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Fifteen Pages that Shook the Field: Personal Influence, Edward Shils, and the Remembered History of Mass Communication Research

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  • Jefferson Pooley

    (Muhlenberg College)

Abstract

Personal Influence 's fifteen-page account of the development of mass communication research has had more influence on the field's historical self-understanding than anything published before or since. According to Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld's well-written, two-stage narrative, a loose and undisciplined body of prewar thought had concluded naively that media are powerful —a myth punctured by the rigorous studies of Lazarsfeld and others, which showed time and again that media impact is in fact limited. This “powerful-tolimited-effects†story line remains textbook boilerplate and literature review dogma fifty years later. This article traces the emergence of the Personal Influence synopsis, with special attention to (1) Lazarsfeld's audience-dependent framing of key media research findings and (2) the surprisingly prominent role of Edward Shils in supplying key elements of the narrative.

Suggested Citation

  • Jefferson Pooley, 2006. "Fifteen Pages that Shook the Field: Personal Influence, Edward Shils, and the Remembered History of Mass Communication Research," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 130-156, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:608:y:2006:i:1:p:130-156
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716206292460
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Durham Peters, 2006. "The Part Played by Gentiles in the Flow of Mass Communications: On the Ethnic Utopia of Personal Influence," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 97-114, November.
    2. John H. Summers, 2006. "Perpetual Revelations: C. Wright Mills and Paul Lazarsfeld," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 25-40, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sonia Livingstone, 2006. "The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 233-250, November.
    2. Kurt Lang & Gladys Engel Lang, 2006. "Personal Influence and the New Paradigm: Some Inadvertent Consequences," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 157-178, November.

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    1. Sonia Livingstone, 2006. "The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 233-250, November.
    2. Kurt Lang & Gladys Engel Lang, 2006. "Personal Influence and the New Paradigm: Some Inadvertent Consequences," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 157-178, November.

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