FUNCTIONALISM

Bosch, Robert; Conoza, Adrian; Publico, Rico

1CA3
THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
OF COMMUNICATION IN SOCIETY

Harold D. Lasswell (1948)

Harold Dwight Lasswell
 American political scientist and
communication theorist
 “One of the ‘founding fathers’ of
communication research” (Schramm
1963, cited in Hardt 1995:10)
 Studied mainly in propaganda,
public affairs and elections.
 Received bach. deg. in philosophy
and economics in 1922; Ph.D. in
1926 from the University of
Chicago
Harold Dwight Lasswell
 Director of war communications
research at the US Library of
Congress during World War II
(1939 – 1945).
 Taught @ Yale University
 Works: Propaganda Techniques in
the World War (1927);
Psychopathology and Politics
(1930); Propaganda and
Promotional Activities… (w/ 2
other authors, 1935); Propaganda,
Communication, and Public
Opinion… (1946); Power and
Personality (1948)
FUNCTIONALISM
 Explains social practices and institutions in terms of the
‘needs’ of the society and of individuals (Merton, 1957).
 View of society: ongoing system of linked working
parts/subsystems (e.g.: media), each making an essential
contribution to continuity and order (McQuail, 2005).
 Centers on the role of the media in the maintenance of
social order and structure, and examines how they
perform or do not perform certain tasks necessary for the
maintenance of the equilibrium in society (Williams, 2003).
ACTS OF COMMUNICATION
Lasswell’s Model
 “Transmission model of communication” (Lewis and Slate,
1994)
 Functional analysis of mass communication (“Chapter 10:
Harold D. Lasswell”)
 Outlines basic elements of mass comm. (Littlejohn, 2001)
 Focused attention on important aspect of comm. (Severin
and Tankard, 2001)
Lasswell’s Model
 In relation to communication research:
 Identifying type of research being undertaken by
communication scholars (“Chapter 10: Harold D.
Lasswell”)
 Providing opportunity for specialization in one or
diff. area by researchers (Williams, 2003)
 Illustrating points at wh/ media researchers and
teachers invested their attention (Williams, 2003)
Lasswell’s Model

Source: www.kkhsou.in
Act of Communication Described

Question Element Analysis

Who? Communicator Control Analysis

Says What? Message Content Analysis

In Which Channel? Medium Media Analysis

To Whom? Audience Audience Analysis

With What Effect? Effect Effects Analysis

STRUCTURE AND FORM
 Key function of study/reading presented
 Focus and purpose became clear
(“Chapter 10: Harold D. Lasswell”)

 Viewing act of communication as a whole in relation to

the entire social process (Lasswell, 1948)
Surveillance of the environment
 Providing information about events and conditions in
society and the world (McQuail, 2005)
 Informs and provides news (Severin and Tankard, 2001)
Correlation of parts…
 Explaining, interpreting, and
commenting[/criticizing] on the
meaning of events and information
(McQuail, 2005)
 Selection and interpretation of
information (Severin and Tankard, 2001)
 In explaining and interpreting,
providing means of ‘connecting’
different elements in society (“Chapter
10: Harold D. Lasswell”)
 Presenting options for solving
problems (Littlejohn, 2001)
Transmission of social
heritage…/Continuity(McQuail, 2005)
 Communicate information, value,
norms from one generation to another;
or from member of society to
newcomers (Severin and Tankard, 2001)
 Forging and maintaining commonality
of values (McQuail, 2005)
 Disseminating society’s social and
cultural heritage to the next
generation (“Chapter 10: Harold D.
Lasswell”)
BIOLOGICAL EQUIVALENCIES
Biological Equivalences
 Single-celled animals or groups of animals
 Both have equilibrium and tends to maintain it internally
and to respond to changes in the environment wherein its
responding process calls for special means in bringing
the parts of the whole into a harmonious action.
Biological Equivalences
 Multi-celled animals
 Specializes in both the
function of external contact
and internal correlation.
Some of these are body
parts that receive and
disseminate stimuli with
the use of the ear, eye and
most especially, the
nervous systems.
Biological Equivalences
 Both the multi- and single-celled animals are similar
for having equilibrium in adapting and for their
impulses through stimuli.
ATTENTION IN WORLD
SOCIETY
Three Categories of Specialists
 One group surveys the political
environment of the state as a
whole.
 Another group correlates the
response of the whole state to the
environment
 The third transmits certain
patterns of response from the old
to the young.
Surveys the Political Correlates The Transmits Certain
Environment Of The Response Of The Patterns Of Response
State As A Whole Whole State To The From The Old To The
Environment Young
• Diplomats • Editors • Family

