Television in American ideological hopes and fears

The Chicago School of Social Thought was characterized by a hope for a Great Community fashioned through the new media technologies. The communication theorists at Chicago reflected long-standing patterns of the American imagination, assuming a consensual model of society in which technologies would aid in producing abundance. This article examines some of these themes, using the rise of television after World War II as the focus. A new middle class is seen to emerge which viewed television as the agency for creating their new community and an arena for struggling with various status groups to become legitimate.