Each of the 31 chapters which comprise this volume reviews the state of the art in a specific area of communications research. The chapters are grouped into three sections, the first of which focuses upon the basic communication process. An introduction to the concept of a communication system and to the phenomena of language and nonverbal communication is followed by considerations of mass media and their audiences and of interpersonal communication. Additional chapters deal with the impact of communication on children and with persuasion and propaganda. Part II examines the communication process in a variety of settings. These include the mass media, small groups, bureaucracies, advertising, political parties and scientific institutions. Individual chapters explore the role of communication in each of these settings in advanced industrial society and compare communication in a Western democratic environment with its operation in Communist nations, the developing world, and in relations between states. Part III reviews current methods of communication research, particularly aggregate data analysis and experimental studies of communication effects. (Author)