The Communicative Relationship Between Dialogue and Care By Mari ...

problems derived from the current postmodern moment set us up to be unable to engage in the communicative act of caring. Today more than ever before, people are being called into responsibility by the other to care and find themselves unequipped. This call into a responsibility by others resonates with Hyde's (2001) call of conscience that awakens one's sense of acknowledgment of the other. This call of care sends a reminder to engage or reengage the concept of care toward others.

Beyond Postmodernity:
The Need to Re-Engage the Concept of Care

The persistent and defining symptoms of postmodernity are not the only conditions of the present historical moment that call forth dialogue as the labor of care as a communicative ethic, which offers a fitting response to the times. The seemingly eternal devaluation of caring and the more contemporaneous issue of the changes that have occurred in our society that demand us to change the way we view caring have recently begun to have serious effects on communication and our lives in general. Both conditions will be shown to be major contributors to the need for a communication ethic such as dialogue as the labor of care to emerge as a guiding ethic that is well suited to address the contemporary historical moment and its needs and questions.

The Devaluation of Caring

Caring is significantly devalued in Western culture. This significant devaluation of care fosters many related communicative problems associated with our attitudes toward and our enactment of caring practices. There are many reasons for the devaluation of caring. The first to be addressed is the seemingly eternal notion that caring is considered women's work, associated most often with the private sphere and worth little in terms of material gain. “Caring for others, as defined in the United States, is not valuable or important; thus, it is assigned to individuals and groups whom the culture has designated as subordinate—predominantly women” (Wood,1994,p. 112). Women have traditionally cared for the