The field, fermented: Prestige and the vocational bind in communication research

Abstract

This commentary argues that communication research’s main problem is reputational. The field’s marginal status—a product of its peculiar institutional history, with roots in vocational training—means that our work is not read by scholars from other disciplines. My claim is that the vocational model exacts a steep reputational price. The gap in prestige between the mainline disciplines and communication means that our scholarship is simply not read. Exiled to the professional-school margins of the university, communication scholars toil away in well-heeled obscurity. In exchange for relinquishing jurisdiction over media and communication, the commentary concludes, we might join a dynamic crossroads—where the vocational underwriting will not loom as large.

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