Toward a pragmatist theory of communication (John Dewey, James Carey, Walter Lippmann)

This dissertation recovers, defends and advances John Dewey's view of the conditions, constitution and operation of modern publics in the context of communication theory and cultural studies. Dewey claimed the formation of modern publics and a genuine participatory democracy would only come about when "free social inquiry is indissolubly linked to the art of free and moving communication". Much of his work through the 1920s and 1930s reiterates the necessity for rethinking inquiry and communication in integral fashion if modern publics are to become effective vehicles of democratic expression and criticism. Few have taken Dewey at his word with most theorists preferring instead to selectively reconstruct either his views on inquiry or his views on communication. This dissertation sets the stage for a new appraisal of Dewey's theory of publics in four ways: (1) through a re-evaluation of James Carey's pragmatic theory of mass communication as drawn from Dewey, (2) through a review of the distortions introduced into Dewey's work by critical historians of communication and democratic theorists, (3) by providing a generic sketch of Dewey's view of the conditions and constitution of modern publics in the context of the Dewey-Lippmann debate, and (4) by evaluating Dewey's project in the context of contemporary critical theory. I suggest that much contemporary criticism of Dewey is misplaced due to a serious misunderstanding of his project, particularly with respect to the oft-repeated claims that Dewey is overly vague or unable to address power relations. I conclude that Dewey's view of publics when aided by Michel Foucault's tools of inquiry remains both viable and necessary for adequately characterizing democratic communicative processes.