Abstract:

The foundations of communication science in the modern sense are set by Chicago School Psychologist Charles Horton Cooley and Educational Scientist John Dewey, who tries to define communication with psychological approaches.  The propaganda-focused studies that began with Walter Lipman in the 1920s and the propaganda model developed by Harold Lasswell in the 1930s have become a scientific discipline in communication science. In these studies, American-centric behavioral school members, known as mainstream communication studies: first, that the research was done with the financial support of any political institution or foundation and by some private research companies; second, that the mass communication means were seen and positivized as part of the existing dominant political system.  But at the same time, research in countries such as Germany, Britain and France, unlike the mainstream communication studies, has been conducted more independently within the university or with its own capabilities. Furthermore, the results obtained or promised arguments are in the direction of negative mass communication means. The work of the Frankfurt School and the English Centre for Cultural Studies is an example of such communication studies. In this study, the approach of the Frankfurt School or the Critical Theory to the mass communication means, which plays an important role in the formation of a critical tradition in communication science. In this context, by studying the works of the school members, it is aimed at facilitating those who want to carry out scientific research in this direction.

Keywords: