Katz, Elihu
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Publication Communication Research and the Image of Society Convergence of Two Traditions(1960-03-01) Katz, ElihuResearch on mass communications and on the acceptance of new farm practices may be characterized as an interest in campaigns to gain a acceptance of change. Despite their shared problems, these two fields have shown no interest in each other. However, very recently, as the student of mass communications began to revise his image of an atomized mass society, there have been signs of growing convergence. The attempt to take systematic account of interpersonal relations as relevant to the flow of mass communications has directed the attention of students of urban communication to rural sociology.Publication Of Mutual Interest(1978) Katz, ElihuPublication Notes on the Unit of Adoption in Diffusion Research(1962) Katz, ElihuIn thinking about the diffusion of innovation, one tends to overlook the obvious fact that not all innovations are adopted by, or are intended to be adopted by, individuals. In the first place, different sorts of innovations may "require" different units of adoption- for example, "it takes two to tango." In the second place, different cultural or situational norms may "prescribe" different units of adoption for an innovation. Most empirical research on diffusion has focused exclusively on the individual as the unit of adoption. This is because the innovations that have attracted modern sociologists have tended to be appropriate for individual adopters. Still, it is altogether obvious that certain recommended contraceptive practices, for example, "require" joint adoption by husband and wife or that middle-class culture "prescribes" a family decision concerning the purchase of a new car. Focusing only on the individual in such cases is misleading if one is to understand the diffusion process completely. Here there is something to be learned from anthropological students of diffusion who often treat the tribe or the group as the unit of adoption even for such ostensibly (to us) individualistic innovations as Christianity in cases where the decision of the chief or the elders is binding upon all. Moreover, many of the innovations in our society are adopted not by individuals or even by families but by organizations. The city-manager idea and the kindergarten were adopted by cities and by school boards respectively; automation is adopted by factories.2 This paper proceeds on the assumption that it is worth exploring the process of innovation front the point of view of the social units which adopt them. As a beginning, let us assume that there are three distinguishable units: individuals, informal groups or collectivities, and formal organizations of all kinds. Innovations can then be classified in terms of the extent to which they "require" one or another type of unit. Culture and subcultures can be classified in terms of their preference among the types of unit for given kinds of innovation.Publication Some Sociological Observations on the Response of Israeli Organizations to New Immigrants(1960-06-01) Katz, Elihu; Eisenstadt, S NPreliminary observation suggests that the contact between Israeli officials and newly arrived immigrants from traditional societies is considerably less "bureaucratic" than might have been predicted. For example, analysis of several cases of such bureaucrat-client relationships indicates that officials often add the role of teacher to their relatively specific roles as bureaucrats by teaching newcomers how to perform in the role. Moreover, the official often becomes not only a teacher but also a kind of informal leader. This indicates that under certain conditions, formal organizations may give birth to incipient social movements, a direction of organizational change wholly unanticipated in the theoretical literature. The case material is analyzed in terms of (1) a theory of role impingement in which bureaucratic roles are seen to become intertwined with roles that are bureaucratically irrelevant to the conduct of formal organization and (2) a theory of socialization where the official serves as socializing agent for his clients.Publication Culture and Communication in Israel: The Transformation of Tradition(1973) Katz, ElihuThis paper is an introduction to a study of what 4,000 Israelis had to say about their leisure, culture, and communication. In a national survey conducted during the spring of 1970, we gathered data on a large variety of cultural activities. With respect to each of them, an effort was made to measure both supply and demand. Thus, we know for cultural events taking place outside the home which events were advertised where, and we know who attends which activities. Likewise, we studied the cultural activities that take place inside the home, paying particular attention to the effect of the introduction of television, and to the fate of the book the newest and oldest media in Israel. We try to do this within two broader contexts. One is behavioural: using the method of time-budget analysis, we have reconstructed the way in which Israelis invest time, that most scarce of human resources, over the 24-hour period of a weekday, a Friday, and a Saturday. The other context is that of attitudes and values: we discuss the functions of cultural activities and communications within the framework of attitudes towards work, leisure, the Sabbath, and holidays, and more generally, in terms of the social and psychological 'needs' that are experienced as salient by Israeli Jews, in their several social roles.Publication News From the Global Village: Elihu Katz on the Structure of Television in Developing Countries(1973-01-18) Katz, ElihuThere are few countries in the world where television is thought to be fulfilling its potential for the communication of culture and the illumination of public affairs: least of all is it doing so in new and small nations. Yet there is a tendency for people In each country to think that their problems are indigenous problems, that television is much better elsewhere. In some countries it is assumed that the ills of television are the result of commercial sponsorship; in some, television's cultural problems arec said to be related to political domination; in some, blame is assigned to inadequate funds, or to inadequate talent, or to the colonisation of television by the vested interests of radio. While each of these diagnoses has some substance, there is also something generically wrong.Publication On the Use of the Mass Media for Important Things(1973-04-01) Katz, Elihu; Gurevitch, Michael; Haas, HadassahThe mass media are ranked with respect to their perceived helpfulness in satisfying clusters of needs arising from social roles and individual dispositions. For example, integration into the sociopolitical order is best served by newspaper; while "knowing oneself" is best served by books. Cinema and books are more helpful as means of "escape" than is television. Primary relations, holidays and other cultural activities are often more important than the mass media in satisfying needs. Television is the least specialized medium, serving many different personal and political needs. The "interchangeability" of the media over a variety of functions orders televisions, radio, newspapers, books, and cinema in a circumplex. We speculate about which attributes of the media explain the social and psychological needs they serve best. The data, drawn from an Israeli survey, are presented as a basis for cross-cultural comparison.