Communication Studies

Communication studies is a broad and interdisciplinary field that explores the processes by which people create, exchange, and interpret communicative messages. The academic field of communication comprises interrelated subfields, ranging from critical communication to mass communication to organizational communication to technical communication, to name but a few. Many of these subfields examine surveillance—particularly surveillance’s relationship to issues of power, control, and discipline within organizational and societal contexts. The significance of these issues has grown in recent decades due to the creation of new laws and the development of new technologies that allow for increased levels of surveillance. This entry traces the beginning of communication studies, lists the interdisciplinary subfields of communication that are widely recognized, and highlights how many of those subfields contribute to the ...