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Transcript

What's the point?

Everyone in a group shares some kind of meaning or commonality with each other, which then turns into a "fantasy" and allows the group of people to connect with each other through it

Who uses it today?

What does critics say?

The biggest critic is Joshua Gunn

Symbolic Convergence Theory

  • Businesses rely on marketing which is made stronger by SCT. Symbolic convergence can help pinpoint what clients like about a company which allows the company to cater to their clients (Shields & Cragan 1992)

  • Symbolic convergence is often utilized by the media. Political campaigns will use symbolic convergence, broadcast by media. Candidates will adapts their message to different groups of people based off that group's belief.
  • SCT has been criticized for being to much fantasy. The fantasy can alter the human rational thoughts. SCT has also been criticized for being neither a modern nor a postmodern Theory
  • He also went on to say that SCT can only be applied to small groups
  • That's it declining in popularity

Publications

Where SCT was used

  • SCT has been used to study movements such as the Puritans
  • The Knights of Columbus
  • American communism, and the Women's movement.
  • It has been used to study political visions such as the Cold War
  • The New South
  • Vietnam war decision making
  • Bormann, E. G. (1972). Fantacy and rhetorical vision: The rhetorical criticism of social reality. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 58(4), 396-407.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1980). Communication theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1980). The paradox and promise of small group communication revisited. Central States Speech Journal, 31(3), 214-220.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1982). Fantacy and rhetorical vision: Ten years later. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 68(3), 288-305.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1985). The force of fantasy: Restoring the American dream. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1985). Symbolic convergence theory: A communication formulation. Journal of Communication, 35(4), 128-138.
  • Bormann, E. G. (1990). Small group communication: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). New York: Harper & Row.

Ernest G. Bormann

  • Born July 28, 1925 – December 27, 2008
  • Professor Emeritus in the Department of Speech-Communication at the University of Minnesota
  • Received his B.A. from the University of South Dakota in 1949
  • Earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1953
  • SCT was first proposed by Ernest Bormann in the Quarterly Journal of Speech in 1972
  • He is the author of numerous books and articles.

Lee Hopkins on Symbolic Convergence Theory

Small Group Communication

References

The flip side to Symbolic Convergence

How symbolic convergence can hurt people.

Future Application

Bormann, E., Craan, J., Sheilds, D. (1994). In defense of symbolic convergence theory:

A look at the theory and its criticisms after two decades. Communication Theory, 4, 259.

Gudykunst, W. (2001). Three decades of symbolic convergence theory. In W. Gudykunst (25th ed.), Communication yearbook (p.271-313) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hirokawa, R. Y., & Poole, M. S. (1996). Communication and group decision making. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bormann, EG 1982, 'The Symbolic Convergence Theory of Communication: Applications

and implications for teachers and consultants',

Journal of Applied Communication Research,

vol10, no. 1, Spring82, p. 50.

Gunn, develops these criticisms extensively in a 2100-word section labeled: “The Fruits and Failures of the Force of Fantasy.”See “Refiguring,” 48–52.

Bormann, Ernest (4 April 1982). "The Symbolic Convergence Theory of Communication: Applications and Implications for Teachers and Consultants". Communication and Mass Media 10 (1): 1–2. Retrieved 12-2-12.

Cragan, JF & Shields, DC 1992, ‘The Use of Symbolic Convergence Theory in Corporate Strategic Planning: A Case Study’, Journal of Applied Communication Research, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 199-218.

Youtube videos

Now that you have been introduced to Symbolic Convergence theory, you will be able to apply the theory to future situations. It doesn't take a communication scholar to recognize the symbolic convergence theory in everyday life!!!

Emphasizes the sharing of group "fantasies" (creative interpretations) as a method of developing shared meaning.

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