Date of Award
5-2026
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Styleguide
apa
Degree Name
Special Studies: M.S.
First Advisor
Elizabeth Scheel-Keita
Second Advisor
Judith Dorn
Third Advisor
Mathew Barton
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Communication love common ground social change
Abstract
For community members, educators, and scholars, this thesis explores whether love-centered communication (primarily through social media memes) can generate meaningful social change based on common ground established from exposure to the theoretical propositions. Presenting ideas from Rawls, Mills, Hobbes, and ethical subjectivism as the theoretical propositions, and Herbert Mead’s symbolic interactionism combined with Communicative Constitution of Organization (CCO) as a mechanism for social change to realign social norms in online environments, this research argues that if love is a common ground variable, then strategic communication can be used to reorient attitudes and norms toward loving others by applying CCO theory. This exploratory research used a non-experimental, post-survey design, following an interactive ZOOM academic group where 96 participants in two data sets were first presented with the theoretical propositions to establish common ground ideas before a controversial discussion. Responses were measured using Likert-scale items addressing shared human needs and moral disagreements. The findings suggest that the theoretical propositions (centered around loving others) promote a common ground foundation even when competing subjective moral attitudes are present. Across both datasets (N = 96), results overwhelmingly support the model proposed in this thesis: Participants broadly agree on shared human needs (entitlements); yet moral disagreements persist due to ethical subjective moral attitudes. Individuals also strongly oppose online hate and support love-centered communication. These findings confirm the core theoretical claim: love, fairness, empathy, symbolic interaction, and communication-based meaning-making have the potential to construct common ground and reshape social norms even across ideological differences. This is significant in that it suggests that replacing negative and divisive language and symbolic online communication with common-ground ideas could reconstitute social norms based on implementing strategic communication to advocate loving others during interpersonal, intercultural, organizational, or global mainstream communication. Additionally, future research might consider common ground based on basic needs and a shared human existence based on love rather than issues that lead to moral disagreements and moral attitudes.
Recommended Citation
Rutledge, James R., "Communicating Love for Social Change and Common Ground" (2026). Culminating Projects in Social Responsibility. 27.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/socresp_etds/27
Comments/Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for a loving God, my family, my advisor and committee members, colleagues, and HCG Students.