Deconstructing Communication: Representation, Subject, and Economies of Exchange

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Situated at the intersection of current debates regarding meaning and representation, this text casts doubt on the seeming innocence of the activity of communication. Using poststructuralist literary theory and philosophy, Chang argues that modern communication theories fail to provide an adequate explanation for how communication is possible. Through a detailed examination of the basis of the idea of communication - with its semantic core of "commonality" or the transcendence of difference - Chang argues against the tendency of theorists to value understanding over misunderstanding, clarity over ambiguity, order over disorder. To this end the author revisits the thought of Derrida and considers deconstruction in general. Specifically, he uses the critique of the phenomenological tradition emerging from poststructuralism to clarify the commitments and assumptions inherent in models of communication.