Paul Lazarsfeld and the Origins of Communications Research

Lazarsfeld was a key figure in the history of communications research. This monograph represents a detailed account of Lazarsfeld’s contributions as both a researcher and an institutional leader. It focuses on the years between 1931 and 1949, mentioning Lazarsfeld’s early work and innovative methodology in Vienna and in the U.S. The manuscript discusses the early days of communication research, explicitly the first works of Paul Lazarsfeld’s radio and media research in Vienna, Newark, NJ, Princeton and New York during the years between the early 1930s, and the end of the 1940s. Lazarsfeld’s Viennese radio research, especially the world’s first extensive audience research – RAVAG study (1931) – is entirely new information for English speaking scholars. The book shows the details of Lazarsfeld’s methodological reasoning in his projects in the field of communication. The book also presents the research institutes that Lazarsfeld founded in Vienna in 1931, from Newark Center in New Jersey (1935) to Princeton Office of Radio Research in 1937, and up to the foundation of Lazarsfeld’s famous BASR at Columbia University in New York in the 1940s. The monograph shows how important Lazarsfeld’s first studies were for the future development of communication.