The spread of the Internet is remaking marriage markets, altering the process of courtship and the geographic trajectory of intimacy in the 21st century. For some Latin American women and U.S. men, the advent of the cybermarriage industry offers new opportunities for re-making themselves and their futures, overthrowing the common narrative of trafficking and exploitation. In this engaging, stimulating virtual ethnography, Felicity Amaya Schaeffer follows couples' romantic interludes at "Vacation Romance Tours," in chat rooms, and interviews married couples in the United States in order to understand the commercialization of intimacy. While attending to the interplay between the everyday and the virtual, Love and Empire contextualizes personal desires within the changing global economic and political shifts across the Americas. By examining current immigration policies and the use of Mexican and Colombian women as erotic icons of the nation in the global marketplace, she forges new relations between intimate imaginaries and state policy in the making of new markets, finding that women's erotic self-fashioning is the form through which women become ideal citizens, of both their home countries and in the United States. Through these little-explored, highly mediated romantic exchanges, Love and Empire unveils a fresh perspective on the continually evolving relationship between the U.S. and Latin America.

We in the West are living in the midst of a deadly culture war. Our rival worldviews clash with increasing violence in the public arena, culminating in deadly riots and mass shootings. A fragmented left now confronts a resurgent and reactionary right, which threatens to reverse decades of social progress. Commentators have declared that we live in a "post-truth world," one dominated by online trolls and conspiracy theorists. How did we arrive at this cultural crisis? How do we respond? This book speaks to this critical moment through a new reading of the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Over thirty years ago, MacIntyre predicted the coming of a new Dark Ages. The premise of this book is that MacIntyre was right all along. It presents his diagnosis of our cultural crisis. It further presents his answer to the challenge of public reasoning without foundations. Pitting him against John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas, and Chantal Mouffe, Ethics Under Capital argues that MacIntyre offers hope for a critical democratic politics in the face of the culture wars.

The story of Anglo-American relations in Saudi Arabia during the Second World War has generally been viewed as one of discord and hegemonic rivalry, a perspective reinforced by a tendency to consider Britain's decline and the ascent of US power as inevitable. In this engaging and timely study, Matthew Hinds calls into question such assumptions and reveals a relationship that, though hard-nosed, functioned through interdependence and strategic parity. Drawing upon an array of archives from both sides of the Atlantic, Hinds traces the flow of key events and policies as well as the leading figures who shaped events to show why, how and to what extent the allies and Saudi Arabia became 'mixed up together', in the words of Winston Churchill. Perhaps most fundamentally, Britain and the United States were enthralled by the promise of Saudi Arabia serving as an auxiliary to Allied strategy. Obtaining King Ibn Saud's tacit support or more specifically, his 'benevolent neutrality', meant having vital access, not only to the country's prospective oil reserves, but to its prized geographic location, its centrality within Islam and, as international politics increasingly followed an anti-colonial path, to its credentials as a sovereign and independent Arab state. Given what was at stake, London and Washington saw their engagement in Saudi Arabia as seminal; a genuine blueprint for how to forge a lasting 'Special Relationship' throughout the Middle East. Hinds' bold new interpretation is a vital work that enlarges our understanding of the Anglo-American wartime alliance.

Grounded Practical Theory: Investigating Communication Problems provides readers with an introduction to grounded practical theory (GPT), a framework for doing research about the problems people encounter when they engage in particular communicative practices, techniques for managing those problems, and normative ideas for how to communicate wisely in situations that involve tensions and dilemmas. Readers learn about the philosophy behind GPT and how its application can strengthen and improve existing communication practices. They review a detailed road map and practical examples for conducting GPT research, including how to analyze discourse. They also learn how past researchers have creatively adapted GPT to study and reconstruct a variety of communicative practices. The text compares GPT with other qualitative approaches and offers guidance for how to choose among different methods. The book concludes with considerations of how GPT may be used in the future. Grounded Practical Theory is an ideal book for graduate-level courses in qualitative methods or communication theory and an excellent resource for practicing communication scholars and researchers.

Listen to the podcast! Education was established to create employees for 19th and 20th century manufacturing models. The 21st century requires a rethink. Change is happening fast, with jobs not guaranteed as robots are taking over routines. We must prepare students for uncertainty & higher-level employment - helping them think and communicate instead of retain and recall facts for passing exams. Some curricula is either irrelevant for today or gained at the press of a button. Listening and literate talk (narratives) for collaboratively solving real problems should be the focus, not facts forgotten after tests. The book explores this important debate. Contributors are: Daryle Abrahams, Nigel Adams, Peter Chatterton, Stefano Cobello, Joanna Ebner, Pierre Frath, Irene Glendinning, Susan James, Riccarda Matteucci, Gloria McGregor, Elena Milli, Elizabeth Negus, Juan Eduardo Romero, Rosemary Sage and Emma Webster.

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills a person can possess. It can pave the way to success, not only in terms of career but also in every other aspect of life where communication plays a role. 

