The Three-fold state of the discipline

Abstract

A closer look at three areas of action in Communication - science, academia and profession - permits to conclude that the discipline faces a serious crisis. First, an epistemological review shows a fragmented body of theories. Second, there is a plurality of traditions within academia, derived from the history of every country, leading to a growing variety of curricula. Third, the professional field is a technology-centered and lacks of expertise since there is little connection between theory and practice. Therefore, our goal is to diagnose the three-fold state of the discipline to show the need of proposing a global approach. The proposal is based on a dialogue between scientists, professors and professionals in the framework of a commonly accepted model of study. Researchers should conduct pieces of research according to lines of research that should serve for both a proper formation in communication competences and the establishment of a field of expertise.
Several Tables show the situation within the associations of communication research: sections of these associations according to type of media, Sections according to type of agents in the process, sections according to type of content and sections classified according to the different traditions.
The second domain analyzed here are the aims and scopes of the 77 journals in communication indexed in the Social Citations Index. Authors claim that defining the aims and scopes of the major ISI journals in communication denote the primitive state of the discipline.
In conclusion, communication studies suffer from a triple crisis: it is not theoretically and scientifically consolidated; the academic function is not accomplished; and the field of work is trivialized Within a dominant paradigm, the dialogue between epistemology, theory and data is key for the future of communication.