Paul Felix Lazarsfeld and Mass Media

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Lazarsfeld.jpg/220px-Lazarsfeld.jpg

In the first 20th Century, Vienna is the most city which has delivered many important thinkers in the history of Western thought. Karl Popper, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Otto Neurath, Hans Hahn, and Paul Felix Lazarsfeld were born from Vienna.

Lazarsfeld was born on 13rd February 1901 in Jewish Family. He was a genius. He got his doctorate in 24 years old with topic: The Application Dissertations of Einstein's Gravity Theory over Mercury's Movement. After his graduated, he joined with the Vienna Circle group that membered Neurath, Hahn, Rudolf Carnap, Phillip Frank, and Victor Kraft. 

http://spiritofcontradiction.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Vienna-Circle.jpeg

The Vienna Circle is the group which had aspiration to merge the science despite from metaphysic values. They inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought which was stated in his book, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

In the phase with Vienna Circle, Lazarsfeld with his amazing skill in math, he started to do research such as radio listener syrvey. In 1933, he wrote his first book about the unemployment influence to society titled Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal.

http://www.dasrotewien.at/bilder/d32/Jahoda_Marie_TF2_W.jpg

In 1933, the Rockefeller Foundation fund his journey to United States of America in order to give some advices for some universities about social research. Unfortunately, when his scholarship ended he wasn't able to going home caused of politic issue. By his friend in the USA, Robert S. Lynd, Lazarsfel gained favours to maintain his USA nationality.

It was a right choice for Rockefeller Foundation to be funded Lazarsfeld with big number of money. For example, in 1937, He thought about how to getting know the listener radio's responses. To handle it, Lazarsfeld introduced opinion survey method. Opinion survey method is the newest inovation at that time, That method well known as two-step flow of communication. This method explain about, the public would be distrusted to mass media, if in that mass media there is no opinion leader. It means, mass media is amplificating opinion from someone who has reputation in society. Only that way, mass media would be able to be followed.

Lazarsfeld was a role model at that time. He had selected as President of American Association for Public Opinion Research and American Sociological Association because of developed 2 things: Public Opinion Survey and Social Science Development.

Though, he has a lot contribution towards quantitative approach "social mathematics". He thought that the qualitative research and quantitative reseach were not supposed to be distinguished clearly. Both of those researches could be studied together or completed each other. Lazarsfeld died at the age of 75 years old in Newark, New Jersey, USA.

Source: Maulana, Syarif. 2015. Filsafat Komunikasi: Dari Sokrates hingga Buddhisme Zen. Bandung. Publika Edu Media