Advanced communication skills focuses on essential communication skills and competencies for all aspects of the world of work. Advanced communication skills takes an integrated theory and practical approach to learning. It is designed to foster workplace communication in order to benefit interpersonal relationships, which in turn leads to personal enrichment, greater job satisfaction and increased productivity. The final chapter contains a selection of case studies with questions to assist in the evaluation of communication skills.

Advanced communication skills is aimed at managers, personal assistants, professional secretaries and all those studying towards certificates, diplomas or degrees in colleges and universities. It fully covers the syllabus for Communication N5/N6 at technical and vocational education and training colleges, and will prepare students for the national examinations in these subjects.

The Discussion is distorting today. Within schools, social movements, and firms, there has been an increasing tendency for teachers and facilitators to announce that there will be a discussion while the interaction which follows this announcement is not a discussion, but something else??likely a recitation and lecture. This distortion of discussion promises democracy, equality, and participation during a meeting or class, but delivers inequality, prohibition, and dominance. Now is the time to begin changing these practices which ultimately create and support a neoliberal society that promises democracy but practices oligarchy. One way to change this neoliberal social world is by intervening in the distortion of discussion, by facilitating interaction so that discussion's promise of equality and participation is fulfilled rather than negated. Elements of Discussion is a resource for this intervention. It is a political, poetic, and practical handbook for facilitating discussion. Discussions happen everywhere, and if society itself is composed of relationships between people then creating more participation and equality during discussions can help create the conditions for social change. Elements of Discussion therefore includes practical tips, techniques, and reflective questions through which it firmly and sensitively suggests to readers how to facilitate discussions across contexts. Beginning with the ways chairs and tables are set up, continuing through the kinds of questions a facilitator can ask, and including sample activities facilitators can use, the book expounds a philosophy of facilitating discussion, emphasizing the political and poetic significance of the tactics it recommends.

Listen to the podcast! Education was established to create employees for 19th and 20th century manufacturing models. The 21st century requires a rethink. Change is happening fast, with jobs not guaranteed as robots are taking over routines. We must prepare students for uncertainty & higher-level employment - helping them think and communicate instead of retain and recall facts for passing exams. Some curricula is either irrelevant for today or gained at the press of a button. Listening and literate talk (narratives) for collaboratively solving real problems should be the focus, not facts forgotten after tests. The book explores this important debate. Contributors are: Daryle Abrahams, Nigel Adams, Peter Chatterton, Stefano Cobello, Joanna Ebner, Pierre Frath, Irene Glendinning, Susan James, Riccarda Matteucci, Gloria McGregor, Elena Milli, Elizabeth Negus, Juan Eduardo Romero, Rosemary Sage and Emma Webster.

Intercultural Communication: A Critical Perspective is grounded in a framework based on key dimensions of power in relation to intercultural communication. A macro-micro focus is applied throughout the book to theorize the ways in which larger structures of power intermingle and reconfigure private/one-on-one encounters and relations between different cultures, both domestically and internationally. The textbook introduces students to both the hidden and visible aspects of power that constitute intercultural communication encounters and relations. The book begins by introducing the concept of intercultural communication and demonstrating how ubiquitous it is in our everyday lives. Subsequent chapters address the ties between culture, power, and intercultural communication; how powerful ideologies develop from cultural views and ways of life; and the interplay of cultural representation and speaking for or about a cultural group. Students learn the ways in which individuals and structures of power shape identity, how different structures and groups remember and forget the past, and how racialization relates to intercultural communication. The final chapters explore power dynamics with regard to globalization, intercultural relationships and desire, and our roles in intercultural communication. The second edition features new and updated research studies and illustrative examples throughout. Every chapter has a new narrative opening, introducing new identity positionalities and characters located in different cultural contexts, and connecting to the ACT Framework for Intercultural Justice to highlight agency, resistance, and structural change.

While communication theory has not recognized the implications of the social intuitionist model, psychologists have gathered an impressive body of evidence to support the theory. In social cognition research, there was the idea that human inferential processes are conscious, rational, logical, and accurate, and this belief continues somewhat in the behavioral sciences although there is evidence that it is incorrect. A fresh examination is needed on just how these inferences by the receiver and the implications by the sender, carried out at high speed, impact our understanding of the communication process. Simply put, until now the default case in communication theory is the belief that we consciously reason and then we act. However, that may not be entirely true. Rationalist Bias in Communication Theory applies social intuition theory to human communication. This book explores how research has missed accounting for a critical fact about human communication in the theories of communication, namely that we as humans can respond to one another and to all kinds of stimuli faster than we can deliberate. By applying intuitive cognition to communication, a new light can be shed on the communication process, which is what the chapters prove and discuss. This book is valuable for social scientists, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in new theories in communication theory.

* Provides a detailed overview and practical strategies for successful employee communication efforts. * Aligns with a growing niche of public relations professionals going into internal communications careers. * Includes practical examples and case studies from leading public relations organizations.

