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Harold Lasswell

Harold Lasswell was an influential American political scientist known for his studies of power relations and personality in politics. He was born in 1902 in Illinois and died in 1978 in New York. Some of his notable works examined political power, propaganda, and a framework for political inquiry. Lasswell made major contributions to behavioral political science and systems theory. He taught at several universities and was a consultant to the U.S. government.

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602 views7 pages

Harold Lasswell

Harold Lasswell was an influential American political scientist known for his studies of power relations and personality in politics. He was born in 1902 in Illinois and died in 1978 in New York. Some of his notable works examined political power, propaganda, and a framework for political inquiry. Lasswell made major contributions to behavioral political science and systems theory. He taught at several universities and was a consultant to the U.S. government.

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Clifford Tubana
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Harold Lasswell

AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST


Harold Dwight Lasswell

Harold Lasswell
AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST
ALSO KNOWN AS

Harold D. Lasswell

BORN

February 13, 1902

Donnellson, Illinois

DIED

December 18, 1978 (aged 76)

New York City, New York

NOTABLE WORKS

Power and Personality


Power and Society: A Framework for Political Inquiry
Politics: Who Gets What, When, How
World Politics and Personal Insecurity
The Future of Political Science
Psycho-pathology and Politics

SUBJECTS OF STUDY

personality
political power

VIEW BIOGRAPHIES RELATED TOCATEGORIES


political science
DATES
February 13
December 18
Harold Lasswell, in full Harold Dwight Lasswell (born February 13, 1902,
Donnellson, Illinois, U.S.died December 18, 1978, New York, New York),
influential political scientist known for seminal studies of power relations and
of personality and politics and for other major contributions to contemporary
behavioral political science. He authored more than 30 books and 250
scholarly articles on diversesubjects, including international
relations, psychoanalysis, and legal education.
Lasswell received his bachelors degree in philosophy and economics in 1922
and his Ph.D. in 1926 from the University of Chicago, and he studied at the
Universities of London, Geneva, Paris, and Berlin during several summers in
the 1920s. He taught political science at the University of Chicago (192238)
and then served at the Washington School of Psychiatry (193839) and was
director of war communications research at the U.S. Library of
Congress (193945). After World War II, he went to Yale University, where he
served until the 1970s in various capacities, including as professor of law,
professor of political science, and Ford Foundation Professor of Law and
Social Sciences and emeritus fellow of Bramford College. He was also a
professor of law at John Jay College of the City University of New York and
at Temple University. He was a visiting lecturer at campuses throughout the
world and was a consultant to numerous U.S. government agencies.
Lasswell viewed political science as the study of changes in the distribution of
value patterns in society, and, because distribution depends on power, the
focal point of his analysis was power dynamics. He defined values as desired
goals and power as the ability to participate in decisions, and he conceived
political power as the ability to produce intended effects on other people.
In Politics: Who Gets What, When, How (1936)a work whose title later
served as the standard lay definition of politicshe viewed the elite as the
primary holders of power, but in Power and Society: A Framework for Political
Inquiry(1950), written with Abraham Kaplan, the discussion was broadened to
include a general framework for political inquiry that examined
key analytic categories such as person, personality, group, and culture.
His works on political psychology include Psychopathology and
Politics (1930), which seeks the means of channeling the desire for
domination to healthy ends; World Politics and Personal Insecurity (1935);
and Power and Personality (1948), which deals with the problem of power
seekers who sublimate their personal frustrations in power. In these and later
works, Lasswell moved toward a moralistic posture, calling for the social and
biological sciences to reorient themselves toward a science of social policy
that would serve the democratic will for justice. Other features of political
science that can be traced to Lasswell include systems theory, functional and
role analysis, and content analysis.
BRITANNICA STORIES
Some of his other major works include Propaganda Technique in the World
War (1927), World Revolutionary Propaganda (with Dorothy Blumenstock,
1939), Politics Faces Economics (1946), The Policy Sciences: Recent
Developments in Scope and Method (with Daniel Lerner, 1951), and The
Future of Political Science (1963).

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Lasswells Communication Model
Lasswell's communication model was developed by communication
theorist Harold D. Lasswell (1902-1978) in 1948. Lasswells model of communication
(also known as action model or linear model or one way model of communication) is
regarded as one the most influential communication models.

Components of Lasswell's Communication


Model
Lasswell's communication model has 5 components which is used as an analysis
tool for evaluating the communication process and components. The
components are the questions to be asked to get the answers and keep
communication going.

Components Meaning Analysis

the communicator or sender or source of


message Control Analysis
Who

the content of the message Content Analysis


Says What

the medium or media Media Analysis


In Which Channel

the receiver of the message or an audience Audience Analysis


To Whom

the feedback of the receiver to the sender Effect Analysis


With What Effect

Explanation of different Components of Lasswell's


Model
Control analysis helps the sender to have all the power.
Content analysis is associated to stereotyping and representation of different
groups politically. It is also related to the purpose or the ulterior motives
of the message.
Media analysis represents which medium should be used to exercise
maximum power against the receivers.
Audience analysis shows who are the target population to be manipulated or
brain-washed.
Effect analysis is done before the process starts. It is used to predict the
effect of message over the target population to be exploited.

Explanation of
Lasswell's Communication Model
Though Lasswell's model was developed to analyze mass communication, this model
is used for interpersonal communication or group communication to be
disseminated message to various groups in various situations.
Lasswell's model was developed to study the media propaganda of countries
and businesses at that time. Only rich people used to have communication
mediums such as televisions and radios back them. It was made to show the
mass media culture.

Lasswell also brought the concept of Effective Communication Process. He talked


about the relation between presentation of facts and how it generates different
effects. The use of the concept of effect makes Lasswell's model non-linear
unlike it's name. It's because effect can also be taken as feedback. Though,
generally, the component of effect was made to be more about outcome of the
message, the model is applied in different medias and fields despite being
developed specifically for mass communication.
This model is similar to the communication model proposed by Claude Shannon and Warren
Weaver. Their model is more graphical than Lasswell's. George Gerbner who
is the founder of the cultivation theory, expanded Lasswell's model and included
the concept of reaction of the receiver.

Disadvantages and Criticisms of Lasswell's


Model
The major criticism of Lasswells Model is that it does not include feedback and
it ignores the possibility of noise. Without feedback, a communication process
can not be fruitful. Lasswell's model is very linear and does not consider barriers
in the communication process. The model is also criticized for being very general and
only including very traditional topics. The model is very simplistic. The model is
said to be propaganda based as it is more focused on the resulting outcome and
generally used for media persuasion

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