• Attaches • Journalists • School

• Foreign • Speakers
Correspondents
 If we think of the world attention process as a
series of attention frames, it is possible to
describe the rate at which comparable content
is brought to the notice of individuals and
groups.
 We can inquire into the point at which “conductance” no
longer occurs; and we can look into the ranges between
“total conductance” and “minimum conductance”

 The attention frames found in metropolitan and political

centres of the world are the most variable, refined and
interactive of all frames in the world community
MORE DETAILED
EQUIVALENCIES
More Detailed Equivalencies
 First equivalence
 Incoming and outgoing comm. channels (flow of communication
from diplomats to media) functionally equivalent to (1) the afferent
and efferent channels that convey nervous impulses to and from the
central nervous system and (2) the means by which alarm is spread
among a flock.

 Second equivalence
 Living organisms rely on a number of automatic systems…
 State has ongoing comm. channels and processes that don’t involve
central channels of comm.

 Circuit of communication
More Detailed Equivalencies
 Message Controlling and Message Handling:
a. Message controlling/manipulating typically
modifies content
b. Message handling doesn’t involve modifying
content.
NEEDS AND VALUES
 Living forms = modifiers of the environment in the
process of gratifying needs (e.g. food, sex, etc) and hence
maintaining a steady state of internal equilibrium.

 It is possible to establish a list of values, and discover

their rank orders in which they are sought. We can rank
the members of the group according to their position in
relation to the values.
 Values are the things we gratify; Needs are the things
which the values are gratified with.
 Institutions - responsible for shaping and distributing
values. It is used for the means of communication.
 IDEOLOGY – Beliefs
and cultures that have
been passed from
generation to
generation.
EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION
 For human societies e. c. is achieved if
‘rational judgments are facilitated’ (“Chapter 10:
Harold D. Lasswell”)
 Task of…society: discover, control any factors
that interfere with e. c. (Lasswell,1948)
 Some reasons why
communication be deemed
inefficient
 Limiting nature of
technologies
 Certain values are
intentionally distorted
If inefficiencies are overcome 
efficient comm.  helps facilitate
a society’s rational judgment
(“Chapter 10: Harold D. Lasswell”)
CONCLUSION
 Comm. process in society performs 3 functions:
surveillance, correlation, transmission
 Biological equivalents in human and animal associations,
within economy of a single organism
 “What is seen as key findings”:
 Comm. process reveals special characteristics
 In gauging comm. efficiency, take into account values at stake
and identity of the group
 Rational choices depend on enlightenment, which in turn
depends upon communication
Sources
Chapter 10: Harold D. Lasswell [PDF format]. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.archivefilter.net/luc/lasswell.pdf

Lasswell, H. (1996). The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. In J.

Hanson, & D. Maxcy (Eds.), Sources: Notable Selections in Mass Media (pp.22-
29). Connecticut: Dushkin Publishing Group/Brown&Benchmark Publishers.

Littlejohn, S. (2008). Theories of Human Communicaton. California: Wadsworth

Group.

McQuail, D. (2005). McQuail's Mass Communication Theory (5th ed.). London:

Sage Publications.

Severin, W., & Tankard, J. (2001). Communication Theories: Origins, Theories,

and Uses in Mass Communication. New York: Longman.