The Beginnings of Mass Communication: A Transnational History

Abstract

Abstract Mass communication was one of the central signs through which communication research constituted itself in the post-World War II era. An American term, it indexed and communicatively advanced the problematization of media that took shape from the 1920s onward. Recently, scholars have debated the term’s continued relevance, typically without awareness of its history or international contexts of use. To provide needed background and enrich efforts to globalize the field, we offer a transnational history of mass communication, illuminating the sociological, cultural, and geopolitical dynamics of its emergence, dissemination, and reception. Mapping locations of its adoption, adaption, and rejection across world regions, we offer a methodology and a historical narrative to shed light on the early globalization of the field and lines of power and resistance that shaped it. We show how the term carries a residue of postwar American hegemony, and argue for greater reflexive awareness of our vocabularies of inquiry.