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Personal Influence and the New Paradigm: Some Inadvertent Consequences

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  • Kurt Lang
  • Gladys Engel Lang

Abstract

An examination of the reception given Personal Influence when first published points to highly selective interpretations of the findings. The claims reviewers made for the influence of interpersonal communication relative to the mass media, especially in the political process, went even beyond those advanced by the authors. They overlooked not only the very restricted conceptualization of “effects†that guided the Decatur research but also previously accumulated evidence on multiple kinds of media influence. This article argues that the new conventional wisdom pitting personal versus mass media effects associated with this and previous studies in the Columbia tradition discouraged, however inadvertently, a coming generation of sociologists from researching the effects—particularly long-range effects—of mass communication. As a consequence, academic sociology came to cede much of the high ground it once occupied in media studies to political science and to more professionally oriented departments or schools of communication.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:608:y:2006:i:1:p:157-178
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716206292614
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. David E. Morrison, 2006. "The Influences Influencing Personal Influence: Scholarship and Entrepreneurship," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 608(1), pages 51-75, 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.

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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. 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.

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