Uses and Gratification Theory

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the term Uses and Gratification Theory which was coined by Elihu Katz in 1959 which argues that people actively choose their media products based on their needs, hence the theory's name and that since people make these active choices, the media has less power to influence than previously thought. It analyzes how other theorists have since built on this theory and outlines Jay G. Blumler's four categories of need gratification.

From the Paper:

"Media theorists have since built on Katz's original formulation. In 1974, Katz, and Jay G. Blumler characterized uses and gratification theory as "the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectations of the mass media or other sources, which lead to differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in need gratifications and other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones" (Severin & Tankard, 330)."

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