Intricate Relationship Between Communication and Society

For the building up of society, its units and its divisions and the understandings which prevail among its members, some processes of communication are needed. We often speak of society as though it were a static structure defined by traditions. But it is nothing of that sort. Society is an  intricate  network of partial  or  compete understanding  between members  of the  organizational units of various  sizes  and complexity.  The society  is thus  a being  reanimated  from day  to day  by particular  acts of communicative  nature which  prevail among the individuals  participating it. What is communication? it is derived  from the  Latin word, ” communicare”, which  means , to make  common, to share , to  impart  or to  transmit. It is make a significant fact common knowledge. There are many types communication behavior. Language is the most explicit. In every sense, it consist s of absolutely, referential applications of phonetics symbols. Every society, primitive or complex has a language.  Then there is   writing and speech. What is writing? It is defined as “the art of tracing symbols or signs which constitute in themselves or in combination, words representing objects or ideas. The knowledge of writing came late in human history. Nevertheless, it has played a significant role in the development of culture. In fact, anthropologists regard the possessions of a system of writing as marking a dividing line between primitive and civilized people. The history of  writing  is a bit  complicated but  the beginning  of writing   are found  in the pictographic ideographs of the stone age of pre-historic  Europe and the new world. This type of writing was restricted to the presentation of objects and ideas.   It was ideographic, it lacked precision and clarity. The Egyptian type was called hierogliphics. It later developed into the earliest forms of phonetics writing- the anophonic writing which represented names, initials or first syllables and not ideas of objects depicted. It tended to be ambiguous. Later, graphic devices came to be regarded as characters, and the Babylonians cuneiform reached a syllabic and even semi-alphabetic stage. Today, there are many forms of writing in the world-all to facilitate communication.

                  History of civilization is marked by a progressive increase in the radius of communication.  In a primitive society, communication is reserved for members of the tribe. Today, the appearance of a new fashion in Paris is hinted by a series of rapid event in London. Someone in New York is acquainted with an event in Berlin within few minutes after its occurrence. The great paintings of the world are produced in millions, so that even though there is only one Mona Liza, everyone can afford a Mona Liza in his hcuome. This is communication revolution. It is still going on. The reason for this change in radius and rapidity in communication is the gradual diffusion of cultural traits- in short, cultural reactions. For many purpose, the whole civilized world is made the psychological equivalent of a primitive   tribe.  One may argue  that the  invention and  modernization of certain physical  conditions like  the telephone, radio,  telegraph  television or  satellite are  the main  reasons  for the  spread  of communication. To some extent it is true. But these physical conditions merely facilitate communication. They are not communicative   in character. a telephone  is  of no  use  unless  the party  at the other  end  understands  the language  of the person calling.