Katz, Elihu (1926—)

Elihu Katz has significantly contributed to research examining the intersection of mass and interpersonal communication, uses and gratifications research, and media effects research. He received his PhD in 1956 from Columbia University, where he worked alongside his mentor, Paul Lazarsfeld, to write Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications in 1955. This book has been widely cited as an influential work in the two-step flow model of communication, which suggests that information first flows from mass media channels to “opinion leaders,” who then wield their interpersonal influence on less active members of the population. Additionally, this work was unanimously selected by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the Fifty Books That Significantly Shaped Public Opinion ...