Socio-cultural Tradition: From Theory to Research

There are many theories that try to understand the broad nature of communication and how it applies to the individual or society but because of the complex nature of the topic, traditions are formed to help organize and explain different viewpoints and concepts. Robert Craig developed a model that labelled and separated the field of communication into seven traditions (Littlejohn & Foss 34). The socio-cultural tradition is one of the worldviews.  It is the study of one’s relationship as a whole to a culture rather than individual differences. This paper closely examines this tradition tracing its origin, showing how it conceptualizes communication and its problems, and juxtaposing it with other traditions. Beyond this, the paper shows how this tradition may be applied in social research: from paradigm to data analysis and interpretations. Keywords: Communication theory, social cultural tradition, social research.