Abstract

The concept of communication capital captures the communication resources available for a community to draw upon routinely and especially in times of crises and problem solving. The study reported here examines those resources and relates them to self-reports of communication behaviors and perceptions of the quality of life in communities. Results show a pattern of relationships among macro measures of the availability of third places (not work, not home), legacy media serving the communities, organizations where interaction would occur, online vehicles connecting residents to their community, and events that draw people together and stimulate conversations.  Examining the impact of macro measures on people’s self-reports; we see a stronger pattern of available communication capital is manifest in a similar pattern of communication behaviors. Furthermore, in communities with greater communication capital residents rate quality of life higher, show stronger community attachment and civic engagement.

Key Words: Communicative Cities, Communication Capital, Third Places, Civic Engagement, Quality of Life Perceptions

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 12, No. 2, October 2020, pp. 1-18

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

About the author

*      Leo W. Jeffres (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1976) is Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication at Cleveland State University.  He is the author of four books, including Mass Media Processes (1994), Mass Media Effects (1997), and Urban Communication Systems: Neighborhoods and the Search for Community (2002), as well as more than a hundred journal articles.  Most recently he has developed an inventory of communication resources for communities and conducted research on "communication capital."

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Article Citation

Jeffres, L. W. (2020). Communicative cities and communication capital: Communication resources and behaviors in a major American City. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 12 (2): 1 – 18.