Revisiting “Communication Theory as a Field”
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22693122 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Chrystall (0000-0003-4535-3742, Massey University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9916 • E-ISSN: 1460-2466 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/joc/jqag007 |
| OpenAlex | W7162142396 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
This article revisits Robert T. Craig’s “Communication Theory as a Field” on its 25th anniversary to reassess its relevance for contemporary communication studies. It foregrounds mediation and communication technologies’ role in shaping how scholars think and write about communication. Focusing on the 1990s media environment, the analysis draws on Walter Ong’s insights into the sensory, technological, and historical conditions of knowledge production. “Communication Theory as a Field” is shown to echo the spatial-visualist logics of Web 1.0. A comparative reading with Peter Ramus highlights the unintended visualism of Craig’s project and challenges the ocular paradigm long dominant in communication theory. The article advances communication-as-constitutive perspectives by advocating a “sensory rapprochement” that restores auditory, embodied, and dialogic dimensions to theory while underscoring the need for reflexivity about how evolving technologies shape disciplinary frameworks and the conditions of theorizing.
Communication theory · Dialogic · Discipline · Mediation · Reading (process) · Reflexivity · Relevance (law) · Unintended consequences · Cultural and Communication Design Research · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Media, Communication, and Education
The Electronic Word
Building Theories of Organization
Technology and the Lifeworld
The Age of the World Picture
Finding the Organization in the Communication
The Symbiotic Sustainability Model
Communication Theory at the Center
The Identity of Communication Research
Power, Pleasure, Patterns
Bakhtinian Dialogic and Vygotskian Dialectic
Social Construction in Communication Re-Constituting the Conversation
Becoming-media
Pragmatism in the Field of Communication Theory
Communication as Constitutive Transmission? An Encounter with Affect
Communication Theory as a Field
Media and Communication Studies. What is there to Decolonize
The Constitution of Organization as Informational Individuation
Dialogue and dialogic perspectives on actions, interactions and practices across contexts
Merleau-Ponty and Epistemology Engines
Mapping Media Ecology
Diversifying ICA
On the Mediation of Everything
Media Ecology
Seeds of Change
Ocularcentrism and its Others
Speech Is Dead; Long Live Speech
The Rise of Hermeneutics and the Crisis of Ocularcentrism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |