Basics of Communication

Communication by Black and Bryan (1992)

- the process by which individuals share meaning.

- occurs whenever information is passed on from one place to another.

- occurs when person A sends Message B through channel C to person D with effect E

- not simply the verbal, explicit, and intentional transmission of messages

- but it includes all processes by which people influence one another

Dennis McQuail and Sven Windahl

- social interaction through messages

Kincaid and Schramm

- not all communication has to be human communication

- not all participants in a communication process have to be present

- not all communication takes place in words

- communication does not always require two or more participants

As a process, communication is:

- ongoing

- cyclic

- ever changing

- no beginning and no end

Communication is

- a process

- transactional
- When people communicate, they continually offer definitions of themselves to their perceived
definitions of others.

Communication is

- a convergence of mutual understanding

On communication models:

- not all elements are present in the models

- in other models, these elements are given equivalents or called by other names

- these models reflect trends in communication theory.

Whichever trend one adheres to, it is clear that communication takes place on these levels:

Intrapersonal

Interpersonal

mass

People cannot not communicate!

Development

- the process of growing, maturing

- evolution, growth, progress

Two views:

Micro – perspective or form of analysis which focuses on

the individual and their subjectivity.

MICRO

- look at your life now

- where are you now

- how are you doing?

Macro - focusing on the structures of society thought to be external and constraining on
the individual

- seeing society as a unified whole.

Ex: feminism, Marxism, nationalism

MACRO

- look at the country

- look at TOTAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT in a particular area

The suffix “ism” - added to the end of a word to indicate that the word represents a specific
practice, system, or philosophy.

the word is related to a belief or system of beliefs accepted as an authority by a group or

school of thought

3 Hypotheses:

1. The Filipino must be the subject of his own growth and development.

2. The environment where Filipino life is wholesome if it promotes human growth,

existence.

3. Because of # 1 and 2, development means development of people, first and

foremost, not of things.

- the development of things or the environment is positive only if they bring about the
development of people.

“Given its resources and large pool of educated people, the Philippines should be one of the
most dynamically developing, prosperous creatives in Asia.”

- The Asia Letter’s special report on the Philippines

Underdeveloped --- Developing --- now back to UNDERDEVELOPED

- 3rd world, even 4th world

- only a little better than Bangladesh (5th world)

- or we probably are in this category now, within the pandemic.

Origins of DevCom

1960s

- start of DevCom as a means to address pervasive problems in countries with post colonial
backgrounds

- DevCom as a professional and scientific discipline

Ideal (but unrealistic) POV

- use DevCom to resolve problems

- no more problems then???

Realistic POV

- problems will never cease

- but will recur, mutate

- thus, there will always be a need for DevCom

Societal problems

1. POVERTY

- lack of the essentials

- brings with it a host of other problems

2. UNEMPLOYMENT

- or underemployment

3. HIGH POPULATION GROWTH

- into the 19th century ---world population: 900M+

- Today --- 7.6B

- ballooning population --- diminishing resources

Thomas Malthos (philosopher)theory

- Food production will not be able to keep up with growth in human population resulting in
disease, famine, calamity, war.

4. INEQUALITY

- 10% of Filipinos controls 90% of its economic resources

- this 10% wallow in wealth

UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

- wealth of world’s 3 richest individuals > total GDP of 48 nations!

5. ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION and LOSS OF ARABLE LAND

6. MALNUTRITION

- Vitamin A deficiency

- anemia

- internal parasites

- 160,000 die each year due to malnutrition

- undernutrition in poor countries

- overnutrition in developed countries

7. ETHNIC CONFLICT

- clash of cultures

- wars due to culture conflict, not necessarily politics

8. SOCIETAL PRIORITIES

- Earth Summit (Rio in 1992, Johannesburg in 2002) Brazil and South Africa
- contained in UN Millennium Development Goals

The Plan is just a document; concrete actions should be pursued and completed until
results ensue and benefit the people.

The Development Decades

So many problems, so much complexity, short-term solutions.

Needed: Sustainable solutions!

Daniel Lerner, a policy scientist, came up with the term “vicious cycle of poverty”, as part of
development jargon.

- vicious cycle of poverty

- low productivity

- lack of technology

- low savings & investments low income, poor education

- unequal wealth dist.

