no longer peripheral, occupied by Latin America in terms of the expanded reproduction of capital, and an environment of new social sensibilities, have become essential for a better understanding of the global situation. 3. The economic and political centrality of communication and culture has been a subject of debate for years, to the point at which it constitutes a new social paradigm, as claimed by much of the literature. An important segment of the production process has spread to the “intangible� sectors, where so-called "symbolic capital" and its markets have an added value, and the so-called "new economy" looks to information and culture as new products. At the same time, the spread of the new matrix of financing presupposes the existence of an effective information and communication infrastructure. Furthermore, the new identities, the emerging social relations of power and new cultural forms, are mediated by such systems. 4. Such centrality calls into question the paradigms of communication sciences that are still in vogue in key sectors of academia, largely in thrall still to the functionalist and instrumental bias. The role of critical thought in communication is therefore to overcome these shortcomings by proposing theoretical models of wider communication. In this respect, the anthropological dimension of communication and culture could be recovered by linking them to human rights and the development of a praxis that respects differences in the ways human beings see things. This is an essential and urgent task which goes beyond the strictly economic dimension, with the inevitable consequences for public policies and the struggle for a more democratic and inclusive society. 5. The historic responsibility of the academic field of communication derives from both its inherent interdisciplinary and transversal character, capable of establishing dialogue with the various social sciences, humanities, arts, technology, and their position in social mediation, while retaining the main core of its subject of study: human communication. At a time when modes of production are increasingly mediated by information and 10
Carta de La Paz
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.