Introduction to Communication for the Common Good

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering introductory concepts, theories, and examples of communication for the common good.

Critical awareness (Bernardo et al.)

An assemblage of practical skills from which emerges a possibility for social justice as a restorative social practice.

Positionality

The personal perspective and social location of an individual shaped by markers of identity, including class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and political or religious beliefs.

Discourse (Michel Foucault)

The framework of political ideas, values, agendas, and ideologies underlying human communication that shapes understandings of how things are and how they should be.

Utterance (Gunther Grasse)

A spoken statement that implicitly conceals personal expectations of how the world should be and conveys a value judgment regarding how things currently are.

Common good (General definition)

A dynamic, contested shared set of values, interests, and goals that promote collective well-being, shaped differently across cultural, political, and ethical contexts.

Common good (Jed)

The shared interests held by people as members of a political community that must be established and negotiated through inclusive and deliberative processes.

Common good (Alandonia)

A set of social relations, institutions, and values—encompassing justice, freedom, friendship, solidarity, and participation—that cannot be defined statistically.

Communication as a precondition (Lorenzo Cantoni)

The argument that communication is not simply an informational tool, but an essential foundational condition through which the common good is discussed, negotiated, and established.

Global challenges (Global Crisis)

A set of interconnected crises that include environmental destruction, income inequality, large-scale human migration, autocratic governance, anxiety and addiction, and reactionary ideologies.

Multimodal text

A communicative work that combines and orchestrates multiple modes of meaning-making, such as moving images, sound, written text, and speech.

Divisive entrepreneurs

Actors who exploit societal vulnerabilities and undermine the common good by employing polarizing narratives, identity politics, fear, and false representations against less-resourced groups.

2016 UK Referendum

A public vote on European Union membership whose outcome was significantly shaped by anti-migration rhetoric and fear-inducing claims regarding the British way of life.

2003 Australian Referendum

A public vote concerning constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples that was defeated after campaigns spread false claims about loss of land ownership and reparations.

Resolution Possible

An NGO that partnered with students from the UCL Global Citizenship Program to design an environmental campaign video addressing ecological effects and solutions.

Liberalism

A view that centers individual rights and freedom, and is cautious about imposing one idea of the good life

Collectivism

A view that prioritizes the goals of the group over individual preference.

Communitarianism

The idea that individuals are shaped by communities, and politics should balance rights with shared values.

Common good

What benefits a society as a whole, though people disagree on what that is.

Procedural approach.

Instead of defining the common good in advance, people talk, negotiate, and democratically decide what it should be