Publication Date

1975

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Tucker, Charles O.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Speech Communication

LCSH

International relations; Social status; Communication

Abstract

This research examines the concept of status and its effect on communication between nations in order to determine if the status hypotheses derived in small group research can be extended to apply to another kind of interaction situation--international communication. The hypotheses are tested by correlating the variables amount of influence attempts and initiation and reception of communication with the status ranking of 118 nations. Status rank is measured by the total number of diplomats a nation receives from all other nations in the world. The communication variables are obtained from a data set which was built through systematically abstracting the international events of thirty-six nations from the content of news sources. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between nation status and initiation of communication, nation status and reception of communication, and nation status and amount of influence attempts. Another significant finding was that high status nations communicate more with other high status nations than with either medium or low status nations. The data analysis also revealed that low status nations communicate 67% of the time in international organizations as opposed to direct communication with other nations. The results of the hypothesis testing indicate that international communication is similar to small group communication with respect to the effect of status. Four of the small group status hypotheses can be extended to include international communication: (l) Highs communicate more with other Highs than with Lows. (2) Highs initiate a greater total number of communications than do Lows. (3) Highs receive a greater total number of communications than do Lows. (4) Highs initiate a greater number of direct influence attempts than do Lows.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

48 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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