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access to The Public Opinion Quarterly
This "knowledge gap" hypothesis does not hold that lower status
population segments remain completely uninformed (or that the poor
in knowledge get poorer in an absolute sense). Instead, the proposi-
tion is that growth of knowledge is relatively greater among the higher
status segments. For this paper, education is assumed to be a valid in-
dicator of socioeconomic status.3
Two other assumptions are important for this analysis. One is that
growth of human knowledge may be characterized by either linear or
curvilinear trends, but that such growth is irreversible within the
timespan under study.4' r A second assumption is that, for a given
topic being studied, a point of diminishing returns from mass media
infusion has not been reached, or, if it has been reached, it is possible
that it occurs at different levels for different socioeconomic groups.
Furthermore, this hypothesis applies primarily to public affairs and
science news having more or less general appeal. It would not neces-
sarily apply to more audience-specific topics, such as stock market
quotations, society news, sports and lawn and garden care.
PREVIOUS FINDINGS
3 Albert J. Reiss, Jr., Occupations and Social Status, New York, Free Press, l96h,
PP. 115-116.
4 James S. Coleman, Introduction to Mathematical Sociology, New York, Free
Press, 1964, p. 492ff.
6 Gosta Carlsson, "Change, Growth and Irreversibility," American Journal of So-
ciology, Vol. 73, 1968, PP. 706-714.
6 See, for example, Robert C. Davis, The Public Impact of Science in the Mass
Media, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, 1958; Wilbur Schramm and
Serena Wade, Knowledge and the Public Mind, Institute for Communication Re-
search, Stanford University, 1967; and Serena Wade and Wilbur Schramm, "The
Mass Media as Sources of Public Affairs, Science, and Health Knowledge," Public
Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 33, 1969, pp. 197-209.
7 Merrill E. Samuelsonn, R. F. Carter, and Lee Ruggels, "Education, Available
Time, and Mass Media Use," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 40, 1963, pp. 491-496.
14 Elihu Katz, "The Social Itinerary of Technical Change: Two Studies on the
Diffusion of Innovation," Human Organization, Vol. 2o, No. 2, Summer 1961.
15 David 0. Sears and Jonathan Freedman, "Selective Exposure to Information: A
Critical Review," Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 31, 1967, pp. 194-214.
16Joseph Klapper, The Effects of Mass Communication, New York, Free Press,
1960, pp. 15-26.
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FIGuRE 1. PER CENT OF RESPONDENTS IN NATIONAL SURVEYS STATING BELIEF THAT MAN
WILL REACH MOON, BY EDUCATION AND YEAR
Although most of the data above are consistent with the knowledge
gap hypothesis, the underlying factors are inferred rather than ob-
served. If the general hypothesis is correct, education should be more
closely correlated with knowledge gained from a specific article deal.
ing with a topic that has been subjected to heavy previous publicity,
compared with articles on less publicized topics. Highly educated per-
sons are more likely to have been exposed to a heavily publicized
topic in the past; they are already "in motion" on this topic and are
easier to move still farther than less educated persons.25
24 The analysis of variance used in making this test is based upon an approxima-
tion procedure in which mean squares are adjusted for unequal numbers of cases
in the subcells. See Hubert M. Blalock, Social Statistics, New York, McGraw-Hill,
1960, p. 264.
25 Robinson, op. cit.
FINDINGS
TABLE 3