Communication towards the Vehicle of Community Interaction (Analysis of Sociology of Contemporary Communication)

Ramsiah Tasruddin¹, Syamsuddin AB²

^1,2 Faculty of Da’wah and Communication, Alauddin State Islamic University Makassar

ABSTRACT: Sociology of communication, a branch of social science, discusses the process of social interaction as a forum for conveying ideas in society in modern times. The long form of social order is the result of social interaction carried out by social groups, this order is formed because of the relationship between one human being and another human being. This type of qualitative research is the researcher himself, humans have constructivism sensitivity that is generative in nature to understand the meaning of what is learned. Data collection techniques namely in-depth interviews with informants, observation, document review. The results show that communication as a forum for interaction in social life for the delivery of constructive information and ideas is carried out as follows: When carrying out social communication in society, mass communication and influence in contemporary society, Development of cross-cultural communication, information society, and the use of social media in parts of the world contemporary.

KEYWORDS: Sociology, Communication, Media, Means of interaction, Community

I.   INTRODUCTION

Sociology comes from the Latin word socius which means society, and the word logos which means science. Sociology emerged simultaneously with psychology in the 19th century, where sociology was a development of social philosophy. While the Sociology of Communication is a science that studies communication from a sociological point of view. Sociology studies communication in the context of social interaction in society, both directly and indirectly related to the media. (Carey, J. A 1989). Defines communication as an attempt to create social units from  individuals using language or signs, having a set of common rules for various activities to achieve goals. (Henry, Nelson B 1964). The purpose of the sociology of communication is to know the influence of social factors. The purpose of the sociology of communication is to know the influence of social factors in communication and to understand the sociological conditions that arise in communication or have aspects of communication.The discussion of communication is always related to social processes, namely the exchange of ideas and modification of the value system.It can be said that social communication in a society is a process that cannot be separated from the value system of the community itself. This proves that sociology has a major influence at the level of communication. Sociology explains that communication is the most important element in all human life. Social contact becomes very meaningful because there is communication, so social life will come alive. Without communication, social interaction will not be established. Communication and sociology are two interrelated things, sociology is a science that has long developed, while communication is an interaction process that is in the study of sociology. Based on this, it can be concluded that sociology is the basis for the birth and development of communication science to examine the quality of social interaction in society. The influence of sociology on communication in social life produces a sub-science of study called the sociology of communication.

II.   LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Carey (1989) essentially all communication as a ritual. According to this view, communication as a ritual is able to provide an alternative rationale that apart from communication as a transmission, communication can also act as a ritual. Communication as a transmission emphasizes and aims at the transmission process to produce the desired impact, understanding, and attitude change. Communication is the process of delivering a statement by one person to another. (Onong U Effendy, 1997). Arni Muhammad said that communication is the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between the sender and the recipient of the message to change behavior. (Arni Muhammad, 2002). Anwar Arifin defines communication as messages and human actions in a social context with all its aspects. Thus communication includes all types of messages and is carried out by humans without recognizing differences in religion, race, ethnicity and nation. (Anwar Arifin, 2002).

III.            RESEARCH METHOD

The paradigm of this research is constructivism means to build and construe means to interpret. Constructivism as learning that is generative, namely the action to create something meaning from what is learned. In constructivism, individuals try to make sense of the world in which they live, (Creswell, 2014). Theoretical Foundation This research is a qualitative study. According to Creswell, (2014) qualitative research is a set of material interpretation practices. The practice transforms the world, turning the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and personal notes. The research method uses the ethnographic method of communication to explain the relationship between categories in this study. According to. (Kuswarno, 2011). Communication ethnography discusses the relationship between language and communication or the link between language and culture, and discusses all three at once. In addition, the enculturation method is also able to describe and analyze the behavior of enculturation communication. Data Collection Techniques Data collection in this study used several techniques, namely in-depth interviews with informants, observations or observations, and document review. In-depth interviews to obtain information about communication patterns in enculturation. Conduct unstructured interviews, open interviews, and take interview notes

