Mainstream U.S. media studies has been marked by an involuntary process toward greater self-absorption and internal development, hence privileging methodologically elaborate study of neatly delineated problems over conceptual or theoretical innovation. Communication research is increasingly divorced from the larger contexts of the humanities and social sciences. It may also risk being criticized for operating in historical and global vacuum. The solution is to return to what C. Wright Mills describes as the classic tradition of ‘intellectual craftsmanship’ that encourages the production of sociological imagination.
GansHJ (1972) The famine in American Mass communication research. American Journal of Sociology77: 697–705.
6.
GansHJ (1979) Deciding What’s News, New York: Pantheon.
7.
GeertzC (1963) Agricultural Involution, Berkeley: University of California Press.
8.
LeeC-C (2015a) International communication research: Critical Reflections and a new point of departure. In: LeeCC (ed.) Internationalizing “International Communication.”, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
9.
LeeC-C (2015b) Local experiences, cosmopolitan theories: On cultural relevance in international communication. In: LeeCC (ed.) Internationalizing “International Communication.”, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
10.
MillsCW (1959) The Sociological Imagination, New York: Oxford University Press.
11.
OsgoodCSuciGTennenbaumP (1957) The Measurement of Meaning, Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
12.
Pool IDS and Schramm W (eds) (1973) Handbook of Communication. Chicago: Rand McNally.
13.
PooleyJKatzE (2008) Further notes on why American sociology abandoned mass communication research. Journal of Communication58: 767–786.
14.
SaidEW (1996) Representations of the Intellectual, New York: Pantheon.
15.
SchrammW (1959) The state of communication research: A comment. Public Opinion Quarterly23: 6–9.
16.
SchrammW (1962) Mass communication. Annual Review of Psychology13: 251–284.
17.
ShannonCWeaverW (1949) The Mathematical Theory of Communication, Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
18.
SoCYK (1988) Citation patterns of core communication journals: An assessment of the developmental status of communication. Human Communication Research15: 236–255.
