Editing Harold Lasswell (section)

==Work==
Publishing between 4 million to 6 million words during his academic career,<ref name="Almond-1987" /><ref name="Marvick-1980">{{Cite journal |last=Marvick |first=Dwaine |date=1980 |title=The Work of Harold D. Lasswell: His Approach, Concerns, and Influence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/586053 |journal=Political Behavior |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=219–229 |doi=10.1007/BF00990480 |jstor=586053 |s2cid=143060432 |issn=0190-9320}}</ref> Lasswell has been described as a "one-man university" whose "competence in, and contributions to, anthropology, communications, economics, law, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry and sociology are enough to make him a political scientist in the model of classical Greece."<ref name="McDougal-1979" /><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1970 |title=  Book Reviews|journal=Psychiatric Quarterly |volume=44 |issue= 1–4|pages= 166–176|doi=10.1007/BF01562966}}</ref>

Lasswell is considered to be a founding father of [[political psychology]] and [[Policy studies|policy sciences]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Post |first=Jerrold |date=2001 |title=Harold D. Lasswell: An Appreciation |url=http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/psyc.64.3.197.18468 |journal=Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes |language=en |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=197–201 |doi=10.1521/psyc.64.3.197.18468 |pmid=11708043 |s2cid=45055221 |issn=0033-2747}}</ref> and an early proponent of [[mass communication]] as a field of scholarly research.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jansen |first=Sue Curry |date=2010 |title=Forgotten Histories: Another Road Not Taken-The Charles Merriam-Walter Lippmann Correspondence |url=https://academic.oup.com/ct/article/20/2/127-146/4085653 |journal=Communication Theory |language=en |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=127–146 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01357.x}}</ref> He believed universities should become focal centers for the study of communications.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |date=1958 |title=Communications as an Emerging Discipline |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30216866 |journal=Audio Visual Communication Review |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=245–254 |doi=10.1007/BF02768457 |jstor=30216866 |s2cid=56508776 |issn=0885-727X}}</ref>

His five-questions model of communication is considered one of the earliest and most influential [[models of communication]].<ref name="Shoemaker-2004">{{Cite book |last1=Shoemaker |first1=Pamela |url=https://methods.sagepub.com/book/how-to-build-social-science-theories |title=How to Build Social Science Theories |last2=Tankard |first2=James |last3=Lasorsa |first3=Dominic |date=2004 |publisher=SAGE Publications Inc. |isbn=978-0-7619-2667-2 |location=Thousand Oaks |doi=10.4135/9781412990110|s2cid=263504681 }}</ref> Many consider him the founder of content analysis, having conducted one of the most comprehensive content analysis studies of his time.<ref name="Janowitz-1968">{{Cite journal |last=Janowitz |first=Morris |date=1968 |title=Harold D. Lasswell's Contribution to Content Analysis |url=https://academic.oup.com/poq/article-lookup/doi/10.1086/267652 |journal=Public Opinion Quarterly |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=646 |doi=10.1086/267652}}</ref>

=== Propaganda ===
At the age of 25, Lasswell completed his doctoral dissertation on ''Propaganda Technique in the World War''.<ref name="Janowitz-1968" /> He defined [[propaganda]] as "the control of opinion by significant symbols" such as stories, rumors, reports, pictures, and other forms of social communication. He also wrote that propaganda is "concerned with the management of opinions and attitudes by the direct manipulation of social suggestion."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |title=Propaganda Technique in the World War |publisher=Knopf |year=1927 |location=New York}}</ref> In his dissertation, Lasswell noted that propaganda is unavoidable and democracies must adjust to it, rather than fight it.<ref name="Marvick-1980" />

His definition of propaganda was viewed as an important development to understanding the goal of propaganda. Lasswell's studies on propaganda produced breakthroughs on the subject, which broadened current views on the means and stated objectives that could be achieved through propaganda to include not only the change of opinions but also change in actions. He inspired the definition given by the [[Institute for Propaganda Analysis]]: "Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ellul |first1=Jacques |title=Propaganda: the formation of men's attitudes |last2=Ellul |first2=Jacques |date=1973 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-71874-3 |edition=Vintage Books ed., [Nachdr. der Ausg.] New York, 1965 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>

His study of political and wartime propaganda represented an important early type of communication study. Propaganda analysis has been absorbed into the general body of communication research, though the word propaganda later gained a negative connotation.<ref name="Everett-1994" />

=== Content analysis ===
Lasswell's study of propaganda and the psychoanalytic biographies of political leaders led to his invention of systematic [[content analysis]], the study of communication documents to examine patterns,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bryman |first1=Alan |title=Business Research Methods |last2=Bell |first2=Emma |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-958340-9 |edition=3rd |location=Cambridge}}</ref> and its uses in World War II. In 1935, Lasswell published ''World Politics and Personal Insecurity'', a study of international relations using quantitative content analysis. The study included direct observation of the aggressive behavior of welfare clients toward public relief administrators.<ref name="Almond-1987" />

