Page 99 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

82 C. de Witt

In recent developments in systems theory there are efforts to overcome the tradi-
tional analytic isolation of individual systems and to understand a system through
its connections with its environment. However, it must be added that the systems
approach is often considered to be “formal, abstract and empty” and is not generally
accepted (Maletzke 1998: 132).

Media Theory from the Perspective of Constructivism

Constructivism is a different approach. The subject is seen as central, as an active
self-referential being that from the “material that his senses provide him with
actively builds a world through selection, projection, signification and interpreta-
tion; he constructs his world, and in a way that is unique and individual, though
admittedly one that is also shaped by social and cultural conditions” (Maletzke
1998: 126). Constructivist media theories see media then not only as technological
institutions that send messages or transport information but as systems offering
models or designs for reality, which are constructed by autopoietic systems for
autopoietic systems (Schmidt 1994). Both the media world as well as the real world
are merely constructions of human beings. Constructivism on the one hand postu-
lates that media produce events and structure reality without the recipient knowing
where the structuring elements are. The new constructivism paradigm also entails
new media reception. Media are seen as having a triggering function. Media infor-
mation is processed by the recipient in accordance with his prior knowledge and
cognitive system. “The content offered by media cannot be considered a depiction
of reality for a number of reasons. It is content that triggers cognitive and commu-
nicative systems to initiate a construction of reality within their respective systemic
conditions. If this content is not made use of, then the media transports nothing at
all” (Schmidt 1994: 8). For Schmidt then the “constructivist interest in media is
focused on the following question: what role do the media play for the construction
of reality and the culture of a society” (1998: 37)?

Media in Critical Theory

There are a number of groupings of critical theories, all of which agree on the basic
issues but differ in their detail (Maletzke 1998). A general characteristic of critical
approaches is their social-political orientation. Based on the work of the Frankfurt
School, social relationships are seen as power relationships, as structures and pro-
cesses that are not compatible with ideas of equality and democracy and must
therefore be changed. Media are seen as a part of the culture industry, which fol-
lows a capitalistic logic in its efforts to influence people. Media are studied in the
context of ownership relationships, conditions of production and individual par-
ticipation. As understood by critical-social theoretical approaches (including