Alien premises, objects, and methods in Latin American communication research

Abstract

A central criticism of many of Latin America's communication studies is that they subscribe indiscriminately and markedly to theoretical models mostly imported from the United States of America. “The researchers have lacked a conceptual framework of their own” was, in fact, one of the conclusions of the first general meeting of Latin American communication researchers. Two of the major U.S. communication research schemes—the effects orientation and the functions orientation—have been criticized in Latin America by analysts such as Mattelart (1970) and Zires de Janka (1973)