Expanding on his work, Lasswell contributed to a wartime communications project sponsored by the Library of Congress. ''Language of Politics: Studies in Quantitative Semantics'' is thought to be "one of the most comprehensive single content analysis study ever undertaken with scholarly objectives."<ref name="Almond-1987" />

He pioneered such content analysis methods as standardizing the collection of information, developing categories of analysis, and using quantitative measurements to study communication messages. In the next two decades, Lasswell and his associates worked to apply content analysis to a variety of subject matters.<ref name="Almond-1987" />

Lasswell wanted to use knowledge to solve public problems. He believed, like [[John Dewey]], that one should pay close attention to the contexts in which concepts were used. For example, social scientists should express their ideas through sentences, not single words, to provide full context.<ref name="Marvick-1980" />

One criticism of content analysis is its inability to study communication effects. While Lasswell's concept of content analysis allows for inferences about data, its weakness is its ability to verify the data.<ref name="Everett-1994" />

=== Political psychology ===
Lasswell's work was also important in the post-World War II development of [[behavioralism]]. Lasswell is credited with being the founder of the field of political psychology, the intersection of psychology and political science, in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref name="Ascher-2004">{{Cite journal |last1=Ascher |first1=William |last2=Hirschfelder-Ascher |first2=Barbara |date=2004 |title=Linking Lasswell's Political Psychology and the Policy Sciences |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4532613 |journal=Policy Sciences |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=23–36 |doi=10.1023/B:OLIC.0000035460.18318.b0 |jstor=4532613 |s2cid=144459330 |issn=0032-2687}}</ref>

His works on political psychology include ''Psychopathology and Politics'', ''World Politics and Personal Insecurity'', and ''Power and Personality''.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica-2023" />

His psychoanalytic study of political leaders introduced Freudian psychoanalytic theory to the social sciences and focused on power dynamics.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica-2023" /> Lasswell was particularly influenced by Freud's ideas of the aimlessness of instinctual drives and the malleability of human perspectives.<ref name="Marvick-1980" /> In ''Politics: Who Gets What, When, How'', he viewed the elite as the primary holders of power.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica-2023" />

While studying in Vienna and Berlin with [[Theodor Reik]], a devotee of Freud, Lasswell was able to appropriate Freud's methods. Lasswell built a laboratory in his social science office at the University of Chicago to conduct experiments on volunteers and students. Lasswell also used psychoanalytical interviewing and recording methods that he appropriated from his time of studying with [[Elton Mayo]] at [[Harvard University]].<ref name="Everett-1994" />

=== Garrison state ===
Lasswell introduced the concept of a "[[The Garrison State|garrison state]]" in a highly influential and often cited 1941 article originally published in the ''[[American Journal of Sociology]]''. It was a "developmental construct" that outlined the possibility of a political-military elite composed of "specialists in violence" in a modern state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stanley |first1=Jay |last2=Segal |first2=David R. |date=1989 |title=The garrison state |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07430178908405382 |journal=Defense Analysis |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=83–86 |doi=10.1080/07430178908405382 |issn=0743-0175}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aron |first=Raymond |date=1979 |title=Remarks on Lasswell's "The Garrison State" |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0095327X7900500302 |journal=Armed Forces & Society |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=347–359 |doi=10.1177/0095327X7900500302 |s2cid=144414429 |issn=0095-327X}}</ref>

=== Model of communication ===
[[File:Lasswell’s_Model_of_Communication.gif|alt=model of communication|thumb|350x350px|Lasswell's model of communication]]
His five-questions [[Lasswell's model of communication|model of communication]], which focuses on "who (says) what (to) whom (in) what channel (with) what effect,"<ref name="Sapienza-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Sapienza |first1=Zachary S. |last2=Iyer |first2=Narayanan |last3=Veenstra |first3=Aaron S. |date=2015 |title=Reading Lasswell's model of communication backward: Three scholarly misconceptions |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15205436.2015.1063666 |journal=Mass Communication and Society |language=en |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=599–622 |doi=10.1080/15205436.2015.1063666 |s2cid=146389958 |issn=1520-5436}}</ref> led to the emphasis in communication study on determining effects. First published in Lasswell's 1948 book, ''The Structure and Function of Communication in Society'',<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Muth |first1=Rodney |title=Harold D. Lasswell: An Annotated Bibliography |last2=Finley |first2=Mary M. |last3=Muth |first3=Marcia F. |publisher=New Haven Press |year=1990 |location=New Haven |pages=}}</ref> the model aims to organize the "scientific study of the process of communication."<ref name="Shoemaker-2004" />

