Description
Book SynopsisHanno Hardt has thoroughly revised and expanded his ''pre-history'' of communication research in the United States. With the notable addition of Karl Marx''s journalism-focused writings and a new foreword by James W. Carey, this edition covers intellectual contributions from several German theorists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as first-generation U.S. sociologists who were influenced by this scholarship. A new concluding chapter explores the continuing influence of German social thought and the contemporary shift of paradigms in U.S. communication research, including approaches such as critical (Marxist) and cultural studies.
Trade ReviewFor well over three decades Hanno Hardt has been an advocate, sometimes a lonely one, for deepened historical consciousness in communication studies. . . .This book should make it impossible to ever again consider mass communication research without its European shadow or to speak of the roots of modern social theory without acknowledging the central place of communication in its preoccupations. Hardt opens a treasure trove of insights and ideas most of us never knew existed. -- John Durham Peters, A. Craig Baird Professor, The University of Iowa
This volume, particularly with its spirited conclusion, lays down a major challenge to our understanding of the history of communication research. -- James W. Carey, Columbia University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Mass Communication Research and Society: An Introduction Chapter 3 Communication and Change in Society: Karl Marx on Freedom of the Press Chapter 4 The Nerves of Society: Albert Schäffle on Symbolic Communication Chapter 5 The News of Society: Karl Knies on Communication and Transportation Chapter 6 The Linkages of Society: Karl Bücher on Commerce and the Press Chapter 7 The Mirrors of Society: Ferdinand Tönnies on the Press and Public Opinion Chapter 8 The Conscience of Society: Max Weber on Journalism and Responsibility Chapter 9 The "American Science" of Society: Small, Ross, and Sumner on Communication and the Press Chapter 10 Communication and Social Thought: Decentering the Discourse of Mass Communication Research
