Why Should We Be Talking About Value Reproduction?

This conceptual theoretical essay explores how values are continually reproduced through communication and how they shape societal norms. Although we all reproduce values on a daily basis through our various communicative practices, the definitions and functions of values are frequently ambiguous and presupposed across disciplines. By drawing from communication science and social science literature, the essay reflects on the mechanisms of value reproduction, linking the process of value reproduction to issues of inclusion, exclusion, and identity. Because, what happens when we reproduce values? Who gets to reproduce and who gets to challenge the reproduction of values? Who gets included in this reproduction and who gets excluded? What is the role of media in the reproduction of values? And importantly, underlying all these questions, what exactly are values and why should we care about how we reproduce values ourselves?