The Handbook of Communication Science

The Handbook of Communication Science, edited by Charles R. Berger, Michael E. Roloff, and David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen was a communication resource that was mentioned in our reading this week, in the article, The Communication Journal Collection.

This handbook is published by Sage, a trusted publisher in academic publications, and it is currently in its second edition. Its 538 pages are divided into 5 parts (Overview, Communication Codes, Fundamental Processes, Functions, and Communication Contexts), and a total of 29 chapters, with both an author and a subject index to make for easier navigation of the book's contents.

Specific chapters in the book reveal the broad scope of coverage that communication is given in the Handbook of Communication Science.  The handbook begins with a broad overview, here the book explores the nature of the discipline in addition to the history of the field.  This overview does not miss the opportunity to draw out certain controversies in the discipline right from the beginning, and even the first part features two chapters explaining alternative routes to studying Communication Science.

Part two, Communication Codes, focuses on two aspects of communication, verbal and non-verbal. The third part, Fundamental Processes, outlines the process of the production of codes and messages in interpersonal communication, as well as in organizational communication. Part four, Functions, is considerably longer, featuring eleven chapters. These chapters cover topics from conflict and resolution, to negotiation and decision making, as well as a couple chapters on the effect of mass media. The final part, Communication Contexts offers seven chapters that discuss different communication contexts, such as health communications, political and campaign communication, and technological and scientific communications.

All together, these five parts produce a rather encompassing and slightly nuanced introduction for a new communication student to help them get their bearings in a complex and highly interdisciplinary field. These chapters should help to serve as a springboard for new students and will help them to know where their particular area of interest might lie for future research projects and classwork.  Each chapter features different authors, most of the chapters are collaborative efforts, and this should help to ensure that the work features arguments from different perspectives within the discipline and help to eliminate potential biases that might have arisen in any particular scholar's communication theory.

Charles R. Berger, one of the book's editors, is no stranger to writing in the communication field. His Wikipedia page states that he has published over 100 books and articles in the field, and a search in Kent Link reveals that Kent State University Library has around 21 books by Dr. Berger on communication.