We explain what Communication Sciences are and what they consist of. Also, what are their subspecialties.
What are Communication Sciences?
When referring to the communication sciences or, also, to the communicologywe are talking about a set of disciplines whose object of study is, mainly, human communication, understood as a complex, diverse phenomenon, and around which a series of social phenomena worthy of interest occur.
In fewer words, we talk about sciences that undertake the study of the communicative actits mechanisms, means and sets of meaning, generating its own tools and methods of analysis.
It should be noted that not only communication sciences deal with the communication process, but other nearby disciplines such as social anthropology, cybernetics and social psychology do so as well, but from their particular points of view.
Its field of study is extremely extensive, making it difficult to delimit its areas of interest; but broadly speaking they are distinguished from the social sciences in that the latter are interested in the communication process as a way towards the determination of a specific reality, such as a historical or political process.
See also: Formal sciences
What are Communication Sciences?
Communication Sciences date back, or at least their antecedents, from ancient times, when Greek philosophers wrote the first Rhetoric (Aristotle). However, as a specialized discipline it is considered relatively recentsince its birth and global importance arose in the 20th century, when mass production allowed the spread of the media in society.
This discipline aims to analyze communication from different anglesproposing typologies, analytical tools and adapting to the different areas of human life in which the communicative act occupies the central place, such as corporate or organizational communications, personal relationships, politics, etc.
Those who study communication They specialize in the transmission of messagesin the composition of the meanings, the contexts that influence the exchange and in each aspect of the complex act of communication, which although it is related to all living beings, reaches its peaks of expression with human beings.
Subspecialties of Communication Sciences
Although this knowledge classification structure can vary enormously from one university to another or from one country to another, broadly speaking we can say that Communication Sciences cover most of the following disciplines:
- Semiotics
- Social communication
- Journalism
- Graphic design
- Photograph
- Marketing
- Public opinion
- audiovisual communication
- Multimedia
- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
- Telecommunications
- Radio
- Cinematography
- Theater
- Rhetoric
- Oratory
References
- Bougnoux, D. (1999). Introduction to communication sciences. New Vision SAIC Editions.
- Baena Paz, G. and Montero Olivares, S. (2020). Communication sciences 1. Patria Publishing Group.
