Elihu Katz

Communicating Esther presents a communications approach to the biblical story of Esther and the ritual that it anchors, the Jewish carnival of Purim. Esther, the second-most written about book of the Bible, is thought to be based on a tale that circulated around 400 BC, and was later transcribed and brought before the Jewish Sages with the request that it be canonized. It was, though God is not mentioned in it, with its focus instead on glamour, drinking, sex, violence, and genocidal plots. Despite the reservations of many at its inclusion in the canon, Esther formed the basis for an extremely popular Jewish ritual: the holiday of Purim.This cutting-edge book discusses how story and holiday combine all of the elements of a communication process – production of content, choice of medium, seal of approval, diffusion over time and space and promotion of various forms of reception and reaction. It is a case study of 'how culture works', and how the text itself is about communicating. It will appeal to all researchers of communication and religion, communication and the Bible, and communication and Judaism.

Academic studies of elections are not in the business of predicting outcomes. They are in the business of explaining them. The best studies treat voting data as raw material with which to explore socio-psychological processes such as individual decision-making and such sources of influence as issues, personality, media, socio-economic background, and party loyalty. The ebb and flow of ideologies and the comparative workings of different political systems are core topics on which election studies shed light. Looking back on more than fifty years of voting research, some of its major practitioners and critics reflect here on what has--and has not--been accomplished.

First published in 1955, "Personal Influence" reports the results of a pioneering study conducted in Decatur, Illinois, validating Paul Lazarsfeld's serendipitous discovery that messages from the media may be further mediated by informal "opinion leaders" who intercept, interpret, and diffuse what they see and hear to the personal networks in which they are embedded. This classic volume set the stage for all subsequent studies of the interaction of mass media and interpersonal influence in the making of everyday decisions in public affairs, fashion, movie-going, and consumer behavior. The contextualizing essay in Part One dwells on the surprising relevance of primary groups to the flow of mass communication. Peter Simonson of the University of Pittsburgh has written that "Personal Influence was perhaps the most influential book in mass communication research of the postwar era, and it remains a signal text with historic significance and ongoing reverberations...more than any other single work, it solidified what came to be known as the dominant paradigm in the field, which later researchers were compelled either to cast off or build upon." In his introduction to this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Elihu Katz discusses the theory and methodology that underlie the Decatur study and evaluates the legacy of his coauthor and mentor, Paul F. Lazarsfeld.

First published in 1955, "Personal Influence" reports the results of a pioneering study conducted in Decatur, Illinois, validating Paul Lazarsfeld's serendipitous discovery that messages from the media may be further mediated by informal "opinion leaders" who intercept, interpret, and diffuse what they see and hear to the personal networks in which they are embedded. This classic volume set the stage for all subsequent studies of the interaction of mass media and interpersonal influence in the making of everyday decisions in public affairs, fashion, movie-going, and consumer behavior. The contextualizing essay in Part One dwells on the surprising relevance of primary groups to the flow of mass communication. Peter Simonson of the University of Pittsburgh has written that "Personal Influence was perhaps the most influential book in mass communication research of the postwar era, and it remains a signal text with historic significance and ongoing reverberations...more than any other single work, it solidified what came to be known as the dominant paradigm in the field, which later researchers were compelled either to cast off or build upon." In his introduction to this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Elihu Katz discusses the theory and methodology that underlie the Decatur study and evaluates the legacy of his coauthor and mentor, Paul F. Lazarsfeld.

Academic studies of elections are not in the business of predicting outcomes. They are in the business of explaining them. The best studies treat voting data as raw material with which to explore socio-psychological processes such as individual decision-making and such sources of influence as issues, personality, media, socio-economic background, and party loyalty. The ebb and flow of ideologies and the comparative workings of different political systems are core topics on which election studies shed light. Looking back on more than fifty years of voting research, some of its major practitioners and critics reflect here on what has--and has not--been accomplished.

Constituting a new television genre, live broadcasts of “historic” events have become world rituals which, according to Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, have the potential for transforming societies even as they transfix viewers around the globe. Analyzing such public spectacles as the Olympic games, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, John F. Kenndy’s funeral, the moon landing, and Pope John II’s visits to Poland, they offer an ethnography of how media events are scripted, negotiated, performed, celebrated, shamanized, and reviewed.

It may be true that the whole world is watching Dallas and Dynasty, but is everyone seeing the same story? This analyzes conversations about Dallas among people in different sub-cultures: in Israel (where it was a best-seller), in Japan (where it was rejected), and in the US (the original market).

Broadcasting has long been considered one of the keys to modernization in the developing world. Able to leap the triple barrier of distance, illiteracy, and apathy, it was seen as a crucial clement in the development of new nations. Recently, however, these expectations have been disappointed by broadcasting's failures to reach the rural masses and the urban unemployed. Broadcasting has also come under attack as serious questions have been raised about its uncritical importation of western culture. Now, in "Broadcasting in the Third World," Elihu Katz and George Wedell offer the first complete coverage of the problems and promises of broadcasting in the third world. Their findings, often controversial and always illuminating, will be of considerable value to sociologists, political scientists, communications specialists, and students of development. "Broadcasting in the Third World" is based on field research in eleven developing countries (Algeria, Brazil, Cyprus, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Singapore, Tanzania, and Thailand) and secondary source material from a further eighty countries. In looking at the role of broadcasting in national development, the authors focus on three areas of promise: national integration, socio-economic development, and cultural continuity and change. They describe the ways in which the technology and content of broadcasting have been transferred from the developed west to the third world, and the go on to show that western broadcasting must be adapted to suit the specific political, economic and social structures of each developing country. The authors conclude with a series of recommendations which challenge most of the assumptions upon which the principles and practices of broadcasting are based. Well-researched, extensively documented, it will challenge policy-makers and provide important data for researchers.