The Academic Legacies of Wilbur Schramm and the Mythology of the Four Founding Fathers in Early Communication Studies of America

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (8) : 52-80.

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PDF(16094 KB)
Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (8) : 52-80.

The Academic Legacies of Wilbur Schramm and the Mythology of the Four Founding Fathers in Early Communication Studies of America

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Abstract

In the United States, according to previous studies, in addition to the narration by Schramm and Rogers, there are two other kinds of studies which extend or reflect instead of challenge the history view of Schramm. One is established by James Carey. With a ritual view of communication instead of a transmission view, he argues that Chicago School and Lipmann should be the founders of American communication studies. The other study is called New Historicism. This article tries to neutralize the two totally opposite concepts of history narration, reintegrate the works of the beginning of communication studies in America and other first-hand materials including tapes and letters of Schramm and other scholars cited by researches. The study is also based on the work and the self-statements of four founding fathers, especially those of Lasswell and Lazarsfeld. The study aims at narrating the interaction on three different levels before and during WWⅡ and the early years of Cold War: the personal life, academic experience and political stands of Schramm and four founding fathers; the establishment and development of communication theories; the domestic and international political situations, which further demonstrates inside-out that communication studies, as a subject of social science formed during WWⅡ, its problems and research methods are not independent from historical and political environment, and it is hard for those research results to get rid of the control of state and ideology.

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Wilbur Schramm / Academic legacies / The four founding fathers / Mythology / Ideology

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The Academic Legacies of Wilbur Schramm and the Mythology of the Four Founding Fathers in Early Communication Studies of America[J]. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2019, 41(8): 52-80
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