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10 - Constructive Engagement across Deep Divides

What It Entails and How It Changes Our Role as Communication Scholars

from Part IV - Engagement with and through Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Matthew Powers
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Adrienne Russell
Affiliation:
University of Washington
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Summary

This chapter focuses on the idea of constructive engagement, an umbrella term for mediated and non-mediated forms of communication in which differences can be expressed, respected, and resolved. Hartmut Wessler identifies three ways current scholarship can shift to better address the topic: first, to move from research that emphasizes voice to the practices associated with listening; second, to turn from disruptive conflict toward identifying the potential for integrative conflict; and third, by moving from modes of argumentation to research that examines the “self-transcendent emotions” that fuel constructive interaction with individuals across social divides. Wessler suggests that focusing on constructive engagement can link long-standing concerns articulated by theorists like Habermas focused on rational-critical deliberation with efforts made by social theorists like Georg Simmel, Lewis Coser, and Helmut Dubiel to highlight the integrative and constructive potential of robust but contained conflicts.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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