Mohan Dutta - Communicating Social Change: Structure, Culture, and Agency

COMMUNICATING SOCIAL CHANGE

Communicating Social Change: Structure, Culture, and Agency explores the use of communication to transform global, national, and local structures of power that create and sustain oppressive conditions. Author Mohan J. Dutta describes the social challenges that exist in current globalization politics, and examines the communicative processes, strategies, and tactics through which social change interventions are constituted in response to the challenges. Using empirical evidence and case studies, he documents the ways through which those in power create conditions at the margins, and he provides a theoretical base for discussing the ways in which these positions of power are resisted through communication processes, strategies, and tactics. The interplay of power and control with resistance is woven through each of the chapters in the book.

This exceptional volume highlights the points of intersection between the theory and praxis of social change communication, creating theoretical entry points for the praxis of social change. It is intended for communication scholars and students studying activism, social movements, and communication for social change, and it will also resonate in such disciplines as development, sociology, and social work, and with those who are studying social transformations.

Mohan J. Dutta is Professor of Communication and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in Liberal Arts at Purdue University, where he teaches and conducts research in international health communication, critical cultural theory, poverty in healthcare, politics of resistance, and public policy and social change. In recognition of his scholarly productivity, Professor Dutta has been recognized as the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Scholar in Health Communication, and as the Lim Chong Yah Professor of Communication and New Media at the National University of Singapore. Currently, he serves as senior editor of the journal Health Communication.

COMMUNICATING SOCIAL CHANGE

Structure, Culture, and Agency

Mohan J. Dutta

NEW YORK AND LONDON

First published 2011
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.

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2011 Taylor & Francis

The right of Mohan J. Dutta to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dutta, Mohan J.
Communicating social change: structure, culture, and agency / Mohan J.
Dutta.
p. cm.
1. Social change. 2. CommunicationSocial aspects. I. Title.
HM831.D88 2011
302.2dc22
2010036231

ISBN 0-203-83434-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN: 9780415878739 (hbk)

ISBN: 9780415878746 (pbk)

ISBN: 9780203834343 (ebk)

To Debalina for dreaming a better world together
To Ma for the lessons in dreaming
To Nana for nurturing the seeds of every dream

And for Shloke
So that you may dream!