SNA All-Star: Paul Lazarsfeld

Paul Felix Lazarsfeld was born in Vienna in 1901, and arrived in the United States in 1933.[1] Lazarsfeld “earned a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Vienna in 1925 –in his dissertation he applied Albert Einstein's theory of gravitation to the movement of the planet Mercury.”[2] Lazarsfeld taught at Columbia University for over thirty years, and died of cancer in New York City, his adopted home.[3] Lazarsfeld is widely considered to have been the “father” of empirical sociology.

Lazarsfeld’s most influential contribution to Social Network Theory was perhaps the “two-step” model of communication. This model of human communication posits that a small number of “opinion leaders” (“stars”) serve as intermediaries between sources of information and consumers thereof (who self-organize in “circles”).[4] A corollary of the “two-step” principle is that interpersonal relations are more powerful for influencing an individual’s view of situations than is mass media.[5]

Lazarsfeld developed this theory in conjunction with Elihu Katz, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet, who collaborated with him in the writing of two highly influential research papers –written in 1955 and 1968 respectively. These papers have proved seminal in various fields, including –but not limited to–sociology, marketing science, and media studies.

Lazarsfeld’s influence, however, reaches far beyond Network Analysis: he is considered a major contributor in many fields of knowledge, including public opinion research, political science, and survey analysis.[6]

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[1]  David L. Sills, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, 1901—1976, A Biographical Memoir. (Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1987). Available at http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lazarsfeld-paul-f.pdf.

[2] American Sociological Association: “About ASA: Presidents: Paul Lazarsfeld”, accessed September 21, 2014, http://www.asanet.org/about/presidents/Paul_Lazarsfeld.cfm.

[3] Sills, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, 251.

[4] Duncan J. Watts and Peter Sheridan Dodds, “Influentials, Networks, and Public Opinion Formation”, Journal of Consumer Research 34, December 2007.

[5] Almost Cultured (blog): “Fans – Making Producers Lives More Difficult”, accessed September 21, 2014, http://almostcultured.wordpress.com/tag/limited-effects-theory-paul-lazarsfeld/.

[6] Hynek Jeřábek, “Paul Lazarsfeld—The Founder of Modern Empirical Sociology: A Research Biography”, International Journal of Public Opinion Research 13 (3): 229-244, 2001.