- Bernard Berelson
Bernard Reuben Berelson (1912-1979) was an American
behavioral scientist , known for work oncommunication andmass media .He was a leading proponent of the broad idea of the "behavioral sciences", a field he saw as including areas such as
public opinion [Robert M. Eisinger, "The Evolution of Presidential Polling" (2003), p. 15.] . In Chapter 14 of "Voting" (1954), he enunciated what has become known as "Berelson's paradox" ondemocracy : while classical theories of its success assume voters committed to interest in public life, this fails to correspond with practical politics, while the system itself functions [Carole Pateman, "Participation and Democratic Theory" (1970), pp. 5-6.] [Donald Granberg and Soren Holmberg, "The Berelson Paradox Reconsidered: Intention-Behavior Changers in U.S. and Swedish Election Campaigns", The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Winter, 1990), pp. 530-550.] .Berelson wrote an insightful summary entitled "The Great Debate on Cultural Democracy" regarding the confrontation between mass society theorists and researchers for the media industries. Berelson asserted that the resolution of the debate was simple- just listen to mass communication researchers like himself as they develop useful answers to to the issues raised by others.
Life
He was born in
Spokane, Washington . He majored in English atWhitman College , graduating in 1934. He took alibrary science degree at theUniversity of Washington in 1936, and an English master's there in 1937. A doctoral degree in the Graduate Library School at theUniversity of Chicago , under the influence ofDouglas Waples and completed in 1941, led him into the field of public opinion. From 1944 he was working in applied social research atColumbia University . He returned to Chicago in 1946, and in 1952 became head of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences set up by theFord Foundation atStanford University . [Wayne A. Wiegand, "Supplement to the Dictionary of American Library Biography" (1990), biography pp. 12-15. He moved back to Chicago in 1957 and to Columbia in 1960.]In 1962 he joined the
Population Council , eventually becoming its President [ [http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/miller5/chapter4/custom1/deluxe-content.html The Prentice Hall Reader, Sixth Edition Chapter 4 - Bernard R. Berelson ] ] .Works
*"What Reading Does to People. A Summary of Evidence on the Social Effects of Reading and a Statement of Problems for Research." (1940), with
Douglas Waples and Franklyn R. Bradshaw
*"The People's Choice" (1944) with Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Hazel Gaudet
*"Reader in Public Opinion and Communication" (1950) with Morris Janowitz
*"Content Analysis in Communication Research" (1952)
*"Voting: a study of opinion formation in a presidential campaign" with Paul F. Lazarsfeld and William N. McPhee
*"The Behavioral Sciences Today" (1963)
*"Human Behavior: An Inventory of Scientific Findings" (1964) with Gary Steiner
*"Geneva, 1965. Family planning and population programs. A review of world developments"
*"National Programmes in Family Planning. Achievements and Problems." (1969) editor
*"Graduate Education in the United States"
* "The Great Debate on Cultural Democracy"References
*David L. Sills, "In Memoriam: Bernard Berelson, 1912-1979", The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp. 274-275
*W. Parker Mauldin, "Bernard Berelson: 2 June 1912 -- 25 September 1979", Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 10, No. 10 (Oct., 1979), pp. 259-262Notes
External links
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/bernard-berelson answers.com biography]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
