From Decatur to the Web. Revisiting Personal Influence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/thinkepi.2025.e19a19

Keywords:

Personal influence, Two-step flow of communication, Retrospective, Communication theory

Abstract

Published in 1955, Personal Influence by Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld stands as a foundational text in communication research. Seventy years later, this article explores its context of emergence, its theoretical roots, and its influence on the development of communication studies. The text focuses on the two-step flow of communication model, analysing its connections with limited-effects theory and the critiques it provoked. Finally, the article reflects on the continuing relevance of the model within today’s media environment.

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References

Bennett, W. Lance; Manheim, Jarol B. (2006). “The one step flow of communication”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v. 608, n. 1, pp. 213-232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716206292266

Gitlin, Todd (1978). “Media sociology: The dominant paradigm”. Theory and society, v. 6, n. 2, pp. 205-253. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01681751

Katz, Elihu; Lazarsfeld Paul F. (1979). La influencia personal: El individuo en el proceso de comunicación de masas. Barcelona: Editorial Hispano-Europea. ISBN: 8425505240

Lazarsfeld, Paul F.; Berelson, Bernard; Gaudet, Hazel (1960). El pueblo elige: Estudio del proceso de formación del voto durante una campaña presidencial. Buenos Aires: Ediciones 3.

Mills, C. Wright (1961). La imaginación sociológica. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. ISBN: 978 9681602710

Peters, John D. (2006). “The part played by gentiles in the flow of mass communications: On the ethnic utopia of ‘personal influence’”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v. 608, pp. 97-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716206292425

Pooley, Jefferson (2006). “Fifteen pages that shook the field: Personal influence, Edward Shils, and the remembered history of the mass communication field”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v. 608, n. 1, pp. 130-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716206292460

Shils, Edward (1948). The Present State of American Sociology. Glencoe, Free Press.

Summers, John (2006). “Perpetual Revelations: C. Wright Mills and Paul Lazarsfeld”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v. 608, pp. 25-40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716206292374

Published

2025-12-07

How to Cite

Serra, M. (2025). From Decatur to the Web. Revisiting Personal Influence. Anuario ThinkEPI, 19. https://doi.org/10.3145/thinkepi.2025.e19a19

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Regreso al futuro: conceptos revisitados y relecturas