Utilization of Mass

Communication by
the Individual
Elihu Katz, Jay G Blumler, and Michael
Gurevitch

Elihu Katz, Jay G. Blumler,

Michael Gurevitch

Uses and gratifications

research
An approach within the paradigm of
functionalism
Examines the process of
communication starting from the
audience members individual
perceptions
Investigates why individuals choose
to use media
Area of difficulty:
To understand and account for the
audiences selective behavior

Lazarsfeld-Stanton
collections
Herzog
Quiz programs & gratifications derived
from listening to soap operas
Suchman
Motives for getting interested in serious
music on radio
Wolf & Fiske
Development of childrens interest in
comics
Berelson
Functions of newspaper-reading

What the studies had in

common:
1. Secular Methodological Approach
2. Qualitative Approach in their attempt
to group gratification statements into
labelled categories
3. Did not attempt to explore the links
between the gratifications
4. Failed to search for the
interrelationships among the various
media functions

What the studies had in

common:
They are concerned with (1) the social
and psychological origins of (2) needs,
which generate (3) expectations of (4)
the mass media or other sources, which
lead to (5) differential patterns of media
exposure (or engagement in other
activities, resulting in (6) need
gratifications and (7) other
consequences, perhaps mostly
unintended ones.

Basic Assumptions of
Theory, Method and Value
1. The audience is active and its media is goaloriented
2. The initiative in linking need gratification to a
specific medium choice rests with the
audience member
3. The media compete with other resources for
need satisfaction
4. People have enough self-awareness of their
media use, interests and motives to be able to
provide researchers with an accurate picture
of that use
5. Value judgments of media content can only be
assessed by the audience

State of the Art:

Theoretical Issues
McDonald (1957)
When serving the escapist desires of
the audience, they deprived the
audience of the more beneficial uses
of communication
Nordenstreng (1970)
Opts for a unifunctional view when he
claims that, It has often been
documented that perhaps the basic
motivation for media use is just an
unarticulated need for social contact

State of the Art:

Theoretical Issues
Weiss (1971)
Secured for a bifunctional view when
he stated, When studies of uses and
gratifications are carried out, the
media or media content are usually
viewed dichotomously as
predominantly fantasist-escapist or
informational-educational
significance

State of the Art:

Theoretical Issues
McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972)
Diversion
Including escape from constraints of
routine and burdens of problems and
emotional release
Personal relationship
Including substitute companionship as
well as social utility
Personal identity
Including personal reference, reality
exploration, and value reinforcement
Surveillance

State of the Art:

Theoretical Issues
Katz, Gurevitch, Haas
Mass communication is used by
individuals to connect (or sometimes
disconnect) themselves.

Dependency Theory
Melvin Defleur
states that the more dependent an
individual is on the media for
having his or her needs fulfilled,
the more important the media will
be to that person.

Dependency Theory

Gratification and Needs

Schramm, Lyle, and
Parker (1961) draws on
the distinction between
the reality and pleasure
principles in the
socialization theories
but more recent
studies suggest that
those categories are
too broad to be of use.
Maslows (1954)
hierarchy of human
needs may hold more
promise.

Gratification and Needs

Sources of Media Gratifications:
Media Content
Exposure to media itself
Social context that symbolizes the
situation of exposure to different
media
Each medium seems to offer a
unique combination of:
Characteristic Contents
Typical Attributes
Typical Exposure Situations

Gratification and Media

Attributes
Certain bodies of content serve certain
functions or that one medium is
deemed better at satisfying certain
needs than another.
Issue: Relationship between the unique
grammar of different media
Question: Which are the attributes that
render some media more conductive
than others to satisfying specific
needs?

Gratification and Media

Attributes
The division of labor among the media
for the satisfaction of audience needs
may be elaborated in two ways:
1.The interchangeability of television
and print media for learning purposes.
(Robinson, 1972)
2.Structurally related needs will tend to
be serviced by certain media more
often than others.