Social Theories of the Press

Hanno Hardt is John F. Murray Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa and professor of communication at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

For well over three decades Hanno Hardt has been an advocate, sometimes a lonely one, for deepened historical consciousness in communication studies. . . .This book should make it impossible to ever again consider mass communication research without its European shadow or to speak of the roots of modern social theory without acknowledging the central place of communication in its preoccupations. Hardt opens a treasure trove of insights and ideas most of us never knew existed.

• Chapter 1 ForewordChapter 2 Mass Communication Research and Society: An IntroductionChapter 3 Communication and Change in Society: Karl Marx on Freedom of the PressChapter 4 The Nerves of Society: Albert Schäffle on Symbolic CommunicationChapter 5 The News of Society: Karl Knies on Communication and TransportationChapter 6 The Linkages of Society: Karl Bücher on Commerce and the PressChapter 7 The Mirrors of Society: Ferdinand Tönnies on the Press and Public OpinionChapter 8 The Conscience of Society: Max Weber on Journalism and ResponsibilityChapter 9 The "American Science" of Society: Small, Ross, and Sumner on Communication and the PressChapter 10 Communication and Social Thought: Decentering the Discourse of Mass Communication Research