The transmission view of communication derives from nineteenth-century transport metaphors

Evidence

As I suggested earlier, American studies are grounded in a transmission or transportation view of communication. We see communication basically as a process of transmitting messages at a distance for the purpose of control. The archetypal case of communication, then, is persua- sion; attitude change; behavior modification; socialization through the trans- mission of information, influence, or conditioning or, alternatively, as a case of individual choice over what to read or view. I call this a transmission or transportation view because its central defining terms have much in common with the use of “communication” in the nineteenth century as another term for “transportation.” It also is related strongly to the nineteenth-century desire to use communication and transportation to extend influence, control, and power over wider distances and greater populations. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 244

Categorization

• DEFINE: Chapter’s core definitional move: transmission view ties communication to spatial extension and control.
• XREF: Directly echoes Carey’s earlier chapter on the transportation metaphor of communication. — connects to: The transmission view defines communication as sending messages across distance for control — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 150; The behavioral transmission view of communication became exhausted and academic by the 1970s — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 177; The telegraph became a model for how people conceptualized communication — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 775 (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 244

Broader Connections

• The ritual view of communication maintains society in time through shared beliefs #expands (0.65) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 161
• Every communication form carries a spatial or temporal bias #expands (0.60) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 651