Cultural Influences in Political Communication
Reviews recent research in the cultural influences tradition of analyzing political communication. Traditionally, voter persuasion issues & neo-Marxist cultural studies have dominated the study of political communication from a cultural perspective. However detected in the literature is a new trend that focuses on cultural influences. Mark McPhail's (1994 [see abstract 9502528]) analysis of racial communication is deemed an excellent paradigm for a cultural influences model of political communication. According to McPhail, coherent argumentation requires the interaction of oppositional discourse, dialogue, & a discourse of coherence that integrates positions. On the basis of this model, scholars may assess oppositional discourse for its ability to foster integration or fragmentation. Moreover, these tools enable the cross-cultural comparison of various forms of political communication. D. M. Smith