The Shift Of Power:the Rise Of American Communication Study In 1920s

The aim of this paper is to make investigation in the rise of communication study in 1920s by the way of social history to show the different kinds of social power which made the communication study possible. This angle of view emphasizes the fusion of communication and history study. Excavating and reproducing the origin of communication colluding with the social power, the scholars and the history in 1920, uncovers the neglected details influenced some scholar or communication study in landscape orientation and surveys the relationship between the history and the scholars, and the evolution of communication study from lengthways.In the early 20th century, Big Government was coming to the view while the public emerged the potential. Power in different aspects altered American society and the understanding of democracy. Traditional Federal System and local community died away in the urbanization, replaced by Great Society governed by the machine industry. Great Society's disorder brought out modern management. Scientific control study was popular because of its function and necessity. Monopoly power did not appear only in commerce any longer. Big corporations and the government conspired to lay a foundation for Big Government. Then the global hegemony was in the bud. These kinds of power contributed to the modern society. Social regime affected people's thoughts and crafted the field of communication study, established the mainstream paradigm and its opposites sides afterwards. Development inside the discipline is not the whole intellectual history since any academic activity is relevant to the environment. Reviewing how the power shift happened in 1920s has impact on communication intellectual history. For the last but not least, the complicated factors in the rise of communication study are instructively significant to the vicissitude of communication in China.