Television and the Modernization Ideal in 1980s China: Dazzling the Eyes explores Chinese television history in the pivotal decade of the 1980s and explains the intellectual reception of television in China during this time. While the Chinese media has often been a topic within studies of globalization and the global political economy, scholarly attention to the history of Chinese television requires a more extensive and critical view of the interaction between television and culture. Using theories of media technology, globalization, and gender studies supplemented by Chinese periodicals including Life Out of 8 Hours, Popular TV, Popular Cinema, Modern Family, and Chinese Advertising, as well as oral history interviews, this book re-examines how Western technology was introduced to and embedded into Chinese culture. Wen compares and analyzes television dramas produced in China and imported from other nations while examining the interaction between various ideologies of Chinese society and those of the international media. Moreover, she explores how the hybridity between Western television culture and Chinese traditions were represented in popular Chinese visual media, specifically the confusions and ambitions of modernization and the negotiation between tradition and modernity, nationalism and internationalism, in the intellectual reception of television in China.

-Accessible core textbook for undergraduate courses in persuasive communication with wide-ranging coverage of subdisciplines and professional applications -Provides unique coverage of persuasion in the contexts of health, business, and social advocacy -Accessible style and frequent applications to real-world situations makes this the ideal text for students in professional programs and community colleges -Companion website includes PowerPoint slides, web links, and instructor's manual with sample exercises and questions

In this highly readable and well-arranged compilation-including his much-celebrated "The Practice of Reading Good Books" and award-winning "Playing with Bateson"-Corey Anton brings together some of his most accessible and well-received essays. The collection, in addition to advancing and integrating the fields of media ecology and general semantics, will be of great interest to people who are concerned over the changing role of reading and literacy in contemporary life. A stimulating and provocative book having wide relevance to scholars and students in the areas of semiotics, rhetorical theory, orality/literacy studies, philosophy of communication, pedagogical theory, and communication theory, Communication Uncovered offers countless insights and broad-based orientations regarding the nature of language, linguistic and communicative habits, communication technologies, and symbolic practices more generally. This is a "must have" resource for anyone interested in multidisciplinary communication theory.

The life and work of Albert Camus provides insight into how to navigate through an absurd historical moment. Camus's role as a journalist, playwright, actor, essayist, philosopher, and novelist allowed him to engage a complex world in a variety of capacities and offer an array of interpretations of his time. Albert Camus provides insight into how one can benefit from listening to relevant voices from previous generations. It is important to allow the time to become familiar with those who sought answers to similar questions that are being asked. For Camus, this meant discovering how others engaged an absurd historical moment. For those seeking anwers, this means listening to the voice of Albert Camus, as he represents the closest historical perspective on how to make sense of a world that has radically changed since both World Wars of the twentieth century. This is an intentional choice and only comes through an investment of time and energy in the ideas of others. Similar to Albert Camus's time, this is an age of absurdity; an age defined by contradiction and loss of faith in the social practices of the past. When living in such a time, one can be greatly informed by seeking out those passionate voices who have found a way despite similar circumstances. Many voices from such moments in human history provide first-hand insights into how to navigate such a time. Camus provides an example of a person working from a constructive perspective, as he was willing to draw upon the thought of many contemporaries and great thinkers from the past while engaging his own time in history.As the first book-length study of Camus to situate his work within the study of communication ethics and philosophy of communication, Brent C. Sleasman helps readers reinterpret Camus' work for the twenty-first century. Within the introduction, Camus' exploration of absurdity is situated as a metaphor for the postmodern age. The first chapter then explores the communicative problem that Camus announced with the publication of The Fall--a problem that still resonates over 50 years after its initial publication. In the chapters that follow other metaphors that emerge from Camus' work are reframed in an effort to assist the reader in responding to the problems that emerge while living in their own age of absurdity. Each metaphor is rooted in the contemporary scholarship of the communication discipline. Through this study it becomes clear that Camus was an implicit philosopher of communication with deep ethical commitments.Albert Camus's Philosophy of Communication: Making Sense in an Age of Absurdity is an important book for anyone interested in understanding the communicative implications of Camus' work, specifically upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.

Political communication systems in advanced industrial democracies are in a state of flux. The traditional political communication system, with its limited and regulated media channels, stable patterns of media consumption, and identifiable party loyalty, which characterized much of the twentieth century, is giving way to one that is less ordered and structured. This book provides an accessible and comprehensive account of how governments, political parties, established media organizations and citizen audiences, in the US and the UK, are adapting to this systemic change.

Against the background of audience fragmentation and widening social and political divisions, James Stanyer provides a critical appraisal of the evolving relationship of political communicators and their audience. He argues that such divisions influence citizen communicative engagement and are increasingly exacerbated by the strategic activities of political advocates and media organizations. Modern Political Communication is required reading for anyone who wants a fuller understanding of the transformation of political communication and the repercussions for democracy.

Throughout history, Jews have often been regarded, and treated, as "strangers." In The Stranger in Early Modern and Modern Jewish Tradition, authors from a wide variety of disciplines discuss how the notion of "the stranger" can offer an integrative perspective on Jewish identities, on the non-Jewish perceptions of Jews, and on the relations between Jews and non-Jews in an innovative way. Contributions from history, philosophy, religion, sociology, literature, and the arts offer a new perspective on the Jewish experience in early modern and modern times: in contact and conflict, in processes of attribution and allegation, but also self-reflection and negotiation, focused on the figure of the stranger.