Innovations in Communication Theories: The Man Is the Message

This book offers a novel approach to innovations in theories of communication and social development. It proposes that ＂the man is the message＂. It argues that communication is woven into the fabric of people’s daily lives, and a scholar with a keen eye, an open heart and an inquiring mind should be able to capture the ubiquitous phenomena of communication and turn them into theoretical observations and even innovations.

Although most of the propositions in this book cannot be tested empirically, at least for now, owing to the limitations inherent in current research methods, they complement the empirical studies of communication based on measurement.With due understanding that Western social sciences, including communication studies, focus on analytical thinking and the fine division of disciplines, this book takes a more synthetic approach to analyzing communication, often integrating and contextualizing its various factors and channels and categories in analysis and writing. Providing a holistic picture of communication that features the crux of the matter-how to reach and capture the heart and soul of people without any attempt to manipulate their minds, it is more humanistic than many other books on communication studies. Although much of the thinking in the book is seemingly Chinese, it nevertheless has a universal appeal.

Yanru Chen received her B.A. and M.A. in communications from California State University and her Ph.D. in communication research from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is a professor with Xiamen University and the winner of a provincial top prize for research in social sciences. Her research has been published extensively at home and abroad, including a book with Springer and articles in American, European, Australian and Asian journals. She wrote the first books on communication campaigns and the effect of patriotic education in China’s market economy era.