Most criticism of Lasswell's model focuses on its simplicity<ref name="Sapienza-2015" /><ref name="Watson-2012">{{Cite book |last1=Watson |first1=James |title=Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies |last2=Hill |first2=Anne |publisher=A&C Black |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-84966-563-6 |chapter=Lasswell's Model of Communication}}</ref><ref name="Tengan-2021">{{Cite book |last1=Tengan |first1=Callistus |title=Construction Project Monitoring and Evaluation: An Integrated Approach |last2=Aigbavboa |first2=Clinton |last3=Thwala |first3=Wellington Didibhuku |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-000-38141-2}}</ref> and its lack of relevance due to its linear orientation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McQuail |first=D |date=1985-01-01 |title=Sociology of Mass Communication |url=http://soc.annualreviews.org/cgi/doi/10.1146/annurev.soc.11.1.93 |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=93–111 |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.11.1.93}}</ref> Other scholars object to its lack of a feedback loop,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steinberg |first=Sheila |title=An Introduction to Communication Studies |publisher=Juta and Company Ltd. |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7021-7261-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Eggert |first1=Denise |title=Proceedings of IAC 2019 in Vienna |last2=Beutner |first2=Marc |publisher=Czech Institute of Academic Education |year=2019 |isbn=978-80-88203-11-7}}</ref><ref name="Tengan-2021" /> that it does not take into consideration the effects of noise,<ref name="Tengan-2021" /> and that it does not address the influences of context on communication.<ref name="Watson-2012" />

=== Policy sciences ===
{{external media|audio1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=zFyJuEmMgCA Harold D. Lasswell speaking at UCLA on making knowledge more effective in action.] May 13, 1970.|float=right}}In the 1950s to 1970s, Lasswell helped create the policy sciences,<ref name="Ascher-2004" /> an interdisciplinary movement to integrate social science knowledge with public action. Lasswell was concerned with such questions as how to improve the concepts and procedures of those who study political problems professionally, and how to train policy scientists.<ref name="Marvick-1980" />

Lasswell’s 1956 book, ''The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis'', outlined seven stages of policy decision-making: intelligence, promotion, prescription, invocation, application, termination, and appraisal.<ref name="Lasswell-1956">{{Cite book |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |title=The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis |publisher=University of Maryland Press |year=1956 |location=College Park}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ronit |first1=Karsten |title=The Oxford Handbook of Classics in Public Policy and Administration |last2=Porter |first2=Tony |editor-first1=Martin |editor-first2=Edward C. |editor-first3=Steven J. |editor-last1=Lodge |editor-last2=Page |editor-last3=Balla |year=2015 |edition=Online |series=Oxford Handbooks |chapter=Harold D. Lasswell, The decision process: Seven categories of functional analysis |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199646135.013.23}}</ref> The seven stages have been criticized for their construct as a policy cycle or a linear process.<ref name="Auer-2017">{{Cite journal |last=Auer |first=Matthew R. |date=2017 |title=Rescuing the decision process |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48722942 |journal=Policy Sciences |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=519–526 |doi=10.1007/s11077-017-9292-2 |jstor=48722942 |s2cid=254899402 |issn=0032-2687}}</ref> He also identified eight "goal values" of policy: wealth, power, respect, rectitude, skill, well being, enlightenment, and affection.<ref name="Lasswell-1956" /><ref name="Farr-2006" />

His 1963 book, ''The Future of Political Science'', explored the political scientist's decision process in both official and unofficial policymaking contexts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |title=The Future of Political Science |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1963 |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Auer-2017" />

Lasswell co-authored ''Jurisprudence for a Free Society'' in 1966 along with McDougal. The book examines legal, official, and unofficial decisions that contribute to public and civic order. Policies and how they are made cannot be understood without examining the larger social process.<ref name="Auer-2017" />

In his 1971 book, ''A Pre-View of the Policy Sciences'', Lasswell prioritized five "intellectual tasks" of the policy scientist: goal clarification, trend description, analysis of conditions, projection of developments, and provision of alternatives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |title=A Pre-view of the Policy Sciences |publisher=American Elsevier Publishing |year=1971 |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Farr-2006" />

=== Human rights and future implications ===
In his 1956 presidential address to the American Political Science Association, Lasswell raised the  question of whether or not we should give [[human rights]] to [[Robot|robots]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |date=1956 |title=The Political Science of Science: An Inquiry into the Possible Reconciliation of Mastery and Freedom |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/political-science-of-science-an-inquiry-into-the-possible-reconciliation-of-mastery-and-freedom/C1A01EED568A6B70A8074581CDDB96E3 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=961–979 |doi=10.2307/1951330 |jstor=1951330 |issn=0003-0554}}</ref><ref name="Farr-2006" /> His overall message was that technological innovation and the [[Cold War]] meant the nation's future was at stake. Political science, according to Lasswell, needed to provide clear goals, "theoretical models of the political process," and develop policy alternatives to maximize democratic values.<ref name="Farr-2006" /> Lasswell believed political science should be practiced like law, as a free profession rather than an academic pursuit.<ref name="Marvick-1980" />

In 1980, Lasswell and his associates published ''Human Rights and World Public Order'' to present a "comprehensive framework of inquiry" from which to approach [[international human rights law]], and [[international law]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McDougal |first1=Myres Smith |title=Human rights and world public order: the basic policies of an international law of human dignity |last2=Lasswell |first2=Harold Dwight |last3=Chen |first3=Lung-chu |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-088263-1 |location=New York}}</ref>