Rethinking the Paradigm

This chapter focuses on the rise of the critical or dependency paradigm in Latin America and the success of its theories but somewhat limited applications over a period from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. It first examines the context of the paradigm shift that paved the way for a new theory in the discourse of communication and social change, and how that may have affected practice. It then considers how the dependency approach to communication for development (c4d) first came into favor in Latin America. It also discusses the dependency paradigm in theory and practice and Everett Rogers's critique of the old or dominant paradigm, which he articulated in the book Communication and Development: Critical Perspectives (1976a). The chapter concludes by demonstrating how practice and critical theory came together in a government project in Tanzania's ujamaa villages.