The main schools of communication and the framework of characters

Chicago (Communication) School appeared at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, and was founded in the University of Chicago. The earliest research on mass communication in the United States was mainly conducted by sociologists of Chicago School, focusing on the description of reality and community research, problem-oriented, and focusing on the study of symbols. Quality-oriented research methods make American social science research on social problems have a strong empirical direction.

Representative figures are: Dewey, Meade, Cooley, etc.

B. Columbia school

The Columbia School matured in the 1940s and 1950s, taking Columbia University as the research place. Based on Durkheimism, positivism and behaviorism, we pay attention to the logicality of empirical research and argumentation, instead of taking introspection as the main research method, we pay attention to objective methods, such as experiments, tests, grading and statistics. A large number of functional research, effect research and psychological research results have been formed. Pay attention to quantitative research methods and the internal mechanism of research behavior.

Representative figures are: lazarsfeld, Merton, etc.