Human need as a justification for communication rights |
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| Authors: | Andrew Calabrese |
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| Institution: | Department of Media Studies, College of Media, Communication and Information, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA |
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| Abstract: | This article extends reasoning about social policy, as a response to basic human need, to the treatment of communication policy. The idea of communication as a basic human need is of vital importance in a contemporary world in which so much social interaction of a private and public nature occurs through technological mediation. Through an examination of arguments in social and political theory about human needs, this article emphasizes how “needs talk” is used to justify “rights talk,” with particular attention given to how assumptions about communication needs—what they are, how they can or should be satisfied, and the politics of need recognition—are or can be used to justify communication rights. |
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| Keywords: | Communication rights critical theory human need human rights social justice |
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