Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:25:16.861Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Constructive Engagement across Deep Divides

What It Entails and How It Changes Our Role as Communication Scholars

from Part IV - Engagement with and through Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Matthew Powers
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Adrienne Russell
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get access

Summary

This chapter focuses on the idea of constructive engagement, an umbrella term for mediated and non-mediated forms of communication in which differences can be expressed, respected, and resolved. Hartmut Wessler identifies three ways current scholarship can shift to better address the topic: first, to move from research that emphasizes voice to the practices associated with listening; second, to turn from disruptive conflict toward identifying the potential for integrative conflict; and third, by moving from modes of argumentation to research that examines the “self-transcendent emotions” that fuel constructive interaction with individuals across social divides. Wessler suggests that focusing on constructive engagement can link long-standing concerns articulated by theorists like Habermas focused on rational-critical deliberation with efforts made by social theorists like Georg Simmel, Lewis Coser, and Helmut Dubiel to highlight the integrative and constructive potential of robust but contained conflicts.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Althaus, Scott L. (2012). “What’s Good and Bad in Political Communication Research? Normative Standards for Evaluating Media and Citizen Performance.” In Semetko, H. A. and Scammell, M. (eds.), Sage Handbook of Political Communication (pp. 97145). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Baker, C. Edwin (2002). Media, Markets, and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. Lance and Pfetsch, Barbara (2018). “Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres.” Journal of Communication, 68, 243253.Google Scholar
Brady, William J., Wills, Julian A., Jost, John T., et al. (2017). “Emotion Shapes the Diffusion of Moralized Content in Social Networks.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(28), 73137318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craft, Stephanie and Vos, Tim P. (2018). “Have You Heard?Journalism Practice, 12(8), 966975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, Andrew (2014). Listening for Democracy: Recognition, Representation, Reconciliation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dovidio, John F., Love, Angelika, Schellhaas, Fabian M. H., and Hewstone, Miles (2017). “Reducing Intergroup Bias through Intergroup Contact: Twenty Years of Progress and Future Directions.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 20, 606620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubiel, Helmut (1999). “Integration durch Konflikt?” In Friedrichs, J. and Jagodzinski, W. (eds.), Soziale Integration. Sonderheft 39 der Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (pp. 132143). Opladen, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar
Ferree, Myra Marx, Gamson, William Anthony, Rucht, Dieter, and Gerhards, Jürgen (2002). Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy (1992). “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy.” In Calhoun, C. (ed.) Habermas and the Public Sphere (pp. 109142). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Freelon, Deen (2015). “Discourse Architecture, Ideology, and Democratic Norms in Online Political Discussion.” New Media & Society, 17(5), 772791.Google Scholar
Habermas, Jürgen (1996). Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katriel, Tamar (2004). Dialogic Moments: From Soul Talks to Talk Radio in Israeli Culture. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Mouffe, Chantal (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically. London: Verso Press.Google Scholar
Oliver, Mary Beth, Raney, Arthur A., Slater, Michael D., et al. (2018). “Self-Transcendent Media Experiences. Taking Meaningful Media to a Higher Level.” Journal of Communication, 68, 380389.Google Scholar
Papacharissi, Zizi (2015). Affective Publics. Sentiment, Technology, and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rinke, Eike Mark (2017). A Framework for Critical-Empiricist Research in Political Communication. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24–28, San Diego. https://osf.io/8u5vb/Google Scholar
Rinke, Eike Mark and Moy, Patricia (2018). Political Correlates of Apophatic and Cataphatic Listening Styles. Paper presented the annual conference of the American Political Science Association (APSA), August 30–September 2, Boston. https://osf.io/aqk6d/Google Scholar
Schieferdecker, David and Wessler, Hartmut (2017). “Bridging Segregation Via Media Exposure? Ingroup Identification, Outgroup Distance and Low Direct Contact Reduce Outgroup Appearance in Media Repertoires.” Journal of Communication, 67(6), 9931014.Google Scholar
Scudder, Mary F. (2016). “Beyond Empathy: Strategies and Ideals of Democratic Deliberation.” Polity, 48(4), 524–50.Google Scholar
Stellar, Jennifer E., Gordon, Amie M., Piff, Paul K., et al. (2017). “Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Functions: Compassion, Gratitude, and Awe Bind Us to Others through Prosociality.” Emotion Review, 9(3), 18.Google Scholar
Van Aelst, Peter, Strömbäck, Jesper, Aalberg, Toril, et al. (2017). “Political Communication in a High-Choice Media Environment: A Challenge for Democracy?Annals of the International Communication Association, 41(1), 327.Google Scholar
Wessler, Hartmut (2018). Habermas and the Media. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Wessler, Hartmut and Rinke, Eike Mark (2014). “Deliberative Performance of Television News in Three Types of Democracy: Insights from the U.S., Germany, and Russia.” Journal of Communication, 64(5), 827851.Google Scholar
Wright, Erik Olin (2013). “Real Utopias.” Politics & Society, 41(2), 167169.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×