Paul F. Lazarsfeld

The People's Choice (Columbia Paperback, 83)

Excerpt from Radio and the Printed Page: An Introduction to the Study of Radio and Its Role in the Communication of Ideas In the fall of 1937 the Rockefeller Foundation allocated a grant to Princeton University with the assignment of studying the role played by radio for different groups of listeners in the United States. An Office of Radio Research was set up with the author as director, Frank Stanton and Hadley Cantril as associate directors. A series of investigations covering a rather wide range of problems was undertaken. One group of studies which seemed of obvious importance related radio to other media of communication such as newspapers and books. In June 1939, when the first general progress report was due, these studies formed a natural unit for summary. The volume on "Radio and the Printed Page" in its present form grew out of discussions of this first report. The field headquarters of the Princeton Radio Project have been in New York City, and as the work advanced it became clear to the directors that the research would be expedited if the Project were transferred to a university located in New York City, the center of radio activities. In the spring of 1940 the Office of Radio Research was therefore transferred to Columbia University. The entire series of studies to which the present book belongs was originally sponsored by the Federal Radio Education Committee. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

An Introduction to the Study of Radio and Its Role in the Communication of Ideas (Classic Reprint)

Radio and the Printed Page

Hans Zeisel

Marie Jahoda

"One of the main theses of the Marienthal study was that prolonged unemployment leads to a state of apathy in which the victims do not utilize any longer even the few opportunities left to them. The vicious cycle between reduced opportunities and reduced level of aspiration has remained the focus of all subsequent discussions." So begin the opening remarks to the English-language edition of what has become a major classic in the literature of social stratification.

The Sociography of an Unemployed Community

Marienthal

Bernard R. Berelson

William N. McPhee

Voting is an examination of the factors that make people vote the way they do. Based on the famous Elmira Study, carried out by a team of skilled social scientists during the 1948 presidential campaign, it shows how voting is affected by social class, religious background, family loyalties, on-the-job relationships, local pressure groups, mass communication media, and other factors. Still highly relevant, Voting is one of the most frequently cited books in the field of voting behavior.

A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign

Voting

Bernard Berelson

Hazel Gaudet

Examines how the voter makes up their mind in a presidential election. Also looks at the social and ideological differences between republicans and democrats during the early 1900's and who participates in elections.

How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign

The People's Choice

Robert King Merton

Studies in the Scope and Method of "The American Soldier."

Frank Stanton

Radio Research, 1942-1943

Elihu Katz

Elmo Roper

First published in 1955, "Personal Influence" reports the results of a pioneering study conducted in Decatur, Illinois, validating Paul Lazarsfeld's serendipitous discovery that messages from the media may be further mediated by informal "opinion leaders" who intercept, interpret, and diffuse what they see and hear to the personal networks in which they are embedded. This classic volume set the stage for all subsequent studies of the interaction of mass media and interpersonal influence in the making of everyday decisions in public affairs, fashion, movie-going, and consumer behavior. The contextualizing essay in Part One dwells on the surprising relevance of primary groups to the flow of mass communication. Peter Simonson of the University of Pittsburgh has written that "Personal Influence was perhaps the most influential book in mass communication research of the postwar era, and it remains a signal text with historic significance and ongoing reverberations...more than any other single work, it solidified what came to be known as the dominant paradigm in the field, which later researchers were compelled either to cast off or build upon." In his introduction to this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Elihu Katz discusses the theory and methodology that underlie the Decatur study and evaluates the legacy of his coauthor and mentor, Paul F. Lazarsfeld.

The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications

Personal Influence

Paul F. Lazarsfeld

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