want really to operate with,
as we do quite a careful analysis of the situation,
and we mind the context,
and we mind the power balance,
and we mind all the influencers who were institutions
which can somehow shape our thinking and our opinion about the problem.
So, these would be the informed knowledge,
as you already do know something and you did a little bit of the research.
Thus, the next time you share your thoughts, think rather,
what's the underlying background that supports it,
and how do you construct your argument during the communication?
And the last point which lead us from the critical thinking theory,
it's all about ideology,
and ideology is everywhere.
Thinking critically requires understanding of that knowledge as socially constructed as
well as it carries out a piece of ideology which is embedded through this construction.
So, accepting the social dimension of the knowledge here is essential.
And we do need to focus on what could be the factors,
political, historical, cultural factors which are influencing this knowledge.
Thinking critically and being critical in terms of
his careful analysis and consideration of different aspects of our reality
influencing the way we're thinking and the opinions or some sort
of informed knowledge which we get from the media or from other people,
is essential nowadays, as we don't want to be tricked
and we don't want to be manipulated by the media anymore.
So, these are the very last slides our communication theory course.
Throughout this course, we discussed quite many things.
The theory itself and the ways how do we understand communication and theory.
We discussed interpersonal communication.
We touched a little bit of the group communication.
We moved off to that to the rhetoric as the art of the public the speaking,
discussed the media facts, and also,
we talked quite a lot about the social media as
a special form of this mediated environment.
We talked about PR as public relations and
the way how we can apply public relations through our self-promotion.
Also, the last part of our course was all about the critical theory.
And I hope that throughout this course,
you acquired the important skills to apply
theoretical and abstract concepts and constructs on
yourself and on your practical aspects of your life.
And hopefully, you will make your life somehow better.
So, here, I am saying you
my very last goodbye and wish you good luck with the final test.
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