Page 12 - Communication Theory and Research

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1 Introduction and Overview

Denis McQuail

Origins and development of the field in Europe

Communications and media as a field of research in Europe scarcely predates the
Second World War, apart from the case of Germany where a press science
(Zeitungswissenschaft) was quite well established in some German universities.
Much of this work was historical or practical, but theory about the links between
the press and society had also been developed by German sociologists (Hardt,
2003). For understandable reasons, this tradition did not have much influence on
post-war development although a number of those engaged in the study of mass
media and society were part of the 1930s’ diaspora, mainly to the United States
(Averbeck, 2001), giving rise to an indirect effect. Early French sociologists,
notably Gabriel Tarde, had attached great importance to the press and other
means of publicity as influences on collective behaviour, the formation of opinion
and the transmission to modernity. Pre-Second World War and immediate post-
war British sociology, however, was focused on social problems, among which
the contemporary mass media did not really figure. In general, the task of post-
war reconstruction in Europe was too large to allow much attention to be
directed to the media. All in all, at the mid-twentieth century it seemed that the
field was largely open for the ‘invasion’ of American ideas about mass media
and methods of enquiry. As Tunstall (1977) observed, not only were the media
American, so was media science.
These remarks should not be read as indicating any lack of early awareness in
Europe of the immense potential significance of the mass press, film and radio
from political, cultural and social perspectives. There was clear evidence of the
close involvement of mass media in the unfolding events driven by nationalism,
war and totalitarianism. However, social science was under-developed and the
field was largely left to speculation and amateur investigation. An exception to
this judgement is the pre-war engagement by the BBC in systematic radio audi-
ence research. Post-war American influence showed up in a predeliction for
sample survey enquiries into ‘media use’ and studies of media effects carried out
by statistical methods. It took the arrival of the new mass medium of television
to really stimulate media research, especially as it was not only credited with
potency and viewed by many as problematic, but also held out a new promise
of enlightenment, education and cultural development. In the 1950s and 1960s,
the study of media was largely framed according to topics that lent themselves to
enquiry within the frames of leisure-time use, effectiveness in political persuasion,