Equivocation, non-straightforward communication which includes messages that are ambiguous, indirect, contradictory or evasive, is highlighted as an important phenomenon in this volume. The authors show how equivocation can be measured with a scaling method that offers an objective assessment of the amount and kind of equivocation that exist in a message and which can be used in a variety of research programmes. Several hundred experiments, with a wide range of subjects - from children to politicians - support the theory that equivocations occur only in situations where all direct messages would lead to negative consequences, and that communication is dependent more on situations than on individuals.

The ninth edition of this textbook for hybrid introductory communication courses provides a balanced introduction to the fundamental theories and principles of communication. The book explores communication in a variety of contexts—including interpersonal, group, organizational, and mass media—and provides students the theoretical knowledge and the research and critical thinking skills they’ll need to succeed in advanced communication courses and professions. The first section explores the history of communication study and explains basic perspectives used by scholars in the field. The second looks at how communicators decode and encode messages, while the third examines channels and contexts, from interpersonal to mass media. This edition devotes attention to how new technologies are changing the ways we think about communication, with revised and updated examples, and gives special attention to relevant critical theory. Two appendices give users the flexibility to tailor their courses to the interests and needs of their students, offering guidelines for preparing and presenting public presentations and giving examples of major research methods. Thinking Through Communication is an ideal textbook for Introduction to Communication courses that aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. Material for instructors containing PowerPoint slides, test questions, and an instructor’s manual is available at https://routledge.com/9780367857011.

Organizations and Communications Technology is must reading for those interested in the relation of communication technology to organizational form and function. The book does what many such collections do not do: It presents in a complementary--if not totally unified--fashion a variety of perspectives on and answers to questions raised about the essential nature, determinants, and effects of the organization-communication technology interface. Such coherence in theme and structure is not accidental; rather, it derives from the editors′ commitment to a robust theoretical foundation in which to ground past and future research. . . . They have succeeded brilliantly in their efforts to focus substantive scholarship on theory building in a data-rich but theory-poor field. The result is a work that will no doubt be a classic. The reader who makes the commitment to mine its essays will not be disappointed. --Journal of Business and Technical Communication "As a summary of the field, this collection of theoretical essays succeeds on two main counts. . . . First, it brings together in one volume writers whose recent work has been widely cited and discussed throughout the literatures of information science, communication, management, and technology studies. Second, the book presents some exciting theoretical ideas about the relationship between communication technologies and social behavior that are applicable beyond the organizational setting. . . . On the whole, this book is a fine overview that updates and lends structure--′organizes′--this evolving literature for a diverse audience." --Journal of Communication "The editors . . . argue convincingly that the study of human and organizational aspects of communications technology suffers from a glut of data and a deficiency of theory. The objective of the book becomes one of starting the process of developing a corpus of theory that will integrate the knowledge we have. Overall, the book achieves this objective well, with the gratifying addition that there are also plenty of practical recommendations of immediate value to the practitioner. . . . This is an ambitious book and given the importance of the topic this is inevitable. It is aimed at a broad range of disciplines. It is unashamedly theoretical in its approach yet contains a good deal of immediate practical importance. My own prediction . . . suggests that this book will be regarded as a milestone from which future progress will be measured." --The Occupational Psychologist "Communications technology offers a wonderful springboard for much broader considerations of how people in organizations and behavior within them. Worthwhile . . . engaging." --Academy of Management Review "Will interest any business communication scholar concerned with the ways organizations are affected by new technologies. . . . Provide[s] a wealth of stimulating ideas." --Journal of Business Communication "Organizations and Communications Technology is an attempt to provide a foundation for theory development on information technology in organizations by delegating the task to a set of competent researchers and theorists. Given the dearth of theory development in the field such a strategy makes some sense. Because of (its) diversity, organizations, communications, and management information systems scholars should all find something of interest." --Administrative Science Quarterly How do technology and organization interact to shape organizational structures and processes? What organizational, political, and social processes constrain technological development? What forces shape the articulation of organizational and technological systems? Answering these and other pivotal questions, this powerful volume centers on the role of theory for advancing our knowledge of communication technology in organizations at several levels: micro, group, and macro. A distinguished team of contributors examines a richly diverse group of topics, including telecommunications, communication networks and new media, the use of group decision support systems, and discretionary databases, to name but a few. Organizations and Communication Technology offers nothing less than a fresh foundation for research and management practice. As such, it is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and students in the fields of management studies, communication science, organization studies, and policy studies.

