Communication as an Academic Discipline: A Dialogue

by Everett M. Rogers and Steven H. Chaffee in 1983

Rogers, E. M., & Chaffee, S. H. (1983). Communication as an Academic Discipline: A Dialogue. Journal of Communication, 33(3), 18-30.

Annotated Link

Key Points:

• Comm winter: 1940s to 1950s, Lazarsfeld's group concluded limited effect of mass communication.

• Chaffee echoed with Byron's paper about comm research largely reponse to technological innovation and follows the cycle of demographic -- pro innovation / user satisfcation and gratification -- negative analyses of socially undesirable side effects -- histories.

• 1959s Comm moved out of sociology and started to be on its own

• Division of interpersonal vs. mass comm is normal due to its different root

• New tech (computers) brings interactive communication and new era

• Europe were leading the way in qualitative analysis