Mediation and Hierarchy of Knowledge on Communication

Foreword vii
Pierre MOEGLIN

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction xv

Chapter 1. The Promises of Communication Training Programs 1

1.1. Diversity of structures, diversity of authoritative discourses 1

1.2. Segmentation of communication fields 18

1.3. Mediation and the performative ideal: the promises of guaranteed learning 26

1.4. Instrumented mediation: the digital seen as an educational panacea 37

1.5. The explicit request for communication "tools" and "techniques" 49

Chapter 2. Mastery Over Communication: Professionalization and the Injunction to Efficacy 57

2.1. The figures of facilitators and the legitimization of communication expertise 57

2.2. "Mastering" communication to gain professional efficacy 69

2.3. Reinforcing the professionalism of communicators 79

2.4. The argument of the paradigm shift and communication conceptions 89

Chapter 3. Procedures and Standards for "Communicating Properly" 99

3.1. Toolboxes and communicational claims 99

3.2. Prescription and planning to "master" communication 107

3.3. "Best practices" and the circulation of standards 115

3.4. Prescribing and standardizing "creativity"? 120

3.5. Debates on standards and the reflexivity of social actors 128

Chapter 4. Exemplification, Modeling and Memorization of Instrumented Bodies of Knowledge in Communication 137

4.1. Casuist mediation: the presumed efficacy of practical wisdom 137

4.2. The order of "scholarly" discourses in professional training 146

4.3. The quest for certainty and the scientistic relationship with knowledge 152

4.4. The neuroscience, experimental psychology and management science triptych 156

4.5. Theory and memorization: understanding versus mastering? 165

Chapter 5. Communication in the Face of Evaluation: Efficacy and Extension of the Managerial Model 177

5.1. Evaluation and institutionalization of values 177

5.2. Evaluation and (willing) (temporary) suspension of reflexivity 185

5.3. Metrics and quantitativist reduction 193

5.4. Knowledge about communication and managerial regime 198

Conclusion 203

References 211

Index 229