This article compares two models of communication and nation building developed in the US. Daniel Lerner's model of communication and modernization, created in political and academic centers of the US from the 1960s onward, mirrors the thinking about communication and ethnic assimilation developed by Robert Park in the early part of the 20th-century US. Both models say an increase in shared characteristics among social groups and an increasing social homogeneity are a key to nation building. Both models require erasure of differences (in ethnicity, cognitive orientations, patterns of social interactions, etc.) for the creation of a cohesive, productive, just and affluent society. In both models various communication media assume an important role in providing information that facilitates key transformations in individuals and communities. By making this comparison, I want to reinforce the idea that ethnic minorities in the US and `Third World' populations assume similar positions in the thinking of western (white) nations and consider how, why and with what consequences certain types of knowledge created in one specific geopolitical and historical context are normalized and then deemed appropriate to explain phenomena in and create policy for different geopolitical contexts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bell, M. (1994) `Images, Myths and Alternative Geographies of the Third World', pp. 174-199 in D. Gregory, R. Martin and G. Smith (eds) Human Geography: Society, Space, and Social Science. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
2.
Buttimer, A., S.D. Brunn and U. Wardenga (1999) Text and Image: Social Construction of Regional Knowledges. Leipzig: Institute für Landerkunde .
3.
Commons, J.R. (1917) `Amalgamation and Assimilation', pp. 108-109 in W. Talbot (ed.) Americanization: Principles of Americanization, Essentials of Americanization. New York: H.H. Wilson Company .
4.
Cornell, S. and D. Hartmann (1998) Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press .
5.
Delia, J.G. (1987) `Communication Research: A History', pp. 20-98 in C. Berger and S.H. Chaffee (eds) Handbook of Communication Science. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
6.
Escobar, A. (1995) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
7.
Fair, J.E. and H. Shah (1998) `Continuities and Discontinuities in Communication and Development Research Since 1958' , Journal of International Communication4: 1-23 .
8.
Ferguson, J. (1994) The Anti-Politics Machine: `Development', Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lethoso. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
9.
Gendzier, I. (1985) Managing Political Change: Social Scientists and the Third World. Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
10.
Haney Lopez, I.F. (1996) White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York: New York University Press .
11.
Healy, J.F. (1998) Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class: The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press .
12.
Hedebro, G. (1982) Communication and Social Change in Developing Countries: A Critical View. Ames: Iowa State University Press .
13.
Hettne, B. (1993) `Ethnicity and Development - An Elusive Relationship' , Contemporary South Asia2: 23-149 .
14.
Heubner, G. (1917) `Americanization of the Immigrant', pp. 174-176 in W. Talbot (ed.) Americanization: Principles of Americanization, Essentials of Americanization. New York: H.H. Wilson Company .
15.
Inayatullah (1967) `Toward a Non-Western Model of Development', pp. 98-102 in D. Lerner and W. Schramm (eds) Communication and Change in the Developing World. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center Press .
16.
Lazarsfeld, P. (1969) `An Episode in the History of Social Research: A Memoir', pp. 270-337 in D. Fleming and B. Bailyn (eds) The Intellectual Migration: Europe and America, 1930-1960. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
17.
Lee, H. (1987) Myths of the Chicago School of Sociology. Aldershot: Avebury .
18.
Lerner, D. (1948) `Sykewar ETO; An Account of the Psychological Warfare Campaign Against Germany, Conducted in the European Theater of Operations from D-Day to V-E Day by PWD/SHAEF (Psychological Warfare Division, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force)', unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York University.
19.
Lerner, D. (1949) Psychological Warfare against Nazi Germany: The Sykewar Campaign, D-Day to VE-Day. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press .
20.
Lerner, D. (1958) The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press .
21.
Lerner, D. and H. Lasswell (eds) (1951) The Policy Sciences: Recent Developments in Scope and Method. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
22.
Lerner, D., G. Schueller and M. Stycos (1951) Mass Communication Audiences in Turkey (Rep. B-0370-5). New York: Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University.
23.
Luke, T.W. (1990) Social Theory and Modernity: Critique, Dissent and Revolution. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
24.
Melkote, S. (1991) Communication and Development in the Third World: Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Sage .
25.
Park, R.E. (1914) `Racial Assimilation in Secondary Groups with Particular Reference to the Negro' , American Journal of SociologyXIX(5): 606-623 .
26.
Park, R.E. (1922) The Immigrant Press and its Control. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishing .
27.
Park, R.E. (1938) `Reflections on Communication and Culture' , American Journal of Sociology41: 187-205 .
28.
Park, R.E. (1950) Race and Culture. New York: The Free Press .
29.
Park, R.E. (1952) Human Communities: The City and Human Ecology. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press .
30.
Park, R.E. (1967) On Social Control and Collective Behavior. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
31.
Park, R.E. and E.W. Burgess (1924) Introduction to the Science of Society. New York: Harper and Row .
32.
Park, R.E. and H. Miller (1921) Old World Traits Transplanted. New York: Harper and Row .
33.
Rist, G. (1997) The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith. London: Zed Books .
34.
Rogers, E.M. (1976) Communication and Development: Critical Perspectives. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage .
35.
Rogers, E.M. (1994) A History of Communication Study: A Biographical Approach. New York: The Free Press .
36.
Rogers, E.M. and S.H. Chaffee (1994) `Communication and Journalism from “Daddy” Bleyer to Wilbur Schramm' , Journalism Monographs148: 1-52 .
37.
Rostow, W.W. (1960) Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
38.
Rudrappa, S. (2001) `Becoming American, Whiteness, and Modernity', unpublished dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
39.
Samarajiwa, R. (1987) `The Murky Beginnings of the Communication and Development Field: Voice of America and The Passing of Traditional Society', pp. 3-19 in N. Jayaweera and S. Amunugama (eds) Rethinking Development Communication. Singapore: AMIC .
40.
Seers, D. (1963) `The Limitations of the Special Case' , Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Economics and Statistics25: 77-98 .
41.
Shah, H. (1999) `Race, Nation, and Citizenship: Asian Indians and the Idea of Whiteness in the US Press, 1906-1923' , Howard Journal of Communication10(4): 249-267 .
42.
Shils, E.A. (1951) `The Study of the Primary Group', pp. 44-69 in D. Lerner and H. Lasswell (eds) The Policy Sciences: Recent Developments in Scope and Method. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
43.
Shils, E.A. (1981) `Some Academics, Mainly in Chicago' , American Scholar50: 179-196 .
44.
Shils, E. and M. Janowitz (1948) `Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II' , Public Opinion Quarterly12(2): 280-315 .
45.
Simpson, C. (1994) Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare, 1945-1960. New York: Oxford University Press .
46.
Thomas, W.I. (1917) `Persistence in Primary Group Norms in Present-day Society and Their Influence in our Educational System', pp. 157-197 in H.S. Jennings (ed.) Suggestions of Modern Science Concerning Education. New York: Macmillan .
47.
Thomas, W.I. and F. Znaniecki (1920) The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf .
48.
Turner, R.H. (1967) `Introduction', pp. ix-xlvi in R.E. Park On Social Control and Collective Behavior. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
