Kurt Baschwitz: A Pioneer of Communication Studies and Social Psychology
Kurt Baschwitz: A Pioneer of Communication Studies and Social Psychology
by Jaap van Ginneken
Amsterdam University Press, 2018 Paper: 978-94-6298-604-6 | eISBN: 978-90-485-3728-0 Library of Congress Classification HN59.B285G56 2018 Dewey Decimal Classification 940.5318
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In this accessible, unique study of a forgotten but noteworthy figure, the author tells the story of the life of Kurt Baschwitz (1886—1968), a scholar who fled from the Nazis. He wrote six books, never translated into English, on four related themes: the press, propaganda, politics, and persecution. Baschwitz independently developed concepts that are now seen as key to communication science and socialpsychology, and the author places Baschwitz’s ideas in the wider context of his dramatic life and times.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jaap van Ginneken (b. 1943, Hilversum) studied social psychology, with mass psychology and mass communication as collateral subjects in Amsterdam, and did a Ph. D. with distinction on the history of political and mass psychology. He taught part-time at the (then) 'Baschwitz' Institute within the Political and Social Science Faculty; later at the Department of Communication Science. At the same time, he did a wide range of media projects, mostly on science communication. He is the author of 25 full-length/ single-author books: half aimed at larger audiences, half purely academic; half only in Dutch, half translated into English and other languages.
REVIEWS
"This book presents the extraordinary life and scientific works of the brilliant European scientist Kurt Baschwitz, a founding father of the study of mass psychology, collective behavior sociology and media studies in Europe. This book will eventually help to rediscover the originality of the great contributions of this pioneering scholar."
— Willem Koops, Utrecht University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PrefaceList of illustrations1. INTRODUCTION2. YOUTH & JOURNALISM3. WAR AND PROPAGANDA4. FIRST BOOK: PROPAGANDA AND ENEMY IMAGES, with Extract5. WEIMAR AND THE PRESS6. SECOND BOOK: PRESS AND AUDIENCES, with Extract7. EXILE AND POLITICS8. THIRD BOOK: POLITICS AND MASSES, with Extract9. HIDING AND PERSECUTION10. FOURTH A.F. BOOKS: PERSECUTION AND WITCH HUNTS, with Extract11. FOUNDER OF MAJOR INSTITUTIONS12. RETIREMENT YEARS13. CONCLUSIONEPILOGUEAPPENDIX: FULL ESSAY ON ‘THE POWER OF STUPIDITY’ Notes AcknowledgementsReferencesIndex/ RegisterAuthorList of abbreviations