mass-communication-theory

80 Section 2 The Era of Mass Society and Mass Culture
hundreds of miles. From their trenches they bombarded each other and launched
occasional attacks that ended in futility.
Harold Lasswell, a political scientist who developed several early theories of
media, expressed considerable respect for the propaganda efforts marshaled in the
cause of the First World War. He wrote:
When all allowances have been made and all extravagant estimates pared to the bone,
the fact remains that propaganda is one of the most powerful instrumentalities in the
modern world. . . . In the Great Society [modern industrial society] it is no longer possible
to fuse the waywardness of individuals in the furnace of the war dance; a newer
and subtler instrument must weld thousands and even millions of human beings into
one amalgamated mass of hate and will and hope. A new flame must burn out the
canker of dissent and temper the steel of bellicose enthusiasm. The name of this new
hammer and anvil of social solidarity is propaganda. (1927a, pp. 220–221)
Many social researchers in the 1920s and 1930s shared these views. Propaganda
was an essential tool that had to be used to effectively manage modern social
orders, especially when they are in deadly competition with other nations that
rely on propaganda to mobilize their masses.
After World War I, the propaganda battle continued, and inevitably it spread
beyond Europe, as nations sought to spread their influence and new political movements
attracted members. During the 1920s, radio and movies provided powerful
new media for propaganda messages. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany was accompanied
by consolidation of his control over all forms of media—beginning with radio
and the film industry and ending with newspapers. In the United States, the
battle lines in the propaganda war were quickly drawn. On one side were the elites
dominating major social institutions and organizations, including the major political
parties, businesses, schools, and universities. On the other side was a broad range of
social movements and small extremist political groups. Many were local variants of
Fascist, Socialist, or Communist groups that in Europe were much larger and more
significant. From the point of view of the old-line elites, these groups were highly
suspect. Foreign subversion was a growing fear. The elites believed the influence of
these movements and groups had to be curbed before they ruined our way of life.
Extremist propagandists, whether foreign-based or domestically grown, found it
increasingly easy to reach and persuade audiences during the 1930s. Only a part of
this success, however, can be directly attributed to the rise of the powerful new media.
In the United States, large newspapers, movies, and radio were controlled mainly
by the existing elites. Extremists were often forced to rely on older media like pamphlets,
handbills, and political rallies. When the social conditions were right and people
were receptive to propaganda messages, however, even older, smaller media could be
quite effective. And conditions were right. Remember the discussion of gemeinschaft
and gesellschaft from the previous chapter. Mass society theorists and the elites they
supported believed that “average people” were particularly open to demagogic propaganda
because those “unfortunates” lived in a rapidly industrializing world characterized
by psychological and cultural isolation and the loss of the security once
sustained by traditional, binding, and informal social rules and obligations. As the
economic depression deepened in the 1930s, many people no longer had jobs to provide
an income to support their families and their relationships with others.
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