In this week’s chapter we learned about theoretical paradigms. Theoretical paradigms are broader categories that are used to simplify the understanding of complex theories. A paradigm is a collection of concepts, values, assumptions, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality for a community that shares them. The theoretical paradigm that caught my interest the most was the critical theories paradigm. This type of paradigm helps us understand how communication is used to oppress, thus provides us ways to foster positive social change. The theories in this paradigm are different from other paradigms because they seek praxis, which is a combination of theory and action. This means the theories seek to understand power structures while simultaneously seeking to charge these oppressive power structures in positive ways. 

An example of critical theory would be Marxism. Which is why I chose the cartoon. In the cartoon we can see a man who represents Karl Marx beating a rich man with a copy of one of his major works, the Das Kapital. In the book, Marx describe how capitalism works and how it will ultimately destroy itself. The cartoon also demonstrates the idea of praxis, which combines theory and action, a strength of the critical theories paradigm. Similarly, it demonstrated a weakness, the crowd backing up Marx is necessary to incite change because social values are necessary to incite change.

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