Understanding communication development theory

1. Understanding communication development theory Contrasting paradigms

2. Competing paradigms Thomas Kuhn suggested that paradigms can be described as �the practices that define a scientific discipline at certain point in time.� He also postulated that paradigms are discrete and culturally based. A scientific paradigm, in the most basic sense of the word, is a framework containing all of the commonly accepted views about a subject, a structure of what direction research should take and how it should be performed. So communications & knowledge sharing are central to paradigm socialisation. Paradigm shift? 2 competing paradigms co-exist today to various degrees within the field of development communication linked to the evolution of the development and communication models that have marked development efforts up to now.

3. 2 trends in development communication Emerged in parallel over past 50 years: an approach that favoured large-scale actions and relied on the mass media (modernisation), and an approach that promoted grassroots communication (also called community communication), promoting small-scale projects and relying especially on small media (videos, posters, slide presentation, etc.) [participatory/empowerment]. Q. Are these 2 trends mutually exclusive or might they support & learn from each other?

4. Dominant paradigm Behaviour change models have been the dominant paradigm in field of development communications Different theories & strategies accept the premise that problems result from a lack of knowledge, and that Interventions were needed that provide information for behaviour change Think about the nature of interventions & behaviour change

5. Modernisation theory Urbanization and industrialization - economic growth - western model of improvement Focus on capital-intensive technology - undermining of traditional agriculture. Focus on individual as social unit � meaning & why?; traditional attitudes and behaviour constrain development. Literacy and mass media to help masses break free of traditional views.

6. McBride on modernisation As the MacBride Commission report noted: The former models used communication especially for disseminating information, for getting people to understand the "benefits" promised by development and the "sacrifices" it demands. The imitation of a development model, based on the hypothesis that wealth, once acquired, will automatically filter down to all levels of society, included the propagation of communication practices from top to bottom�.�.�. The effects were a long way from the effects that were expected. (MacBride 1980, p. 6)

7. Modernisation & mass media Trend toward mass communication where the media were utilized in the field of development. Based on the idea that it was enough to disseminate the knowledge and technologies of the North to ensure that they were adopted. Once adopted, the South would achieve development. These initial experiences, centred mainly around the mass media, based on: a communication model that used persuasion and information transmission, and a development model founded on increasing economic activity and changes in values and attitudes.

8. Epistemological foundations Thus communication for development found in modernisation theories Inheritance of historical and institutional biases from US propaganda research during World Wars Mass communications media = powerful instruments in the successful manipulation of people�s opinions and attitudes Powerful �media effects� research into social, political, & economic contexts esp. during Cold War....funded by CIA & US military & based on professional links with academics

9. Key authors The intervention paradigm of these two decades, which is found in two publications that had a decisive impact on the orientations adopted at that time The Passing of Traditional Society by Daniel Lerner (1958) and Mass Media and National Development by Wilbur Schramm (1964) These consist of a very simple communication model best described in stimulus-response terms, based both on the logic of persuasion and on a development model linking the latter to increased productivity. See bullet theory of communications & diffusion of innovation (Everett Rogers) - three main elements: the target population of the innovation, the innovation to be transmitted, and the sources and communication channels

10. Communication theories, models & practices Communication theory & models Communication model presentation Communication theory Communication for Development Development Communication Development communication Development communication sourcebook Participatory communication

11. Modernisation shortcomings People began questioning the modernization model because they saw that communication did not necessarily lead to development, observing that in fact, the countries of the South appeared to be sliding further and further into poverty, low salaries, and poor living conditions. This criticism, which was developed above all in Latin America, which emphasized the link between this situation and the situation of economic dependence on the industrialized North: the development of the countries in the North was conditional on the underdevelopment of the countries of the Third World, and the "centre" developed at the expense of the "periphery". Development Communication: Reframing the Role of the Media Thomas L McPhail

12. Dependency theory Colonialism & post-colonialism Obstacles to development come first and foremost from external, not internal, obstacles: that is to say, the international economic system. Consequently, the mass media cannot act as agents of change, since they transmit the western message, and the capitalist and conservative ideology. This paradigm, which is still in existence today, was also criticized because it put too much emphasis on the contradictions at the international level and not enough on the contradictions at the local and national levels. The resulting discussions and recommendations regarding the "new information order" (see McBride Commission & report, see also NWICO � referred to last week) related to this paradigm.

13. Emergence of alternatives Dialogue, the correct method; � working with rather than for the people, concept of Consciousness (see work of Paolo Freire, e.g. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1973) Communication as support for development Local media for enhancing dialogue and action; (e.g. folk media/community media) People-initiated (rather than expert-initiated) activity at the local level

14. Paradigm of another development Emphasis on non-material indicators of development (access to health care, nutrition, sanitation) Shift from industrialization to human action within socio-cultural, political and economic contexts Focus on participatory decision-making Attention to gender and gender gaps Values & culture Grassroots communications approaches

15. Re-examining the role of communication for development Rockefeller Foundation meetings (1997, 1998, 2000) explored new communication strategies for social change (CFSC) Group defined CFCS as: �a process of public and private dialogue through which people define who they are, what they want and how they can get it.�

16. Effective dialogue Effective dialogue (Rapoport, 1967) occurs when: Participants listen to one another (paraphrasing to the other�s satisfaction) Each acknowledges the conditions to accept the other�s argument as valid Each acknowledges the similarity of both points of view Dialogue can lead to disagreement when each person�s interests and values are in conflict

17. Not a model for social change Social change: (CFSC) the transformation of the overall structure represented by the change in the distribution of resources (educational, economic, power, discursive)

18. CFSC Model Participatory processes as the one described in the model can be conducive to SC by: enabling people to critically decide where they want to go and how increasing community organization for collective action

19. Endogenous acquisition of knowledge and skills Emphasizes the planning of communication activities as a support to a development project. Aims to produce a common understanding or a consensus among all the participants in a development initiative. Emphasizes the facilitation of exchanges of points of view among the various people involved and aims at taking into account the grassroots perceptions in the planning of the project and mobilizing them in the development activities set out in the project. The methodology results from educational technology and is characterized by the integration of needs analysis and evaluation mechanisms in the communication process.

20. Other approaches Based on the community approach and the grassroots awareness-raising model. The same is true of the alternative for democratic development communication, which emphasizes grassroots access to the communication process for the purpose of promoting social justice and democracy. In certain cases, this is translated by an emphasis on participation by the most disadvantaged in the communication process (access to small media at the local level), and in other cases, by actions promoting cultural expression and the search for ways of taking control of the mass media.

21. Meanings of development over time

22. Global hegemony and development theories

23. Actors in the development field: different stakeholders, different development

24. Development theories and culture

25. Development and culture

26. This week�s team tasks Perspectives Colonialism & development Modernisation theory Dependency theory Neo-liberalism and development Human development concept and indicies Another development theory Post-development theory