The Social Construction of Intercultural Communication: A Delphi Study

Through the Delphi method, we draw on experts in the field of interculturalism - and on our own previous Critical Discourse Analysis-based research - to critically examine media accounts of intercultural communication in Spain. We argue that understanding how the media portray intercultural communic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of intercultural studies 2017-03, Vol.38 (2), p.228-244
Main Authors: García-Jiménez, Leonarda, Rodrigo-Alsina, Miquel, Pineda, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical theory
Cultural values
Delphi method
Discourse analysis
Discourses
Equality
Experts
focus group
Focus groups
Intercultural communication
Intercultural interaction
interculturalism
Mass media
Mass media images
Meaning
media culture
multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Social construction
Television
Typology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Through the Delphi method, we draw on experts in the field of interculturalism - and on our own previous Critical Discourse Analysis-based research - to critically examine media accounts of intercultural communication in Spain. We argue that understanding how the media portray intercultural communication from the point of view of experts is a vital research task, since the media and experts are key social actors who reproduce existing cultural meanings and who can also transform discourses and beliefs. We present a typology of media representations - conflictive interculturalism, possible interculturalism and unresolved interculturalism - and demonstrate how experts' responses can be contextualised within this typology. Our findings also suggest, first, that multiculturalism does not necessarily translate into greater intercultural communication, and second, that television constructs intercultural interaction from a stance of lack of equality in diversity, resulting in an impossible encounter marked by violence or the 'carnivalesque'. Finally we propose some measures to foster intercultural exchange in multicultural societies.
ISSN:0725-6868
1469-9540
DOI:10.1080/07256868.2017.1289903