The paradox of the diffusion of innovations research is that in its efforts to find ways and means of breaking the communication constraint in Third World countries, it has generated many bottlenecks that cumulatively constitute the major constraint: lack of an efficient system for delivering adequate and reliable information, knowledge, and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: (1) verbal interpersonal communication between community volunteers and prisoners; (2) pharmacist-patient communication skills; (3) communication attachment; (4) the definition,…

Recent retrieval of pre-nineteenth century feminist thought provides a telling lesson in the politics of knowledge creation and control. From a feminist perspective, very little research carried out within the critical research paradigm questions the "basic assumptions, conventional wisdom, media myths and the accepted way of doing…

Over 60 years of American anthropological and sociological research writings have erected a concept of culture that restricts its role in planned change models to one of active or tacit resistance to change. As an alternative, this paper suggests that the substitution of a contemporary, dynamic conceptualization of culture as developed by…

Through a review of development literature, this paper examines the changes that have occurred in thinking about the role of communication in developing nations. The first section of the paper surveys the theories of the past, including those of the neo-classical and Marxist scholars. The section also looks at the emergence of the dependency…

Uses Third World development campaigns to examine how current interpretations of the interactive model in communication have confounded two dimensions of communications--information processing and social relationship. Suggests an analytic framework for feedback using a revised interpretation of the interactive model. (MM)

Noting the unprecedented expansion of research in the field of international communications, much of it conducted by scholars from developing countries, this bibliography contains citations of studies on the international flow of news. The bibliography begins with an introduction to the field of research on international news flow, noting those…

To evaluate the ethical role of researchers in developmental communication, this paper first reviews current thinking on development theories, suggesting that world recession, as well as skyrocketing national debts and internal conflicts in Third World nations underscore (1) the relationship between Third World development and global stability,…

This paper examines the problem of how to reconcile the practical realities of the nature of the mass audience with the demands of personal and social development, particularly in Africa and other Third World Countries, where the demands of modernization have confronted traditional norms and values. After defining and clarifying key concepts such…

Noting that the theory of international development is a paradigm, a model by which researchers guide their studies, this paper reviews various concepts of international development theory and proposes a research study that would examine mass media use in Georgia, one of the new republics born out of the death of the Soviet Union. The paper begins…

This report summarizes a Unesco-sponsored study of indicators of international communication and socioeconomic development. Following a brief description of the background, purpose, and methodology of the study, the report discusses its findings in the following areas: (1) communication and social indicators; (2) communications and the growth of…

Based on the assumption that the variables used in diffusion of information studies in developing nations are subject to Western bias, theoretically complex, difficult to compare across cultures, and difficult to operationalize, a study was undertaken to test the predictive ability of simpler demographic variables. The data were drawn from a…

Quantitative data on various indexes of national development--mass media, "horizontal communication" (mail, telephones, and telegrams), democracy, social growth, literacy, and urbanization--were collected and estimated for more than 100 developing countries for roughly the decade between 1970 and 1980. These data were then used to test…

Examination of the social development of Iran reveals that quantitative leaps in the growth of traditional communication indicators, such as the mass media, did not necessarily mean growth in the social communication system as a whole. The intrinsic communication needs of modern Iranians for identity, legitimacy, and community have remained…

Intended for researchers, policy makers, and planners, the studies in this volume examine issues in communication policy and planning in developing nations. The five studies discuss the following: (1) the organizational and methodological aspects of communication planning, including structure and organization, methods and models; (2) the economics…