Socio-anthropological challenges of Agenda Setting Theory: Reconstitution of the model in a case study

Despite the success of the now old Agenda Setting Theory, weaknesses of a socio-anthropological nature related to the paradigms and theses that support the theory continue to be reproduced: scope of positivist methods, analyzes unrelated to ideology and culture, mediocentrism, analytical fragmentation, among others. These limitations do not always make it possible to in-depth study of agendas in contexts other than those of traditional theory development (capitalist, urban society, Western democracy…). This article communicates the sustained reflexivity for the reconstitution of the theoretical model in order to deepen the relationships between the agendas in a Cuban municipality. Methodology: The theoretical proposal was based on the dialectical method of knowledge construction, based on review phases of international studies and the Cuban case, as well as empirical work to validate the deepening strategies. Results: The results led to a perspective of “interrelated agendas based on communication processes of relevance between social fields”, whose understanding abandoned positivist functionalism to settle on a communicational constructivism. Discussion and Conclusions: The implementation of this theoretical framework during 2019 in the municipality of Mella (Cuba) confirmed its relevance to overcome problems that have been widely criticized for Agenda Setting in the international framework.