This book introduces a multilayered approach to the study of democracy, combining specific knowledge of Japan with theoretical insights from the literature on democratization. It examines different aspects of Japanese democracy—historical, institutional, and sociocultural—to provide a conscious understanding of the nature and practice of democracy, both in Japan and beyond. The book's chapters give testimony to the dynamic nature and continuity of Japanese democracy and analyze its strengths and weaknesses. The central argument of this book is that Japan’s democratization should be seen as a multilayered experience shaped by the gradual process of absorbing democratic ideas, forming democratic institutions, and practicing democratic behaviors and rituals at various levels of society. As the case of Japan shows, democracy is neither a structured formula nor only a set of democratic laws and institutions, but a continuous, gradual process.

Presenting an original theory on the nature of crimimal law, this text provides an understanding of apparent contradictions and paradoxes within the field.

Feeling Hurt in Close Relationships presents a synthesis of cutting-edge research and theory on hurt. Being hurt is an inevitable part of close relationships. What varies from relationship to relationship is not whether partners hurt each other, but how their relationship is affected by hurtful episodes. Given the potential influence of hurt feelings on people's interpersonal relationships, it is not surprising that scholars have begun to study the antecedents, processes, and outcomes associated with hurt. This collection integrates the various issues addressed by researchers, theorists, and practitioners who study the causes of hurt feelings, the interpersonal events associated with hurt, and the ways people respond to hurting and being hurt by others. To capture the breadth and depth of the literature in this area, the work of scholars from a variety of disciplines – including social psychology, communication, sociology, and family studies – is highlighted.

This book was written to try to integrate various strands of concern about communication, language, and thinking. There are two related questions that have served to initiate the enquiries that resulted in this book: Why do people hold false beliefs? And why do they accept and use inadequate arguments in support of their beliefs? The author has provided a clear conceptual framework to address these issues and in doing so he folds into the arguements the marvelous richness of language as a vehicle of communication.

This practical text introduces students to all the principal data collection methods and data analyses used in social psychology. A student-friendly introduction to the data collection methods and data analyses used in social psychology. Describes the principal research methods and shows how they can be applied to particular research questions. Each chapter is written by a psychologist well known for using the method they describe. Methods presented include conducting surveys, constructing questionnaires, facilitating focus groups, running interviews, and using archival recordings. Topics used to illustrate these methods include identity processes, attribution, stereotyping, attitude change, social influence, communication, and group dynamics. Includes step-by-step exercises for students and notes for course leaders.

This is the third of a three-volume comprehensive reference work on “Gender across Languages”, which provides systematic descriptions of various categories of gender (grammatical, lexical, referential, social) in 30 languages of diverse genetic, typological and socio-cultural backgrounds. Among the issues discussed for each language are the following: What are the structural properties of the language that have an impact on the relations between language and gender? What are the consequences for areas such as agreement, pronominalisation and word-formation? How is specification of and abstraction from (referential) gender achieved in a language? Is empirical evidence available for the assumption that masculine/male expressions are interpreted as generics? Can tendencies of variation and change be observed, and have alternatives been proposed for a more equal linguistic treatment of women and men? This volume (and the previous two volumes) will provide the much-needed basis for explicitly comparative analyses of gender across languages. All chapters are original contributions and follow a common general outline developed by the editors. The book contains rich bibliographical and indexical material. Languages of Volume 3: Czech, Danish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Oriya, Polish, Serbian, Swahili and Swedish.