Synopsis

With more than 300 entries, these two volumes provide a one-stop source for a comprehensive overview of communication theory, offering current descriptions of theories as well as the background issues and concepts that comprise these theories. This is the first resource to summarize, in one place, the diversity of theory in the communication field.

Key Themes

• Applications and Contexts
• Critical Orientations
• Cultural Orientations
• Cybernetic and Systems Orientations
• Feminist Orientations
• Group and Organizational Concepts
• Information, Media, and Communication Technology
• International and Global Concepts
• Interpersonal Concepts
• Non-Western Orientations
• Paradigms, Traditions, and Schools
• Philosophical Orientations
• Psycho-Cognitive Orientations
• Rhetorical Orientations
• Semiotic, Linguistic, and Discursive Orientations
• Social/Interactional Orientations
• Theory, Metatheory, Methodology, and Inquiry

Library Journal

Littlejohn and Foss, who previously coauthored Theories of Human Communication (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008), now in its ninth edition, among many other publications on the topic of communications, are eminently qualified to edit this highly useful encyclopedia. They have assembled an international editorial board and a group of contributors to present a broad spectrum of theory related to the study of human communications. Access points include an alphabetical list of entries, a reader's guide in which the entries are grouped into 17 themes, an A-to-Z list of theorists, a selected bibliography of major works by topic, and a chronology of major themes and developments in communication theory that extends from classical Greece and Rome through the present day, in addition, of course, to an extensive index at the end of the second volume. The articles each range in length from 1000 to 3000 words and include references to other entries within the encyclopedia as well as further readings on the topic, covering everything from theories, theorists, orientations to theory, and methodology. Topics in the selected bibliography mirror topics covered in articles and expand upon the further readings suggested at the end of each article. BOTTOM LINE The authors of the articles have minimized the use of jargon and taken pains to make their writing accessible not only to fellow scholars but also to undergraduates, making this encyclopedia equally suitable for large public as well as all academic libraries.—Sarah Sutton, Texas A&M Univ., Corpus Christi

Biography

Stephen Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Utah), is a conflict management consultant, mediator, facilitator, and trainer. He is consultant for the Public Dialogue Consortium and a partner in Domenici Littlejohn, Inc. Stephen is co-author of Moral Conflict: When Social Worlds Collide (Sage, 1997) and has written numerous other books and articles on communication and conflict. He was a professor of communication at Humboldt State University in California and is currently Adjunct Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico. He has done research on mediation and conflict management for 19 years and has been an active mediator for eight. Stephen has been a consultant for such clients as the Waco Youth Summit, the Alliance for Constructive Communication, the City of Cupertino, Columbia Basin College, and Washington State University.

Karen Foss (Ph.D., University of Iowa) is Regents’ Professor and until recently was Chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico and has joined Stephen Littlejohn as a co-author on his bestsellingtextbook,Theories of Human Communication, 9th Edition. She has been at the University of New Mexico since 1993 and in that time served not only as a departmental chair but also as Director of Graduate Studies for the department and as Director of Women’s Studies. In 2005, she received the Gender Scholar of the Year award from the Southern States Communication Association and was named Presidential Teaching Fellow for 2004-2006. Her research interests include contemporary rhetoric and criticism, social movements and social change, and feminist perspectives on communication. In addition to her work on Theories of Human Communication, she has co-authored Women Speak: The Eloquence of Women’s Lives, Inviting Transformation: Presentational Speaking for a Changing World, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Feminist Rhetorical Theory (SAGE 1999) and Readings in Feminist Rhetorical Theory (SAGE 2004). Dr. Foss regularly teaches feminist rhetorical theory; rhetorical criticism; rhetorical theory; women, agency, and change; and public speaking.