Communication in Everyday Life is the first survey of communication textbook to explore fundamental communication concepts, theories, skills, and contexts with a thematic integration―the relational perspective―to everyday life that allows all of these things to cohere. The book′s approach is to make the topics covered―self-development; interpersonal communication; group communication; public speaking; media/technology; communicating in the workplace and in public; etc.―coalesce by pointing out the relational basis of all communication as a major feature of students′ lives.
This text provides a basic introduction to the usual topics that are covered in a survey text but does so in a number of different ways by emphasizing the importance of relationship contexts in the enactment of social life. In addition, Communication in Everyday Life extends the topical coverage with chapters on family communication, health communication, communication in the workplace, and communication in the public arena. The authors explore the ways relationships (between each other, between family members, between media and end-user or consumer, and between self and the community) affect communication, and vice versa.
When communicational life is seen as an everyday experience―and not some compilation of unusual or extraordinary sorts of activity that are usually offered in the separate and segregated topic chapters in most textbooks―then it becomes possible to explain many communication processes in a systematic and unified way, based on the fundamental relevance of human relationships to everyday experience. Even such activities as media consumption are moderated by the relationships with which people experience their daily lives. Hence, the underlying theme of relationships usefully connects many aspects of a survey text that will give it a coherence and a relevance to students that has been previously missing, obscure, or under emphasized.
Steve Duck taught in the United Kingdom before taking up the Daniel and Amy Starch Distinguished Research Chair in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa. He has been a professor of communication studies, an adjunct professor of psychology, and a former Dean’s Administrative Fellow and is now Chair of the Rhetoric Department. He has taught interpersonal communication courses, mostly on relationships but also on nonverbal communication, communication in everyday life, construction of identity, communication theory, organizational leadership, and procedures and practices for leaders. More recently, he has taught composition, speaking, and rhetoric, especially for STEM students. By training an interdisciplinary thinker, Steve has focused on the development and decline of relationships, although he has also done research on the dynamics of television production techniques and persuasive messages in health contexts. Steve has written or edited 60 books on relationships and other matters and was the founder and, for the first 15 years, the editor of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. His book Meaningful Relationships: Talking, Sense, and Relating won the G. R. Miller Book Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association. Steve cofounded a series of international conferences on personal relationships. He won the University of Iowa’s first Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in 2001 and the National Communication Association’s Robert J. Kibler Memorial Award in 2004 for “dedication to excellence, commitment to the profession, concern for others, vision of what could be, acceptance of diversity, and forthrightness.” He was the 2010 recipient of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Helen Kechriotis Nelson Teaching Award for a lifetime of excellence in teaching, and in the same year was elected one of the National Communication Association’s Distinguished Scholars. He received the NCA’s 2019 Mark L. Knapp Award in Interpersonal Communication for career contributions to the study of interpersonal communication. He hopes to make it to the Iowa State Fair one day.
David T. McMahan received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2001. With research focusing on the social aspects of media and technology, personal relationships, and rhetorical criticism, he is the author of multiple books, and his research and scholarship have been published in numerous academic journals and edited volumes. He was named a Centennial Scholar by the Eastern Communication Association. David has taught courses that span the discipline of communication, including numerous courses in interpersonal communication and personal relationships, media and technology, communication education, theory, and criticism. He has been honored to receive multiple awards for his work in the classroom. A tremendously active member of the discipline, David’s his extensive record of service includes President of the Central States Communication Association, Editor of the Iowa Journal of Communication, and Consulting Editor of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy, along with membership and activity on a vast number of academic committees, executive boards, and editorial boards. He will serve as President of the National Communication Association in 2021. David hopes to one day have the winning entry in the Super Bull competition at the Iowa State Fair.
