The paradoxes of Robert Craig's disciplinary matrix

Abstract

The article is devoted to the methodological and methodical significance of R. T. Craig's essay Communication Theory as a Field, which was published in 1999 in the American journal Communication Theory and was translated into Russian in 2003. The key principles proposed by R. Craig as resources for reconstructing the communication theory as a practical discipline are described. Based on the analysis of the Russian publications, it is concluded that in the domestic pedagogical and academic environment Craig's methodological proposals did not become resonant, but rather were trivialized both methodically and conceptually. Communicative paradoxes which can arise if we use this disciplinary matrix for pedagogical and research tasks are revealed. The content of these paradoxes is described in the article as follows: 1) consistent use of dialogic-dialectical model reduces emotional involvement and interest in it; 2) the more «clear» for non-professionals what communication is, the less they trust the academic discourse about communication; 3) the more precisely the issue of trust is set as a communication task in inter-group communication, the more categorical are the requirements for the development of trust procedures are, due to increased distrust. The consequences of these paradoxes are the reduction of the motivational influence of Craig’s disciplinary matrix in the educational and academic environment, the actualization of the problem of trust for specialists in the social communication field and strengthening of intergroup psychological defenses in solving socially significant problems.