The reality of construction

Stemming from a reflexion on the distrust or denigration of images that characterizes many philosophical or religious doctrines, from Moses' and Plato's condemnations, to empirist doctrines (Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume), this paper proposes a general theoretical argument about the nature of communication and discourse about it. The argument is motivated by some issues in media studies, but is not limited to them. In fact, we suggest that the media, rather than ruining communication (via the manipulation of images), reveal something profound about communication that was easier to leave implicit in earlier times. Thus they reactivate some of the fears that were present in various iconodastic traditions. What is being revealed is closely related to the well-known thesis of the social construction of reality. Our argument, here, is that this constructed character does not entail any need for generalized scepticism, and does not call for a hermeneutics of suspicion intent on unmasking manipulation or artifice. In fact, the social constructedness of social phenomena is in no way antithetic to their reality. If one recognizes that there is a "construction of reality", one can recognize as well that there is a reality to the construction, and finally admit with Lewis Mumford that... "all that can be called 'real' is the outcome of a multitude of sustained transactions and interrelations between the human organism and the environment".A partir d'une réflexion sur la méfiance ou la réprobation à l'égard des images que manifestent plusieurs traditions philosophiques ou religieuse, notamment la Loi mosaïque, la théorie platonicienne, et la tradition des empiristes anglais Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume, cet article propose une analyse plus générale de la nature de la communication et des discours qui s'y rapportent. Cette analyse s'appuie sur quelques exemples empruntés au domaine des médias, mais elle ne porte pas exclusivement sur ce domaine. Elle vise à démontrer que la production d'images à laquelle se livrent les médias, loin d'éliminer la possibilité d'une communication véritable, révèle en fait certaines des caractéristiques propres à toute communication. Ces caractéristiques étaient longtemps restées implicites. Avec l'événement des médias, elles émergent au grand jour, réactivant les craintes qui sous-tendent les grandes traditions iconoclastes. Ces caractéristiques renvoient à la thèse bien connue d'une construction sociale de la réalité. La position défendue ici est que, loin de devoir mener à un scepticisme généralisé, ou à une herméneutique du soupçon avant tout soucieuse de démasquer l'artifice ou la manipulation, le caractère construit des phénomènes sociaux ne s'oppose en rien à leur réalité. On peut alors parler non seulement d'une « construction de la réalité » mais aussi d'une « réalité des constructions », et soutenir avec Lewis Mumford, que ce qu'on baptise le « réel », n'est rien d'autre que le « résultat d'une multitude de transactions et d'échanges continus entre l'organisme humain et son environnement »

Communication and Community

Contents: Preface. Part I: Introduction. D. Depew, J.D. Peters, Community and Communication: The Conceptual Background. Part II: Interpersonal Relations, Organizations, and Community. G.J. Shepherd, Community as the Interpersonal Accomplishment of Communication. C.H. Adams, Prosocial Bias in Theories of Interpersonal Communication Competence: Must Good Communication Be Nice? S. Shuler, Talking Community at 911: The Centrality of Communication in Coping With Emotional Labor. K.L. Ashcraft, Feminist Organizing and the Construction of "Alternative" Community. L.M. Gossett, P.K. Tompkins, Community as a Means of Organizational Control. G. Cheney, Forms of Connection and "Severance" in and Around the Mondragon Worker-Cooperative Complex. Part III: Media, the Public, and Community. E.W. Rothenbuhler, Revising Communication Research for Working on Community. B. Zelizer, Collective Memory as "Time Out": Repairing the Time-Community Link. H.E. Sypher, B. Collins, Virtual-Online Communities: How Might New Technologies Be Related to Community? T.M. Harrison, J.P. Zappen, T. Stephen, P. Garfield, C. Prell, Building an Electronic Community: A Town-Gown Collaboration. K.R. Stamm, Of What Use Is Civic Journalism: Do Newspapers Really Make a Difference in Community Participation? C.R. Martin, The Limits of Community in Public Journalism. A. Calabrese, Why Localism? Communication Technology and the Shifting Scale of Political Community

Dating the Media: Participation, Voice, and Ritual Logic in the Disability Dating Show The Undateables

Interventional television formats centering around the ritual transformation of “ordinary people” are not only followed by sizable audiences worldwide but also attract large numbers of aspiring candidates. Although the benefits and consequences of participating in such shows have long been debated within academia and beyond, research into actual experiences of participating in such television productions remains scarce. Based on in-depth interviews with participants of the disability dating show The Undateables, this article focuses on how contributors deal with their position in the production and how their experiences reflect the emancipatory claims of the program. By presenting the production process through the story and from the perspective of three participants, different modes of participation will be discussed, revealing how instances of submission, appropriation, and contestation of the production logic are linked to ideals of representation, notions about empowerment and voice, and to strategies of negotiating normalcy and difference