Page 226 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

Chapter 9

Resurveying the

Boundaries of Political

Communications Effects

DOUGLAS M. McLEOD
University of Wisconsin–Madison

GERALD M. KOSICKI
The Ohio State University

JACK M. McLEOD
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A decade ago, we contributed a chapter on political communication
effects (McLeod, Kosicki, & McLeod, 1994) to Bryant and Zillman’s (1994)
collection of essays on media effects. In that chapter, we argued that
recent developments in political communication research indicated a
renewed concern for normative orientations about how social institutions
“ought to” work, a concern that had been largely ignored by political
communication researchers since the days of Walter Lippman (1922).
Since this chapter was published, a flourish of interest in the concepts of
social capital, the public sphere, social protest, and civic journalism indi-
cate the implicit concern that many political communication researchers
have for the importance of citizen participation in democratic societies. To
reflect this expanded concern, the scope of this chapter has been broad-
ened to include research on civic engagement, participation, and social-
ization. The value of participatory democracy, active and widespread
popular participation informed by a free and responsible press, serves as
an important impetus to political communication research. In reviewing
political communication research, we broaden the scope beyond the indi-
vidual level to macro-level concerns about the role of mass media in
democratic systems. We also expand the traditional emphasis on voting
research to encompass a broad conception of the antecedents and conse-
quences of political communication.

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