Page 170 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

P1: GLB/IRK/kaa P2: KAF
0521835356c06.xml Hallin 0 521 83535 6 January 28, 2004 21:0

The Three Models

analysis. Brants and McQuail (1997: 154) write: “Dutch society between
the beginning of the twentieth century and the mid-1960s (and no-
tably the first twenty years after the Second World War) was a principal
example of ‘segmented pluralism,’ with social movements, educational
and communications systems, voluntary associations and political par-
ties organized vertically (and often cross cutting through social strata)
along the lines of religious and ideological cleavages.” The concept of
“segmented pluralism” was originally introduced by Lorwin (1971) to
indicate the clear, consolidated religious and ideological cleavages that
he observed not just in the Netherlands but in other small European
countries such as Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. In the Dutch case,
the principal pillars were the Protestant, Catholic, and Socialist subcul-
tures, which organized late in the nineteenth century to preserve their
autonomy from the then (and now once again) dominant conservative
liberal culture.
One of the main characteristics of segmented pluralism is that the
subcommunities have their own channels of socialization and commu-
nication (Lijphart 1968; Brants and McQuail 1992; Nieuwenhuis 1992;
Van der Eijk 2000).
Catholics and Protestants not only founded their own schools, po-
litical parties, trade unions, employers’ organizations and hospi-
tals but also their own welfare organizations, travel organizations,
sporting associations, etc. The religious affiliation of a citizen de-
cided the community he lived in from cradle to grave. A Catholic,
for example, learned arithmetic from a Catholic school, learned
chess from a Catholic youth club, played football in a Catholic
team, learned typing at a Catholic course, went on holiday with a
Catholic group and sometimes even preferred to do his shopping
with a Catholic shopkeeper. . . . Seeking shelter within the group
was seen as a pre-condition of emancipation....The main com-
munication medium, the printing press, was the principal tool of
this process of pillarization. It kept the group together and gave
it, literally, a voice. There were Catholic, Protestant and Socialist
dailies and weeklies and each group also had its own illustrated
press (Wigbold 1979: 193).
This function of the press has clearly contributed to the high cir-
culation rates in Northern and Central Europe, and to the central
role the press has played in social life. The depth of the roots of reli-
gious, ethnic, and ideological groups, the intensity of the clashes among

152