pt. I. Foundations -- 1. Communication theory and scholarship -- The academic study of communication -- Introducing communication theory -- Developing theories -- A basic model of inquiry -- Types of scholarship -- Making communication theories -- Communication theory as a field -- Levels of communication -- The intellectual structure of the communication field -- Defining communication -- Notes -- 2. The idea of theory -- Beginning to know theory -- Basic elements of theory -- Philosophical assumptions -- Concepts -- Explanations -- Principles -- Theoretical ideals -- Nomothetic theory -- Practical theory -- Evaluating communication theory -- Theoretical scope -- Appropriateness -- Heuristic value -- Validity -- Parsimony -- Openness -- Looking forward -- Notes -- 3. Traditions of communication theory -- Framing communication theory -- The semiotic tradition -- Key ideas of the semiotic tradition -- Variations in the semiotic tradition -- The phenomenological tradition -- Key ideas of the phenomenological tradition -- Variations in the phenomenological tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- Key ideas of the cybernetic tradition -- Variations in the cybernetic tradition -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Key ideas of the sociopsychological tradition -- Variations in the sociopsychological tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Key ideas of the sociocultural tradition -- Variations in the sociocultural tradition -- The critical tradition -- Key ideas of the critical tradition -- Variations in the critical tradition -- The rhetorical tradition -- Key ideas of the rhetorical tradition -- Variations in the rhetorical tradition -- Expanding contexts for communication -- Notes.

pt. II. Theories -- 4. The communicator -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Traits -- Cognition and information processing -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- Information-integration theory -- Consistency theories -- Problematic integration theory -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Symbolic interaction and the development of self -- Social construction of self -- The social construction of emotion -- The presentational self -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The critical tradition -- Standpoint theory -- Identity as constructed and performed -- Queer theory -- Reflections on the critical tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 5. The message -- The semiotic tradition -- Symbol theory : Susanne Langer -- Classical foundations of language -- Theories of nonverbal signs -- Reflections on the semiotic tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Speech act theory -- Kenneth Burke's theory of identification -- Language and gender -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Action assembly theory -- Strategy choice models -- Message design models -- Semantic meaning theory -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The phenomenological tradition -- Paul Ricoeur -- Stanley Fish -- Hans-Georg Gadamer -- Reflections on the phenomenological tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 6. The conversation -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Managing uncertainty and anxiety -- Accommodation and adaptation -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Symbolic interactionism -- Symbolic convergence theory -- Conversation analysis -- Face negotiation theory -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- The coordinated management of meaning -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The critical tradition -- Language-centered perspective on culture -- Invitational rhetoric -- Reflections on the critical tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 7. The relationship -- The cybernetic tradition -- Relational patterns of interaction -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Relational schemas in the family -- Social penetration theory -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Bakhtin's theory of dialogics -- A dialectical theory of relationships -- Communication privacy management -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The phenomenological tradition -- Carl Rogers -- Martin Buber -- Reflections ion the phenomenological tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 8. The group -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Interaction process analysis -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- Bona fide group theory -- Input-process-output model -- Fisher's interaction analysis -- Effective intercultural work group theory -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- The structurational perspective -- Functional theory -- Groupthink theory -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 9. The organization -- The sociopsychological tradition -- Weber's theory of bureaucracy -- Likert's four systems -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- The process of organizing -- Network theory -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Conversation and text in the process of organizing -- Structuration theory -- Organizational control theory -- Organizational culture -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The critical tradition -- Dennis Mumby's hermeneutic of suspicion -- Deetz on managerialism and organizational democracy -- Gender and race in organizational communication -- Reflections on the critical tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 10. The media -- The semiotic tradition -- Jean Baudrillard and the semiotics of media -- Reflections on the semiotic tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Medium theory -- The agenda-setting function -- Social action media studies -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The sociopsychological tradition -- The effects tradition -- Uses, gratifications, and dependency -- Cultivation theory -- Reflections on the sociopsychological tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- Public opinion and the spiral of silence -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The critical tradition -- Branches of critical media theory -- Reflections on the critical tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes -- 11. Culture and society -- The semiotic tradition -- Linguistic relativity -- Elaborated and restricted codes -- Reflections on the semiotic tradition -- The cybernetic tradition -- Dynamic social impact theory -- The diffusion of information and influence -- Reflections on the cybernetic tradition -- The phenomenological tradition -- Cultural hermeneutics -- Reflections on the phenomenological tradition -- The sociocultural tradition -- Ethnography of communication -- Performance ethnography -- Reflections on the sociocultural tradition -- The critical tradition -- Modernism -- Postmodernism -- Poststructuralism and the work of Michel Foucault -- Postcolonialism -- Reflections on the critical tradition -- Applications & implications -- Notes.

pt. III. Integration -- 12. Making theories personal -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.