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Religion and Development Communication

Robert A. White

In: The Handbook on Religion and Communication

Yoel Cohen, Paul A. Soukup (eds.)

Wiley (2023), pp. 487-502

"The central question of this chapter addresses how major religious traditions have used media to contribute to socioeconomic development and improve access to the basic necessities of life. The Judeo-Christian tradition has perhaps the most explicit emphasis on socioeconomic development in its use ... of media because of its priority of seeking the well-being of the poor and marginal people of the society and because of its traditional emphasis on media beginning with its written gospels and letters. Christian Churches, together, now have more than 500 educational radio and television stations in Latin America, Africa, and other areas such the Philippines. The fastest growing sector of Christianity, the evangelicals, in addition to their use of radio, video cassettes, and television, are expanding their use of social media, computers, and mobile phones, emphasizing small business, entrepreneurial promotion. Islam also emphasizes putting religious teaching in publications and other forms of media. With a long scientific and socioeconomic development tradition, Islam has a tradition of concern for the poor and less developed parts of its societies. The expectation that individual adherents of Islam will give away part of their economic success for the benefit of the poor and less fortunate provides added motivation. One of the most notable contributions to development from an Islamic background is the system of credit to the poor, the Grameen Bank, initiated by Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh. Buddhism emphasizes heightened inner consciousness of well-being, reconciliation, compassion, and the overcoming of hate and selfishness. Buddhism communicates its message through the plastic arts, especially the ubiquitous images of Buddha. Where Buddhism is the dominant religious tradition (as in Thailand), the Buddhist temples and monks are centers promoting socioeconomic improvement at the local community level and national radio has programs for development purposes. Hinduism, located largely in India, is essentially a social worldview that assigns one’s socioeconomic status in life. Wealth and entrepreneurial initiative are part of the culture of the higher castes, and people of the higher castes are often leaders in development initiatives in India. Although religious communications and development involvement are still a matter of household deities, Indian holy gurus now sponsor television programs that attract an upwardly mobile technological class with tips on getting ahead in business, personal wealth, and upper class styles." (Conclusion, pages 498-499) more

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The Handbook on Religion and Communication
Deep Insights

Yoel Cohen, Paul A. Soukup (eds.)

Newark: Wiley Blackwell (2023), 571 pp.

"Divided into five parts, the Handbook opens with a state-of-the-art overview of the subject’s intellectual landscape, introducing the historical background, theoretical foundations, and major academic approaches to communication, media, and religion. Subsequent sections focus on institutional and ... more

Google Scholar (66)

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A Media Ecology of Theology: Communicating Faith Throughout the Christian Tradition

Paul A. Soukup

Waco: Baylor University Press (2022), viii, 232 pp.

"The contemporary emphasis on written or academic theology obscures the long history in which people sought to understand and express their faith by way of various outlets and formats. Because historical Christianity has embraced every communication medium, the media ecology approach to communicatio ... more

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Studying Soap Operas

Paul A. Soukup

Communication Research Trends, volume 35, issue 3 (2016), pp. 3-55

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Smartphones

Paul A. Soukup

Communication Research Trends, volume 34, issue 4 (2015), pp. 3-39

"Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their ... communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones. Though most communication research examines on individual and group usage of smartphones, a few people outside of the more technical journals and books have sketched—at least in overview form—the key factors for smartphone success, what Goggin and Hjorth (2014b) identify as infrastructure, economics, and policy. Apart from the manufacture of the handsets, smartphones require an infrastructure of telecommunications operators, with systems across the world divided between national telecommunication services and competing privately owned companies (Curwen & Whalley, 2014; Feijóo, 2014). Secondly, smartphones depend upon both formal and informal economies, from the manufacture and sale of the phones themselves to the production and sale of the apps to the revenues supporting particular app services (music sales, data storage, on-demand services, and so on) (Lobato & Thomas, 2014). Goldsmith (2014) adds a bit of detail, describing an app ecosystem: “Each ecosystem consists of a core company, which creates and maintains a platform and an app marketplace, plus small and large companies that produce apps and/or mobile devices for that platform” (p. 171). Finally, both manufacturers and operators must negotiate agreed-on technical specifications for voice and data transmission, specifications that governments must approve both locally and perhaps in cross-border treaty agreements (Middleton, 2014). These factors lead to a more complex view of smartphones: not only do they function as communication devices and embodiments of technical negotiations, but they also take on identities as symbols of economic and cultural systems, as “moral objects” (whose value justifies their purchase price), as fashion accessories, and as lifestyle supports (Koskinen, 2012, p. 225)." (Introduction, pages 3-4) more