Bernard Reuben Berelson (1912–1979) was an American behavioral scientist, known for his work on communication and

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

. He was a leading proponent of the broad idea of the "behavioral sciences", a field he saw as including areas such as

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

. In Chapter 14 of ''Voting'' (1954), he enunciated what has become known as ''Berelson's paradox'' on

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose go ...

: while classical theories of its success assume voters committed to interest in public life, this fails to correspond with practical politics, while the system itself functions. Berelson wrote a summary entitled ''The Great Debate on Cultural Democracy'' regarding the confrontation between mass society theorists and researchers for the media industries. Berelson asserted that the resolution of the debate was simple: just listen to mass communication researchers like himself as they develop useful answers to the issues raised by others.

Life

Born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canadi ...

, he majored in English at Whitman College, graduating in 1934. He took a

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

degree at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...

in 1936 and an English master's there in 1937. Completing a doctoral degree in the Graduate Library School at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

in 1941, under the influence of Douglas Waples, led him into the field of public opinion. In 1944, he began working in applied social research at Columbia University. Berelson returned to Chicago in 1946 and in 1952 became head of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences set up by the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. He moved back to Chicago in 1957 and then to Columbia in 1960. Berelson was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1962. The same year, he joined the

Population Council The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts research in biomedicine, social science, and public health and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its res ...

, eventually becoming its President.

The Jaffe Memo

In recent years a 1969 memo written by Frederick S. Jaffe has been a source of controversy. The memo, written to Berelson while he was head of the

, included a table that summarized many proposals from various sources regarding population control. This table contained proposals such as compulsory abortions and sterilizations, encouraging homosexuality, forcing women to work, and other controversial notions. In point of fact, however, Jaffe's table was included in a report by a Planned Parenthood official that worked for Jaffe, that said "The report was prepared in behalf of Planned Parenthood's Population Education Staff Committee as a basis for discussion of and action on the U.S. population problem by the Planned Parenthood national organization." Furthermore, just two years later, Berelson and Jaffe would work together on the 1972 Rockefeller Commission Report. Many of the ideas discussed in the memorandum were incorporated into the Rockefeller Report. So, while it is true that Jaffe's memorandum was primarily for purposes of laying out options for discussion, it is not true that Jaffe, Berelson, or Planned Parenthood, had no intention of acting on those proposals. Critics contend that the value of the memo is in revealing the lengths that population control advocates, including Berelson and Jaffe, were willing to go. The original memorandum is available online.

Works

*''What Reading Does to People. A Summary of Evidence on the Social Effects of Reading and a Statement of Problems for Research.'' (1940), with Douglas Waples and Franklyn R. Bradshaw *''The People's Choice'' (1944) with

Paul F. Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social rese ...

and Hazel Gaudet *''Reader in Public Opinion and Communication'' (1950) with Morris Janowitz *''The Library’s Public.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1950.* *''Content Analysis in Communication Research'' (1952) - first textbook on content analysis *''Voting: a study of opinion formation in a presidential campaign'' with Paul F. Lazarsfeld and William N. McPhee *''The Behavioral Sciences Today'' (1963) *''Human Behavior: An Inventory of Scientific Findings'' (1964) with Gary Steiner *''Geneva, 1965. Family planning and population programs. A review of world developments'' *''National Programmes in Family Planning. Achievements and Problems.'' (1969) editor *''Graduate Education in the United States'' * "The Great Debate on Cultural Democracy"

Notes

References

*David L. Sills, ''In Memoriam: Bernard Berelson, 1912-1979'', The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp. 274–275 *W. Parker Mauldin, ''Bernard Berelson: 2 June 1912 -- 25 September 1979'', Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 10, No. 10 (Oct., 1979), pp. 259–262

External links

answers.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berelson, Bernard 1912 births 1979 deaths Columbia University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Writers from Spokane, Washington University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty University of Washington Information School alumni Whitman College alumni University of Chicago Graduate Library School alumni Presidents of the Population Council