- Unemployment

- underemployment,

- high birth rate

Analysts from Indiana University recognized this flaw.

Michael Molanda and Anthony Di Paulo came up with - Sustainable development concept,
identifying the PROBLEMATIQUE Method

* complex CLUSTER of problems

* they are virulent and recur every so often

Problems, instead of happening individually and sequentially, are:

- interrelated

- come in clusters
- tend to recur

New concept of Sustainable Development

- solve problems by tracing and differentiating between SYMPTOMS and ROOT CAUSES

Development:

- used in Biology and related fields of science

- then seeped into Economics, politics and social sciences

Need to come up with the foundations of POST-WAR international economic order.

Post-colonial histories of Asia, Africa, Latin America

First Development Decade (1960s)

- formed USAID (United States Agency for International Development), UNDP (United
Nations Development Programme)

- Rich countries donated to help the colonized countries develop

- focus on infrastructure and agriculture

Yardstick used to measure development

GNP (Gross National Product) – (also known as GNI (Gross National Income)

- 5+% for the Philippines at that time >>> development

- Philippines then already considered as a DEVELOPING country

Underdeveloped became DEVELOPING.

Do you believe in this shift?

Increase in the GNP did not translate to the poor becoming

less poor.

No trickle down effect

Second Development Decade (1970s)

- paradigm shift from economic to humanitarian

- MAN, not GNP, became the measure of development.

Indicators for development (from E. F. Schumacher and Dudley Seers –both development
thinkers)

1. enough food, clothes, footwear, shelter

2. meaningful employment

3. Increasing equality

4. Education – enough opportunities

Indicators from the DAP (Development Academy of the Philippines) (October 1973) – with
Mahar Mangahas as project director

National Accounting System

9 Areas of Concern

1. Health and Nutrition

2. Education and Skills

3. Income and Consumption

4. Employment

5. Capital and non-human resources

6. Housing, utilities, and environment

7. Public safety and justice

8. Social mobility

9. Political values

Third Development Decade (1980s)

- slow pace of development

- widespread disillusionment

- refinement and refocusing needed

- realignment of priorities of international funding institutions

- funds channeled to agriculture, education, health

Focus on:

1. Women in Development – all fields; politics and envy set in

2. Environment – industrialization is bad for environment (pollution, etc.), environmental

impact assessment

3. Social dimensions – cost – benefit ratio (dams, sources of water, power, yet pose a
danger)

4. Indigenous peoples – survival, biodiversity

5. Sustainable development – modernization’s pros and cons

Paradigm

- a way of looking at and explaining things

- a unique pattern of interpretation/reasoning

- a perspective, a point of view

How do development thinkers view underdevelopment?

Four different paradigms:

#1 Technological paradigm

- Perspective: underdevelopment is rooted in technological backwardness

- Examples in modern farming technology to boost yield, etc.

#2 Economic Paradigm
- a matter of economic policy

- sound fiscal and monetary policies

But in the 80s, some policies were put in place and implemented.

Investments were made in education and agro-industrialization.

- Culprit — corruption in and out of government!

- No sound economic policies will work In the face of this.

#3 Structural Paradigm

- unjust social system

- existing world economic order

- unequal world information and communication order

#4 Values Paradigm

- solve underdevelopment by changing a nation’s values

- living by the positive values and raising the young generation by the same

Back in the late 80s and early 90s ---

- Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC) e. g. Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea

What did the NICs have that the Philippines did not have?

Values? Maybe

South Korea and Thailand

1990s

- then Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani

-Senate Resolution #10

- look into the strengths and weaknesses of Filipinos

Earlier efforts on moral regeneration

1985 - Marcos

1965 - Macapagal

December 1985

Letter of Instruction (LOI) #1948

KABISIG sa Diwang Pilipino

June 1965

Administrative Order (AO) #126

Accelerating the Moral Regeneration Drive in Public Service

Each paradigm is an angle, a POV, depending on who looks at it.

Incomplete picture of underdevelopment – looking at it not at its totality but from the respective
disciplines of the viewer

DEVCOM response to underdevelopment

- does not espouse any particular paradigm

- it can work within/for any of these paradigms

- towards a HOLISTIC , more accurate view and approach