Mass communication in discourse of Russian sociologists (1960s-1980s)

Abstract

A review of works, ideas, and approaches that are related to history of Russian sociology of mass communication (mass media, propaganda, and journalism) for the period from the 1960s to the 1980s is presented. Three major directions of historical analysis are highlighted: conception of mass communication as a social phenomenon formed in Russian sociology under the influence of works of A.N. Alexeyev, B.A. Grushin, T.M. Dridze, B.M. Firsov, and other authors; sociology of printed media and journalism, a notion actively developed in this period of time by journalists in cooperation with sociologists (B.A. Grushin, Yu.A. Levada, E.P. Prokhorov, I.D. Fomicheva, L.N. Fedotova, L.G. Svitich); television, the appearance of which significantly activated the research of sociology of mass communication and filled this discipline with new subject matter. Historical reconstruction is implemented from the present-day point of view. It is shown that theoretical constructs that were built on by the pioneers of the sociology of mass communication are important for the studies about modern communicational space. The author of this article implicitly promotes the idea that in the period from the 1960s to the 1980s sociology of mass communication was in the middle of the discourse of Russian sociologists. The authors that are presented in this review are "golden fund" for the history of Russian sociology.