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On Comparing Theories: Treating Theories as Commensurate or Incommensurate

On Comparing Theories: Treating Theories as Commensurate or Incommensurate On Comparing Theories: Treating Theories as Commensurate or Incommensurate by W. Barnett Pearce Tehranian (1991) nominates “comparative theory” as an alternative to “universalist” and “contextualist” or relativist’ theories. The former “posit generalizations that are supposed to be almost as universally valid as the the laws of gravity” (p. 44); latter altogether deny universality and focus only o n the particular and the unique. After surveying relevant problems, Tehranian (1991) concludes that comparative theories are both possible and desirable, although with two caveats. Comparison is more difficult “[als we move away from the hard sciences to social and human sciences” because of the necessity to deal with the processes of “encoding and decoding of messages between senders and receivers” that necessarily involves “the cultural medium through which they communicate” (p. 57). Even here, however, comparison is desirable so long as it resists the “ethnocentricity” that results from treating the “values and norms of a dominant society” as “parameters by which to measure and often misjudge a dependent society” (p. 5 8 ) . Such ethnocentrism can be avoided, he concludes, “when and if we use some of the parameters suggested in this essay as common theoretical problems to study http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Communication Theory Oxford University Press

On Comparing Theories: Treating Theories as Commensurate or Incommensurate

Pearce, W. Barnett
Communication Theory , Volume 1 (2) – May 1, 1991
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References (1)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
1050-3293
eISSN
1468-2885
DOI
10.1111/j.1468-2885.1991.tb00012.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

On Comparing Theories: Treating Theories as Commensurate or Incommensurate by W. Barnett Pearce Tehranian (1991) nominates “comparative theory” as an alternative to “universalist” and “contextualist” or relativist’ theories. The former “posit generalizations that are supposed to be almost as universally valid as the the laws of gravity” (p. 44); latter altogether deny universality and focus only o n the particular and the unique. After surveying relevant problems, Tehranian (1991) concludes that comparative theories are both possible and desirable, although with two caveats. Comparison is more difficult “[als we move away from the hard sciences to social and human sciences” because of the necessity to deal with the processes of “encoding and decoding of messages between senders and receivers” that necessarily involves “the cultural medium through which they communicate” (p. 57). Even here, however, comparison is desirable so long as it resists the “ethnocentricity” that results from treating the “values and norms of a dominant society” as “parameters by which to measure and often misjudge a dependent society” (p. 5 8 ) . Such ethnocentrism can be avoided, he concludes, “when and if we use some of the parameters suggested in this essay as common theoretical problems to study

Journal

Communication Theory – Oxford University Press

Published: May 1, 1991

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