Knowledge Framework And Theoretical Pedigree Of Chinese Communication

Communication has been imported into China in the year 1978, and then it became an official establishment as an independent sub-discipline in 1997. Now, it receives people’s rethink in a critical way. In the nearly 40 years’development, communication study has not only gained achievements and praises, but also been criticized. But more fundamentally, what are we talking about when we talk about communication? Or in other words, what is communication study, and how does it present this kind of appearance? As a representative product of discipline institutionalization, textbook is the basic of a discipline, which delineates discipline connotation and denotation, as well as establishes the model of the discipline platform. In addition, it also shapes the knowledge map and framework of the discipline for learners. As a discipline mode, communication study textbook defines the core and boundary of the communication as "subject", likewise, it expands the knowledge and extension of the communication as "field".In this thesis, I selected thirteen respective textbooks as study objects. By using content analysis and qualitative methods, I collect and compare the quantity and frequency of keywords to summary the knowledge frame of Chinese textbooks is the logic of "passing view", which is based on the theory of empiricism and function, and the form of Pragmatism. My results showed that the knowledge production of Chinese Communication textbook relies not only on the United States and other Western countries, but also being limited by the different periods of social reality as well as the subjective factors of intellectuals. That is to say, the Chinese communication study’s progressing is depend on its American counterpart. By comparing Chinese and American Communication textbooks, the results showed that Chinese communication textbook has high imitation of its American counterpart in content, structure, style, and other aspects. Through the empirical data analysis, I present that under the localization attempts and legalization efforts, the knowledge frame and the production logic of China’s communication studies is carrying a new round of upgrades, whereby this result also reflect the disciplinary crisis of Chinese communication studies.