Uses And Gratification Theory

HISTORY

The Uses and Gratification Theory was developed by Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz on 1970s, and was having its first formal presentation on 1974s. This theory had challenged the concept of the entire passive receiver as it concentrated on the active users. Blumler and Katz believed that there were lots of reasons for using media since there were media users, who were actively using the media.

In 1940s, the Uses and Gratification Theory had its roots when the various forms of media behaviors of the public had grabbed the attention by the researchers to study about it. The researchers came out with the early studies that described and classified the response of the public towards the usage of media into meaningful categories. The newspaper publishers and radio broadcasters wanted to know the motivations for the audiences to read a newspaper or listen to a radio channels. This made the theoretical coherence between all the early studies. In 1944, Herta Herzog, an Austrian-American social scientist specializing in communication studies had classified some of the reasons for different people to choose specific types of media.

During the late 1950s, the next step in the development of the research for this theory was begun and continued during 1960s. During the development, many social and psychological variables that were assumed to the precedents of different methods of consumption and gratification were being determined and operationalized. In 1954, Wilbur Schramm, a