UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A book edited by a retired Penn State faculty member describes a rich and varied history of the study of media effects in the United States, with work dating from the late 19th century to the mid-1930s.
The free open-access book, "Early Media Effects Theory & the Suggestion Doctrine," was edited by Patrick Parsons, professor emeritus in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, and focuses largely on the early 20th century concept of “suggestion,” or the idea that consumers accept the information presented by media outlets without critical review.
The book is available online and as a free download in PDF and ePub. A paperback version is also available thanks to Mediastudies.press, a scholar-led, nonprofit, open-access publisher in the media, film and communication studies fields.
Parsons’ book consists of more than 30 public domain works originally published from the late 19th century to the mid-1930s and reveals the amount of study of media effects before mid-century. The works collected in “Early Media Effects Theory & the Suggestion Doctrine" include the original statements on the subject from many of the leading social theorists of the age, among them figures such as Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Le Bon in France and James Baldwin, Edward Ross and Floyd Allport in the United States.
Much has been written about the history of media effects research in the United States, but most of it focused on efforts since the 1940s. Parsons’ anthology is one of the first efforts to delve deeper into the history of such research.
Parsons, a faculty member and administrator for more than 35 years in the Bellisario College, taught and conducted research in the general areas of media technology and social change, and media ethics and responsibility. His research interests include cable television history and operations, emerging media technologies and society, media technology and ethics and normative philosophy.
He is the author, co-author or co-editor of four books, including 2008’s award-winning "Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television," which has been hailed as the definitive history of cable television.
Parsons was named as the inaugural holder of the Don Davis Professorship in Ethics at Penn State in 2005. He served on the editorial board of several journals and presented numerous conference papers, organized conventions and convention sessions. He also served as a discussant and paper reviewer across a range of media-related research areas, with a special emphasis on telecommunications issues.
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, Parsons was an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at California State University at Fullerton. He earned his doctorate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, where his work focused on cable television policy and history. Parsons has a professional background in print and broadcast journalism, having worked as a wire service reporter and television news writer in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.