Critical Theory met empirical communications research at Columbia in 1941

Evidence

In 1941 the Studies in Philosophy and Social Science put out a special issue on mass communications, in cooperation with Lazarsfeld’s Office of Radio Research, now at Columbia. Horkheimer began, with “Notes on Institute Activities,” which contained the most concise restatement of the principles of Critical Theory to appear in English. Lazarsfeld contributed a comparison of “Administrative and Critical Communications Research,” which stressed their compatible features. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 634

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Institute launched its anti-Nazi lecture series at Columbia’s Extension Division in 1941 — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1233; Institute members endured chronic precarity and indecision during the Columbia negotiations — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1233