Lazarsfeld, Paul F.

(1901-76)

An Austrian-born sociologist who founded the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. He was a leading authority on American popular culture , voting behaviour , and the influence of the mass media upon society. Among his best-known works are The People's Choice (1944) and Personal Influence(1955). Lazarsfeld was the principal proponent of survey analysis in post-war American sociology. His technique of hypothesis-testing via cross-tabulation set standards for quantitative data analysis that were transcended only with the advent of more advanced multivariate modelling techniques (such as those of loglinear analysis ). Among contemporary critics, C. Wright Mills argued that Lazarsfeld's work exemplified abstracted empiricism , though this charge is hardly justified given Lazarsfeld's explicit interest in theories of the middle range . More recently, his work has come to be cited as illustrative of sociological positivism.