Finding Out
Personal Adventures in Social Research--Discovering What People Think, Say and Do
Published on 11. January 2003
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-56663-482-3 (ISBN)
Description
For more than fifty years Leo Bogart has been a name of distinction in the little-understood field of social research. He has spent a long professional career investigating the public's opinions, preferences, and behavior, working in an improbable medley of places and problems. Some of his remarkable studies were done out of personal curiosity (the American reaction to the Holocaust), others on assignment (the public response to the TV quiz scandals). Together they fall under two themes: the clash of cultures and the effects of mass communications. To Finding Out, Mr. Bogart brings not only analytical skills but a storyteller's art. His memoir is interlarded with excerpts from some of his most interesting reports-for Macy's, Standard Oil, Revlon, McCann-Erickson, the Defense Department; but some readers will be more entertained by his accounts of the rich and famous with whom he shared a conference table-Charles Revson, Paul Lazarsfeld, Elmo Roper, Marion Harper, Leo Lowenthal, Emerson Foote, and many others. He has been over the years a prescient observer of the influence of the mass media on American habits, and a sharp analyzer of the social dynamics of American culture in its myriad manifestations. Finding Out reflects his astute appraisal of the mass society that America has become in the last half-century.
Reviews / Votes
Highly readable...truly fascinating in its details. -- Gladys and Kurt Lang, University of Washington A book that tells us, in a literate and charming manner, a great deal about what the world is like. -- Barry Sussman He gives us his unique insider story-poignant, critical, revealing, intimate-of this international enterprise in which he has been a powerful and moral leader. -- Orville Gilbert Brim, President, Life Trends, Inc. One of the very best books ever written about how to understand public opinion polls, by a master of the art. -- Amitai Etzioni, professor, George Washington University; founder of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Clear-headed, deep-seeing and plain-spoken, Leo Bogart is surely the Grand Master of social research.... A vigorous critical participant-observer. -- Robert K. Merton, University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Bogart provides valuable insights into a profession that is little understood. * Booklist * A delightful book, filled with colorful characters quickly but deftly limned.... His details are frequently funny and charming. * Reason * Lively, plain prose...its dynamic, like Bogart's professional life, is both strong and vibrant. The book makes...exceptional contributions to American sociology. * Purdue University Journal * Provides abundant, pithy, and often witty sketches.... Of high importance to the work of historians of the social sciences. -- Robert A. Dentler * Contemporary Sociology * Finding Out contributes to the history of the profession of public opinion research, particularly its commercial side. -- Murray Edelman * CBS News *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
562 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56663-482-3 (9781566634823)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Leo Bogart was one of America's most distinguished authorities in public opinion, media, and marketing research. His other books include Strategy in Advertising, The Age of Television, Preserving the Press, Commercial Culture, and, most recently, Over the Edge. He and George Gallup were the first people elected to the Market Research Council's Hall of Fame.