Paul Felix Lazarsfeld AND Robert King Merton - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

Two answers required. While working together at Columbia University, these two thinkers are believed to have developed the first focused group interview to evaluate a radio program. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name these two thinkers whose joint paper on mass communication analyzes “narcotizing dysfunction,” in which individuals are systematically dissuaded from organized action through the effects of mass media.

ANSWER: Paul Felix Lazarsfeld AND Robert King Merton [reject “Robert C. Merton”]

[10e] That paper by Lazarsfeld and Merton also examines three conditions in which this type of media is effective. This type of media, intended to influence beliefs, was often used to recruit soldiers for the US war effort.

ANSWER: propaganda

[10m] Lazarsfeld and Merton developed theories about leaders named for these things. The “manufacture of consent” was introduced in a 1922 book titled for a type of these things managed by mass media.

ANSWER: opinions [or opinion leaders; or public opinion]

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
California (South)	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Florida	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	4	10.00	75%	0%	25%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	5	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	100%	0%	25%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	3	13.33	100%	33%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	11.43	100%	14%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	4	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	100%	20%	0%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%

Data


Stanford A	Stanford B	0	10	0	10
Berkeley A	Berkeley B	0	10	0	10
Berkeley C	Berkeley D	0	10	0	10
UCLA A	UCSD B	0	10	0	10
UCLA B	UC Santa Barbara	0	10	0	10
UCSD A	UC Irvine	0	10	0	10
Pittsburgh	Michigan A	0	10	0	10
Ohio State B	Michigan C	0	10	0	10
Ohio State A	Michigan B	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech B	Liberty A	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech A	South Carolina B	0	10	0	10
Virginia	North Carolina B	0	10	0	10
William and Mary	NC State A	10	0	0	10
Illinois A	Chicago C	0	10	0	10
Notre Dame A	Chicago D	0	10	0	10
Chicago A	Illinois B	0	10	0	10
Indiana A	Purdue A	0	10	0	10
Illinois C	Purdue B	0	10	0	10
Central Florida A	Florida C	0	10	0	10
Brown	Southern Connecticut State	10	10	0	20
Bowdoin A	MIT	0	10	0	10
Harvard A	Bowdoin B	0	10	0	10
Missouri A	Claremont	0	10	0	10
Washington A	Minnesota A	0	10	0	10
Missouri B	Washington B	0	10	10	20
Tennessee A	Alabama B	0	10	0	10
Bruin	Tennessee B	0	10	0	10
Georgia Tech C	Louisville B	0	10	0	10
Georgia Tech B	Georgia Tech D	0	10	10	20
Louisville A	WashU B	0	10	0	10
Mississipi State	Alabama A	0	10	0	10
WashU A	Sewanee	0	10	0	10
Texas A	Texas A&M A	0	10	0	10
Texas B	Murray State A	0	10	0	10
Yale	Dartmouth B	0	10	0	10
Cambridge A	Southampton B	0	10	0	10
Edinburgh A	Cardiff	0	10	0	10
Warwick A	Southampton A	0	10	0	10
Manchester	Warwick B	0	10	0	10
NYU A	NYU B	0	10	0	10
Maryland A	NYU C	0	10	10	20
Columbia A	Catholic	0	10	0	10
Columbia B	John Jay	0	10	0	10
Rutgers A	Johns Hopkins A	0	10	0	10
Cornell B	Cornell C	0	10	0	10