1 00:00:10,900 --> 00:00:15,266 You might recall from our first class the Newcomb model. 2 00:00:15,266 --> 00:00:18,466 One of the basic models we covered in our first week. 3 00:00:18,466 --> 00:00:22,199 The model contains the elements A, B and X. 4 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:29,433 A is the sender, B is the receiver and X is some shared social factor that 5 00:00:29,433 --> 00:00:33,299 1) influences the relationship between A & B and 6 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:38,600 2) is influenced itself by this relationship. 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,500 Let’s say A is Anton and B is Barbara. 8 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:48,133 Anton and Barbara are friends and both like the movies of the famous director Xavier. 9 00:00:48,133 --> 00:00:52,266 Xavier’s new movie comes out and Barbara absolutely hates it, 10 00:00:52,266 --> 00:00:55,366 she thinks it’s pretentious and boring. 11 00:00:55,366 --> 00:00:58,632 The relationship between Barbara and Xavier has changed. 12 00:00:58,633 --> 00:01:01,299 She is not such a big fan anymore. 13 00:01:01,300 --> 00:01:06,066 As a result the relationship between Anton and Barbara might change as well, 14 00:01:06,066 --> 00:01:14,199 since they now completely disagree on their appreciation of this movie and Xavier’s directing. 15 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,900 Also, Anton’s relationship with Xavier might change, 16 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:23,133 perhaps he will start to see this movie in a new light as a result of Barbara’s criticism 17 00:01:23,133 --> 00:01:28,333 or he will defend him avidly and as a result become an even bigger fan. 18 00:01:28,333 --> 00:01:32,366 Newcomb's model is important because it's one of the first communication models 19 00:01:32,366 --> 00:01:37,532 that includes the idea of a social environment that influences the communication process 20 00:01:37,533 --> 00:01:42,266 and is itself influenced by the communication process. 21 00:01:42,266 --> 00:01:47,732 It contains the idea that communication is used to construct and maintain a social reality. 22 00:01:47,733 --> 00:01:52,133 A reality that’s very personal for every individual. 23 00:01:52,133 --> 00:01:56,733 This theory, that communication is a building block of a social reality, 24 00:01:56,733 --> 00:01:59,699 became popular in the nineteen sixties. 25 00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:03,300 In their influential book ‘The Social Construction of Reality’, 26 00:02:03,300 --> 00:02:07,800 Berger and Luckmann's argue that all knowledge about everyday reality, 27 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,400 all knowledge that we take for granted, 28 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:12,800 even simple and even objective ‘truths’, 29 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:18,400 are actually born from and maintained by social interactions. 30 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,166 We ‘know’ that 31 00:02:20,166 --> 00:02:20,732 lying is 32 00:02:20,733 --> 00:02:21,833 wrong, 33 00:02:21,833 --> 00:02:22,066 that 34 00:02:22,066 --> 00:02:22,832 boys play with 35 00:02:22,833 --> 00:02:23,899 cars, 36 00:02:23,900 --> 00:02:24,100 that 37 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:25,166 motorcycles are 38 00:02:25,166 --> 00:02:26,199 cool, 39 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:26,800 that we should 40 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:27,266 obey 41 00:02:27,266 --> 00:02:28,532 the law, 42 00:02:28,533 --> 00:02:29,933 because as children and adults 43 00:02:29,933 --> 00:02:34,199 we are programmed by parents, friends, family, classmates, 44 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,133 and indirectly by mediated communication, 45 00:02:37,133 --> 00:02:40,599 with ideas of what is real. 46 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,066 We are socially taught seemingly fixed ‘rules’ 47 00:02:44,066 --> 00:02:49,132 and ‘truths’ that in reality are social constructs. 48 00:02:49,133 --> 00:02:52,033 This reality is unique for every individual. 49 00:02:52,033 --> 00:02:59,299 Our own reality lives, evolves and dies with us and in a way we are at the center of it. 50 00:02:59,300 --> 00:03:03,766 This is the theory of social constructionism that was further developed 51 00:03:03,766 --> 00:03:06,866 by scholars in the sixties and seventies. 52 00:03:06,866 --> 00:03:12,999 A key element of social constructionism is that people do not construct reality by themselves. 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,833 We need to communicate with others to make sense of the world. 54 00:03:15,833 --> 00:03:21,433 To understand the ‘rules of live’ and know where we belong and don’t belong. 55 00:03:21,433 --> 00:03:26,333 This perspective completely challenged the idea that reality is fixed and objective, 56 00:03:26,333 --> 00:03:31,699 and that the truth of that reality can be proven by scientists. 57 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:36,000 This meant that scientists – according to social constructionists - 58 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,233 had to study how reality was formed in the mind of people, 59 00:03:40,233 --> 00:03:43,599 how they use social interaction and mediated communication 60 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:50,433 to create and maintain their personal image of reality. 61 00:03:50,433 --> 00:03:57,899 New, more qualitative, deeper and explorative methods were required for this. 62 00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:00,900 Communication scientists borrowed new methods from anthropology, 63 00:04:00,900 --> 00:04:04,433 sociology, political sciences and literature studies 64 00:04:04,433 --> 00:04:11,799 to gain insight in how reality, or culture, is formed with use of communication. 65 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,233 New popular methods were in-depth interviews, 66 00:04:15,233 --> 00:04:16,899 textual analysis 67 00:04:16,899 --> 00:04:22,065 and historical and socio-political analysis. 68 00:04:22,065 --> 00:04:27,199 Scientists were also more and more interested in the social and political context 69 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,333 in which communication was produced and received. 70 00:04:30,333 --> 00:04:33,366 We’ll discuss that further next.