Includes index.

Contents: Setting the stage: What is communication -- Framing our past and present -- Thinking about theory -- Understanding the research process -- Understanding the dialogue: The self and messages in communication theory: Symbolic interaction theory -- Coordinated management of meaning -- Cognitive dissonance theory -- Expectancy violations theory -- The relationship and its development in communication theory: Uncertainty reduction theory -- Social penetration theory -- Relational dialectics theory -- Social exchange theory -- Group and organizations in communication theory: Groupthink -- Structuration theory -- Cultural approach to organizations -- Organizational information theory -- The public in communication theory: The rhetoric -- Dramatism -- The Narrative paradigm -- Cultural studies -- The media and audience in communication theory: Cultivation analysis -- Uses and gratifications theory -- Spiral of silence theory -- Culture and diversity in communication theory: Face-negotiation theory -- Standpoint theory -- Muted group theory -- Communication accommodation theory --