James W. Carey
This piece of work by James W.
Carey, gives us a look into two forms of communication. The first form of communication is called
transmission view. This view of
communication deals with giving large amounts of news to an audience and not
giving much background and digging deeper into the story. The other form of communication is called the
ritual view of communication. This form
of communication is “more like attending a mass: a situation in which nothing
new is learned but in which a particular view of the world is portrayed and
confirmed.” (Carey, pg. 8) Carey is
credited with inventing and coming up with the term ritual view of
communication. Now we have a background of what Carey discussed, lets learn
more about Carey.
James William Carey was born in Providence Rhode Island on Sept. 7,
1934. When he was little he was diagnosed with a rare heart disease that had a
huge risk of being fatal. This caused his mother to not let him attend school. James
was not allowed to go to school and interact with his friends. He spent his days reading books and talking
to older adults in his neighborhood. He finally got to go to school and went on
to the University of Rhode Island where he majored in Marketing and
Advertising. After getting his doctorate
from the University of Illinois he said “(I) concentrated on "a field yet
to be invented, the economics of communications." (Martin , 2006) After graduation he ended up teaching at the
University of Illinois in the college of communication and worked his way all
the way up to being the dean of the college of communication. He also worked at
Columbia University and died at the age of 71 in 2006.
It is also important to look at what type of media and where this
article is published. It is an essay from
a book of essays published by Carey called Communication
as Culture: Essays on Media and Society.
This book was published in 1989 and discusses more than just the facts
of communication. It reveals topics and
ideas that have never been discussed before this time. “Though you may not know his name, Jim’s
ideas about communication as culture, journalism as conversation, his reading
of journalism history, and many other insights in his writings and speeches
have inspired and influenced some of the most important ideas in the media
culture today. He anticipated the rise of citizen media, inspired public
journalism, and changed modern press criticism.” ("Remembering james carey," 2006) This piece of work by him may not be very
famous or well know but it has played a huge part of what we know about media and
communications today.
A theme
that is seen a in a great amount of Carey’s writings, is that people study
communication in order to better understand the world around them. This theme
can be seen clearly in the reading, A Cultural Approach to Communication.
Carey argues for the ritual form of communication, which is about more
than just getting information but understanding and using that information to
help others out. This piece of work was
very influential in changing and shaping the landscape of communications and the media.
Reference
Carey, J. W. (1975). A cultural approach to communication. Communication
2(2), 1-22.
Martin , D. (2006, 05 26). James w. carey, teacher of
journalists, dies at 71. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/nyregion/26carey.html?_r=0
Remembering james carey. (2006, 05 26). Retrieved from
http://www.journalism.org/2006/05/26/remembering-james-carey/
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