Oh, What Webs Those Phantoms Spin

Abstract

The founders of the intellectual tradition that became known as symbolic interaction theory were the first to systematically articulate the principle that society exists in communication (Mead 1934; Cooley 1902; Dewey 1922). Subsequent scholars of that tradition formulated paradigms for the analysis of communication processes and anticipated some of the formulations of the contemporary media theorists by examining the consequences of changes in human consciousness when people communicate and establish social structures (Park 1922; Blumer 1933; Lee 1937). Others subsequently extended these early efforts by analyzing the intertwinings of public opinion, propaganda, and social structures. Contemporary social scientists analyze mediated communication. Some, especially those known as media theorists, usually use an across-time paradigm, characterize qualities of the media, and offer statements about how the media, social structure, and human consciousness are intertwined. Prototypic studies of that sort are the analyses of Altheide and Snow (Altheide 1 985; Altheide and Snow 1 979,1991 ). These scholars, like Simmel, concentrate their analytic efforts not on content but on the qualitative properties of various communication processes (Snow 1 988; Couch and Chen 1988). More commonly, contemporary scholars of communication focus on the messages offered and the experiences derived by individuals from the messages. These scholars, or content analysts, usually apply a point in time paradigm to what they presume to be enduring phenomena and analyze messages and experiences rather than communicative processes. In so doing, they characterize what is communicated