Review of "Communication Theory as Liberal Education" by Austin S. Babrow (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2025)

 

Image source: https://titles.cognella.com/communication-theory-as-liberal-education-9798823343947

A new college textbook by Austin S. Babrow uses the traditions of communication theory in a unique way to introduce the subject of communication theory as a vital part of liberal education. In contrast to narrow technical or professional training, liberal education fosters personal growth by liberating our minds from dogmatic, unreflective, habitual ideas, cultivating both a broadminded openness to different perspectives and a capacity for critical thinking. This potential for mind expansion has long been at the heart of arguments for the value of a traditional liberal arts education, and this book offers communication theory as a key component of that education for our present era. 

Communication theory is especially valuable now, says Babrow, because communication has become so central to our lives and prospects in a world that is ever more hyperconnected, diverse, contentious, and uncertain. As liberal education, the study of communication theory can free our minds from unreflective, habitual assumptions about communication and cultivate our ability to think critically from various points of view about the communication we experience and practice in our everyday lives.

The opening and closing chapters of Communication Theory as Liberal Education develop the idea of communication theory as liberal education. To introduce multiple perspectives on communication, Babrow structures the remaining chapters according to seven traditions of communication theory as defined in the Constitutive Metamodel: rhetorical, social psychological, phenomenological, cybernetic, semiotic, sociocultural, and critical, with an additional chapter that broadens the subject to include non-Western traditions. The theoretical traditions are useful for Babrow's purposes because they are based on different core conceptions of communication that "offer distinctive ideas about the self, relationships with other people, social institutions of every sort, and our relationship with nature" (p. 14). Learning to approach the world from these different perspectives on communication can expand our possibilities for living and, thus, our freedom. Because theories in each tradition are systematically elaborated and defend points of view that differ from other theories, the study of multiple traditions also fosters critical thinking.

Unlike other theory textbooks that can overwhelm students with numerous concepts and theories, this relatively short text of about 200 pages illustrates each theoretical tradition by presenting one or two representative theories in detail. Interspersed through the text are brief "reflections" that pose questions for application, critical thinking, and discussion, and each chapter concludes with a set of questions for further thought and discussion, making this an ideal text for use in small, discussion-based classes and seminars. The text is engagingly written with many relevant examples, personal anecdotes, and references to recent events and issues.  

This book provides an accessible introduction to the traditions of communication theory while largely avoiding the technical complexities of the Constitutive Metamodel, the metatheoretical scheme in which the traditions were originally defined. Readers learn about the seven traditions and about the general idea of traditions based on different core concepts of communication, but without grappling with notions of communication as a practical discipline, theoretical and practical metadiscourse, matrices of topoi for argumentation across traditions, and so on. This non-technical approach to the traditions is a limitation but also a strength, in that it keeps the focus on the idea of communication in its multiple conceptions and what it all means for how we understand the world and live our lives. 

And, whereas I have often complained that textbook presentations of the metamodel are a little misleading, I find that Babrow gets it right in essence and gives a vivid sense of each tradition's distinct point of view on the world. I am pleased to recommend this book for classes on communication theory as a liberal art.