Page 72 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

the historical background for this theoretical discourse about the
central place of communication in modern society. Thus, a gen-
eration of philosophers offered visions of communication and
inspired a social critique of contemporary developments in mass
communication.
Pragmatism as an approach to the study of society also appealed
to a new sense of culture that had emerged from the Industrial
Revolution with an admiration for democracy as an American
experience.That is to say, there was an intention to explore the con-
ditions and meanings under which people interact as enterprising,
moral individuals who share in the general desire for improvement.
The confrontation between the traditional values and aspirations of
a rural community and the consequences of technology and the
commercialization of an urban society – extended to the challenge
of immigration – offered a context for the development of an
American culture. In the wake of major social and economic shifts
due to industrialization, urbanization, and education, social thought
concentrated on the problems of value and change, tradition and
innovation. The emerging spirit of survival, that is, the success of
adapting to technological solutions, in turn, symbolized the exem-
plary strength of the United States for Europeans in their own
struggle for a democratic way of life, especially after the experience
of World War I.
As most representatives of Western philosophical thought contin-
ued to ponder the importance of language and communication,
modern exponents began to address the significance of mass com-
munication. It is in this atmosphere of a fast-growing society – com-
mitted to liberal democratic values, the importance of freedom of
opinion and the opinion-making process, and the role of the media
as conveyors of ideas and protectors of various publics and their
rights to express themselves – that the idea of mass communication
became a major theoretical force. For some it was an extension of
previous considerations of communication as a transfer of meanings
between individuals that was reminiscent of earlier notions of com-
munity. Historical recollection, personal experience, and an ideal-
ized understanding of a rural existence in the United States found
their way into the search for the “Great Community” and attempted
to join ideas of democracy and community, which embraced

60