International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Over the past five decades, Elihu Katz (born in New York in 1926) has made a major contribution to the analysis of mass communication. Best known for the concept of the “two-step flow of mass communication” (→  Two-Step Flow of Communication ) and for the theory of → “ uses and gratifications ” obtained by media audiences, Katz's work examines the relation between the individual and the group in the process of mass media influence, contributing to the understanding of the active television viewer, the diffusion of innovations (→  Diffusion of Information and Innovation ), →  Media Effects , →  public opinion , and media imperialism. Professionally, Katz has divided his time between America (first the University of Chicago, later the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, then the University of Pennsylvania) and Israel (where he founded the Communications Institute at the Hebrew University, headed the Institute of Applied Social Research, and directed the task force charged with introducing television to Israel in the 1960s; →  Communication as an Academic Field: Middle East, Israel ). His work began with the publication of Personal influence in 1955 (with his mentor at Columbia, →  Paul F. Lazarsfeld ) and two books on the diffusion of innovation: Medical innovation (1966), with James Coleman and Herbert Menzel, and The politics of community ... log in or subscribe to read full text