Communication as a powerful instrument of social inter-action is bound to kindle interest for a sociological study on structure, pattern and diverse dimension of its impact. Both as a concept and as a practice, communication represents a simultaneity of simple and complex process.
Forms of communication like signs, symbols and semanties are being studied in depth for a considerable length of time. Study of Political Science in relation to the concept of government and political process as such has been exercised by very many scholars, and even by the non-academics, since the days of Aristotle. But communication as a part of political studies is a recent inclusion, a 20th century-born-child, in the behavioural science. Political communication is the area of my current interest. The present book is the direct descendant of a doctoral dissertation on this subject, of course, in a substantially revised form.
This study aims at an assessment of the nature of political communication at a micro-level with West Bengal as the case in point, that too for a limited period. But a macro-perspective is necessary for such a study, particularly when West Bengal is a unit of a semi-federal set-up. Different aspects of political communication are, therefore, brought into discus-ion to put the case of West Bengal as a part of the macro-system. Initially I set an arbitrary limit on the area of my research operation regarding time-period, the limiting point being 1977. The data used, both primary and secondary, are, hence, largely upto 1977. But I, however, updated the study till 1981, and even beyond where data were available. Review of literature in Chapters 1 and 4 on the subject has been further elaborated to include recent research publications.
Communication is inextricably woven into the texture of social life. Without an exchange of information among the members of a society, social life would have been impossible. No study on communication can skip over the inseparable relationship between the social system and the communication process. In fact, communication may be described as the carrier of the social process.
The contribution of the communication process towards the socio-economic development of any country exposes its role as one of the means of bringing about social change. All social changes involve tension, and communication is a kind of "temperature-controlling" and tension-management agency. No society committed to development can afford the luxury of leaving its programme of development to participants who are inert and non-cooperative. The communication machinery should be so developed as to be able to supply the information to the people continuously and to gauge public opinion. All development programmes involve mass participation and popular initiative. While the issues of change and the alternatives must be made clear, the sphere of discussion should be broad enough to include all who decide to change and all who are to experience the impact of change. Mass communication media, thus, "act as catalytic agents for bringing about rapid economic and social transformation"."
From the Marxian point of view, information constitutes an important means for the management of persons and of social collectives. The Marxists have formulated a theory of social information and called for studies of the essence, characteristics and role of information in regulating society. According to these thinkers, the rate of growth in knowledge and the accumulation of valuable information are important indicators of social progress. The effect, objectives and forms of utilization of information depend on the character of a given society and on the system of social, and particularly economic relations, that characterize it.
The theory of communication has been interpreted in different ways by the social psychologists, sociologists and political theorists. The nature, process and effects of social as well as political communication have been the subject of endless theorizing and a vast amount of research. Still there is a wide scope for further study and empirical research.
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