IV.        DISCUSSION

Humans have differences with other creatures, humans are given the advantage of mastering and possessing symbols. Arbitrary symbols in the form of letters, words, phrases or language are a simplification of social reality, the material of which is so complex that it becomes very simple. The communication process is a series of message transformations from one person (communicator) to another individual (communicant) in which it is not only a psychological process, but also a sociological process. Sociologically, the process of social transformation between communicators and communicants by George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) called Symbolic Interaction. In symbolic interaction, someone gives meaning, interprets or interprets something that comes from the external environment (for example from a communicator) and then responds with a certain attitude, appearance or behavior in accordance with the results of the meaning, interpretation and interpretation of the stimulus. (George Herbert Mead, 1969). For adherents of symbolic interactionism, society grows thanks to the exchange of communication symbols in social interactions that produce consensus in the form of joint action. All changes in society, thus the most rational cause is the exchange of symbols in the practice of communication. The practice of communication can finally be understood as a social act. That is, meaningfull action or meaningful action. Based on this, it can be said that the Sociology of Communication consists of 4 concepts which also become the scope of the sociology of communication. The four concepts are sociology, society, communication, and media/information technology. Jurgen Habermas, emphasizes the study of the sociology of communication in the book Communication and Evolution of Society (1979) that in the situation of today’s society, behavioral problems in life require rational discussion that does not only focus on technical means or on the application of behavioral norms traditional behavior. (Habermas, Jurgen, 1962). For Habermas, communication is the central point of building a universal society. Sociology of all kinds of society classically contributed to him no longer being able to overcome social problems if he puts aside the role of communication. Apparently, this is the seedbed of the communication paradigm in sociology. Talking about society without relating it to a model of thinking whose orientation is central to communication makes the conversation less significant. In the study of Sociology of Communication, it is usually built on the assumption that: a). A person’s life does not exist in a vacuum, b). People live and relate to social, cultural, economic, political “reality”, c). People live in a “set” world, a “meaningful world”, a structured reality d). Social reality affects communicators. Communication which is a forum for community interaction to convey ideas and ideas is of course carried out as follows:

A.    Social communication in society

As a living being created by God Almighty who is equipped with reason and is full of uniqueness that functions as an individual, social and creature created by Him from the three functions referred to, he is unable to live alone, he needs other humans to collaborate with each other in meeting their needs. Because each human being has individual needs, they then make adaptations, adjustments between individual and social interests in addition to dealing with His creator, so that from that, humans indirectly interact or relate to each other. Where the interaction is through verbal and non-verbal communication activities. This social interaction then gives birth to social norms and values ​​that are able to regulate human behavior.

B.    Mass communication and its impact on society

Humans are dual beings. On the one hand, he becomes an individual who tries to be able to live to fulfill his own needs. On the other hand, he is a social being who always depends on and needs other humans. To be able to meet various needs, an individual must establish relationships with other individuals in the community so that there is an interaction in which there is a communication process. Along with the development of the communication process in various areas of society, public communication on a large scale is carried out using various media channels, both media that can be accessed personally or media that can be enjoyed from various sources of information. Currently, information obtained by the public through media such as TV, radio, magazines or other media is also included in communication activities, which is called mass communication. 

C.    Intercultural communication

Today, the dynamics of communication in a comprehensive manner need good arrangement and management in carrying out social interactions. That is, the urgency of communication today, both direct and indirect, online and offline, needs to pay attention to communication ethics and orientation to messages. Communication is formed on the basis of individual awareness and ability in each socialization process. Applicatively, communication is an individual need as an activity of transforming messages and exchanging ideas in the accessibility of information. At first glance the practice looks easy and simple, without learning it we can do it ourselves early on regardless of the analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of communication. In this case, it is necessary to note that many communication activities are out of expectation of difficulties in conveying the communication message as a whole. This is then the importance of understanding communication theoretically and practically. Manifestations of social communication can affect a person’s attitudes and behavior according to the substance and purpose of the communication. Intercultural communication is a communication activity that occurs between communication participants who have different cultural backgrounds. Basically, no human being is exactly the same, each individual has a different cultural identity, including their perspective and way of thinking about something. When two people have big differences in their cultural backgrounds, the obstacles that arise when they carry out communication activities will also be more and more.

D.    Information society

The expression information society is the idea that society and its culture are greatly influenced based on the amount of information available due to various information and communication technology platforms. The development of information technology is basically to create an ease, effectiveness, and efficiency in all activities related to the flow, storage, processing, and representation of data and information in a certain environment. It is well known that information is a very valuable commodity. That is why, information technology will definitely continue to develop according to the needs (viewed from the scale and complexity of the flow of data and information), economic value (viewed from the added value that can be provided), and market share (viewed from who uses it) to absorb it. Actually, the fear of the development of information technology is a fear that is not too unreasonable. There is no element intended to displace human work. 

E.    Social media

The world is now more open and seems like there are no boundaries. Individuals around the world can get access to the information they want to know without feeling overwhelmed. Interacting with each other in all parts of the world has also become commonplace. In the past, this might have been difficult to do, but now everything is unpredictable and made easier, namely with the help of online-based media, social media. The human population on earth is very large and varied. Now all are one in a new world called the virtual world that can give birth to a cyber community or online community no matter where the user is. More than 50 percent of the world’s population is a user of the internet and online media. There are various types of social media and the most in demand by most of the world’s population is Facebook. According to research conducted by Hootsuite from year to year, Facebook still ranks first as the most popular social media platform used in various countries. V.    CONCLUSION                Based on the discussion, it can be seen that the sociology of communication builds the process of social interaction in society to form social order in contemporary times, social interactions carried out by social groups form order because of the relationship between one human being and another human being, one society with another society that cannot be separated from the communication process. . Communication creates an interaction forum for conveying constructive information and ideas with actions, namely carrying out social communication interactions in society, communication with mass interactions and influences on contemporary society, developing cross-cultural communication networks, an all-informed society, as well as using social media to get to know contemporary society.

REFERENCES

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