Opinion leadership

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As opinion leaders (English opinion leaders ) refers to people who (English in relation to a particular matter of public interest issue ) show the highest level of interestedness and most often submit observations. This is indicated by community studies and everyday experience.

Concept history

The term was made known by the panel study published in " The People's Choice " in 1944 by Paul Felix Lazarsfeld and other scientists on the 1940 US presidential election . A two-step model of communication was developed for this purpose. The Lazarsfeld Study identifies the appropriate opinion leaders by asking which people the person asked would turn to for advice on a particular question.

Opinion leaders are also those media users who pass on information from the media to people in their social environment who use the media less - a finding that could not be measured in a panel study, but merely assumed by Lazarsfeld and colleagues has been. In addition to the method of self-assessment used, this only assumed two-stage flow of communication in the later reception of the “People's Choice” study caused criticism in terms of both method and content. Only sociometric studies of the opinion leader phenomenon in the 1950s and 1960s were able to demonstrate a flow of information from the advisers to those seeking advice. However, these studies also showed that opinion leaders have their own advisors. In this way they identified the couple relationship between the opinion leader and the person seeking advice as a building block within a complex social structure.

Opinion leadership is part of everyday interpersonal relationships. Opinion leaders can exert a relatively large influence on the decisions of those around them. They exist in all professional groups and socio-economic classes. Their main function is shown in the role of mediator between mass media and their social group. They are asked for their opinion by group members and give advice and information. Opinion leaders are generally outgoing people who have a lot of social contacts. There are different types of opinion leaders:

  • Polymorphic opinion leaders: Opinion leaders can act as influencers in a variety of decision-making areas.
  • Monomorphic opinion leaders: The influence of the opinion leader is concentrated in a specific area (e.g. fashion, politics).
  • Local opinion leaders: opinion leaders who focus their interests on the closer area of ​​the community.
  • Cosmopolitan Opinion Leaders: Opinion leaders who are more interested in events at national and international level.

Nowadays, the two-step flow in media impact research plays a smaller role than it did in the 1960s, because the media have become almost ubiquitous and reach most people directly. On the other hand, the opinion leader concept has undergone numerous extensions and modifications since it was developed by Lazarsfeld and his colleagues. The role of opinion leaders in interpersonal networks and in social psychology was intensified. The opinion leader concept is also used in election research and election forecasting . There are also parallels, for example, to the early adopters of persuasion research and the avant-garde , who play an important role in the theory of the spiral of silence .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hazel Gaudet: The People's Choice. How the Voter Makes up his Mind in a Presidential Campaign. Columbia University Press: New York, London 3rd ed. 1968, (first 1944). P. 49f.
  2. ↑ such as: The Social Life of a Modern Community. Vol. I. Yankee City Series. By W. Lloyd Warner, Paul S. Lunt. New Haven 1941. For their methodological structure, see the review by: Power, Politics and People. The Collected Essays of C. Wright Mills. Ed. Irving Louis Horowitz . London Oxford New York.
  3. ↑ Michael Schenk: Media Effects Research. Tübingen 2nd ed. 2002. pp. 320–329.
  4. ↑ Bostian, Lloyd R .: “The Two-Step Flow Theory: Cross Cultural Implications,” in: Journalism Quarterly , Volume 47, p. 109ff.
  5. ^ Coleman, James S. / Katz, Elihu / Menzel, Herbert: Medical Innovation. A Diffusion Study , Indianapolis et al., 1966.
  6. ↑ Jäckel, Michael (2007): Media Effects [4. Edition]. Pp. 111-125.
  7. ↑ Jäckel, Michael (2007): Media Effects [4. Edition]. Pp. 111-125.
  8. ↑ Schenk, Michael (2002): Media Effects Research [2. Edition]. Tübingen. 345-369; - Weimann, Gabriel (1994): The Influentials. People, who influence people. New York; - Hallemann, Michael (1986): Embarrassment and Public Opinion. In: Publizistik 31, pp. 249–261.
  9. ^ Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth / Haumann, Wilhelm / Petersen, Thomas (1999): The rediscovery of opinion leaders and the effect of personal communication in the election campaign. In: Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann / Hans Mathias Kepplinger / Wolfgang Donsbach (eds.): Kampa. Opinion climate and media impact in the federal election campaign 1998. Freiburg, Munich. Pp. 181-214.