Progressive propaganda critics and the magic bullet myth
- 1 September 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Studies in Mass Communication
- Vol. 6 (3) , 225-246
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15295038909366750
Abstract
The standard account of the beginnings of American mass communication research holds that the propaganda critic between the world wars adopted the European concept of the mass audience, treating messages as “magic bullets”; directly and powerfully infused into passive receivers. Such a mythical account overlooks the progressive reformist mission of propaganda analysis to help an essentially competent public against the new co‐option of communication channels by powerful institutions. The magic bullet myth emerged after 1940 when social scientists turned from domestic to extra‐hemispheric threats to democracy and sought a consensus that propaganda was democracy's servant against fascism and communism.This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Unique Perspective of Communication: A Retrospective ViewJournal of Communication, 1983
- The Ambiguity of Policy ResearchJournal of Communication, 1978
- America, ‘Mass Society’ and Mass Media1Journal of Social Issues, 1960
- Content Analysis for the Voice of America: A SymposiumPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1952
- STOUFFER, SAMUEL A., EDWARD A. SUCHMAN, LELAND C. DEVINNEY, SHIRLEY A. STAR, and ROBIN M. WILLIAMS, JR. The American Soldier: Adjustment During Army Life. Vol. I. Pp. xii, 599. STOUFFER, SAMUEL A., ARTHUR A. LUMSDAINE, MARION HARPER LUMSDAINE, ROBIN M. WILLIAMS, JR., M. BREWSTER SMITH, IRVING L. JANIS, SHIRLEY A. STAR, and LEONARD S. COTTRELL, JR. The American Soldier: Combat and Its Aftermath. Vol. II. Pp. 675. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Studies in Social Psychology in World War II, 1949. Vols. I and II together, $13.50; separately, $7.50 per volThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1949
- Some Remarks on the Role of Mass Media in So‐called Tolerance Propaganda1Journal of Social Issues, 1947
- Propaganda Analysis and the Science of DemocracyPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1941
- The National Publicity Bureau and British Party PropagandaPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1939
- The Theory of Political PropagandaAmerican Political Science Review, 1927
- American Publicity in ItalyAmerican Political Science Review, 1919