UNITED STATES HISTORY
Any discussion of American history must begin with an analysis of the people who cre-ated the United States. It is these first immigrants who set the tone for what was to fol-low from 1607 to the present. The power and influence of these first settlers is clearlypointed out by McElroy when he notes, "Never before in history has a society made upchiefly of self-determining, self-selected immigrants and their descendants come intobeing in a place that offered so much opportunity for gain for those who would workfor it."161 McElroy also maintains that "primary American cultural beliefs derive from"these initial settlers and that they "began the process of distinguishing American be-havior from European behavior, which during the next eight generations led to the for-mation of a new American culture."162 What McElroy is suggesting is that much ofwhat we now call American culture can be traced to a distinctive population that ar-rived at the outset of this country's history——a population that arrived believing inmany of the values that continue to endure in the U.S., such as hard work, improve-ment, practicality, freedom, responsibility, equality, and individuality.163 These first settlers, who were predominantly Anglo-Saxons, brought with themsome English values, the English system of law, and the basic organization of com-merce that was prevalent during the sixteenth century. Just as these first settlers werebeginning to stake out a culture, they were almost immediately confronted with awave of non-Anglo-Saxons arriving through migration. And as we noted earlier, these"new citizens" continue to arrive even today. This ongoing influx of immigrants, bothlegal and illegal, has produced what is sometimes referred to as the first multiculturalnation in the world. Although cultural integration did not come easily during the early stages of the for-mation of the United States, the shared desire of the American people to be separatedfrom what wa
…… 在《世界传播学经典教材》**辑出版后,读者和学界同仁一直在期盼着本丛书的延续。自1949年施拉姆出版《大众传播学》,**次提出大众传播学框架之后,传播学之名便在美国得以创立,一门独立的学科正式诞生。这个学科的研究方法扎根于美国的实证学派,核心理论以充分吸收其他社会科学的精华见长。从研究的范围而言,此后的美国“主流”学者的大多数著作一般可根据传播的四种类型(人内传播、人际传播、组织传播、大众传播)进行划分。具体到大众传播研究,所关注的对象则集中在5w(传播者、内容、媒介、受众、效果)上。本套丛书的初衷就是在传播学多样化发展的今天,为学人们献上能够反映这一学科全貌的重要著作,提示人们重视这些学术上的成就。
传播学源于人类*本能、*简单、*基本的生活实践。虽然传播学作为一个学科的诞生主要得益于电子大众媒介的扩散和应用,但历史上人类传播的实践是这个学科得以萌芽和成长的基础。传播学者们关注来自山顶洞的火光,来自美索不达米亚平原的泥版,来自尼罗河边的莎草纸,来自西奈山上的羊皮卷,来自中国的甲骨简牍,来自印度的贝叶……人类整部文明历史都可以视作为传播学的诞生而进行的筹备。学者们的研究使得我们对媒介本质和传播规律的认识上升到知识层面,从而对人类文明的发展有了更深刻的洞见。
传播学在中国经历了引进、消化、吸收、本土化的发展过程。中国接受、研究和发展传播学理论,*初的几步相当迟缓。20世纪70年代末,传播学的学术层面才开始进入中国人的视野。
1978年7月,上海复旦大学新闻系出版了新闻学刊物《外国新闻事业资料》,在创刊号上发表了介绍传播学的译文——《公共传播》(Mass Communication)(当时使用的是“公共传播”的译法,而不是后来的“大众传播”)。1982年5月,美国传播学学者施拉姆(wilbur Schramm)访华。随后,在中国社会科学院新闻研究所召开了中国**次全国性的传播学研讨会。这些事件从一个侧面反映了中国传播学发展的路径与历程。