Communication Concepts and Models: Exploring Relevance for Community Development

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive exploration of communication and mass communication models. It discusses traditional models that assume a passive mass audience and later shifts to models focusing on systematic receiver differences. The paper explores various models, including Carey’s ritual model, Nair and White’s participatory message development model, and Hall’s idea of messages being open to multiple interpretations. It delves into the complexities of measuring media effects, discussing models like Lasswell’s and Lazarsfeld’s two-step flow model. The paper also covers the uses and gratifications theory, third-person effects, and the uses and dependency model. It presents several models for a more interactive understanding of person-situation factors. The paper concludes with discussions on Gerbner’s cultivation theory, the reception models of media texts, and the study of cognitive dissonance in mass communication. The search for relevance of these discourses for the marginalized communities is the core of this paper.