Bernard R. Berelson Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Bernard R. Berelson (1912–1979) was an American behavioral scientist who made significant contributions to communication research, voting studies, and population policy. Born in Spokane, Washington, on June 2, 1912, Berelson graduated from Whitman College in 1936 and received a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1941. In 1944 he became a project director at the Columbia University Bureau of Applied Social Research. In 1951 he joined the Ford Foundation in California and popularized behavioral sciences as a director. Berelson also guided the establishment of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University in California in 1952.

Berelson wrote or edited twelve books in social and behavioral sciences, including The People’s Choice (1944; coauthored with Paul E. Lazarsfeld and Hazel Gaudet), and published more than ninety articles. He contributed a very important chapter on the meaning of the voting process in a democracy in Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign (1986), which he coauthored with Lazarsfeld and William McPhee. He highlighted the fact that most voters are not acquainted with political reality and respond to irrelevant social influences. He stated that “a democracy sets different requirements for different individuals and an electoral system must achieve a balance between various segments of society.” Berelson was highly organized and goal-oriented. He preferred writing in a direct and jargon-free style. He was greatly concerned about the practical, ethical, and value implications of scientific research. For example, in his last publication, he dealt with various ethical issues involved in government efforts toward influencing fertility. He showed great respect for the rights of the people in studies such as Paths to Fertility Reduction: The Policy Cube (1977) and The Condition of Fertility Decline in Developing Countries, 1965–75 (1978). He held the firm belief that rapid population growth suppressed social and economic development and, therefore, all efforts should be made to lower population growth in global interest.

Berelson was convinced that well-researched and evidence based findings could make a significant practical difference in knowledge-based societies. He encouraged collaboration between research scientists and policy makers. For instance, he evaluated various family planning interventions in Bangladesh, South Korea,Taiwan, and Thailand and sought to convince the governments of these countries that such interventions also could be politically and socially acceptable. He even established a journal called Studies in Family Planning. He played a pioneer role in promoting World Leaders Declaration on Population, which was presented at the United Nations in 1967.

Berelson served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. He excelled at summarizing important scientific works. Fourteen of his articles were published posthumously in a volume edited by John A. Ross and W. Parker Mauldin in 1988. This volume also included Berelson’s full bibliography. Berelson remained the president of the Population Council until 1974, when he resigned due to disagreements with John D. Rockefeller III— the founder and chair of the council. However, Berelson continued as a senior fellow until his death in 1979.

Bibliography:

Granberg, Donald, and Soren Holmberg. “The Berelson Paradox Reconsidered: Intention-Behavior Changers in the U.S. and Swedish Election Campaigns.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 54 (Winter 1990): 530–550.
Mauldin,W. Parker. “Bernard Berelson: 2 June 1912–25 September 1979.” Studies in Family Planning 10 (October 1979): 259–262.
Ross, John A., and W. Parker Mauldin, eds. Berelson on Population. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988.
Sills, David L. “In Memoriam: Bernard Berelson, 1912–1979.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 44 (Summer 1980): 274–275.