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Engaging Structures

One of the key elements of the CCA is the concept of structure (Dutta, 2008). Structures refer to forms of social organization that create as well as constrain access to a wide range of resources. These resources not only include basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc., but also the communication infrastructures necessary to participate in the dominant public spheres. Based on empirical evidence documented in health communication scholarship for instance, the CCA notes the correspondence between the absence of communication infrastructures and the lack of health infrastructures. These correlations narrate an underlying economic dimension where being poor gets constituted in the realm of being unable to secure access to a plethora of resources necessary for life. Having noted this economic base of structures then, CCA raises questions about the role that communication scholars could play in challenging and transforming structures. In other words, now that we have noted that structural disparities also play out communicatively, what are the entry points that can be created for enabling access to these structures and also for creating possibilities for transforming structures?
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