Press and Its Readers

Compare retailer offers

About this product

Mass Observation was founded by Tom Harrisson, Charles Madge and Humphrey Jennings in 1937. Its purpose was to create 'an anthropology of ourselves' in other words, to study the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. Discounting an initial pamphlet, this was the seventeenth book to be published. It appears in Faber Finds as a part of an extensive reissue programme of the original Mass Observation titles. Within the initial Mass Observation titles there was a sub-series called 'Change' reports. This is the only one, so far, Faber Finds is reissuing and it was the seventh in that sub-series, first published in 1949. In the introduction, it is made clear 'there have been successive attempts to analyse circulation by age, social class and sex' but 'little attention has been given to the study of attitudes of readers to their newspapers.' The Report, like so much else Mass Observation did then, was a pioneering study. Extracts from two chapters give a flavour of the book. In 'Readers Observed' we come across, for example: A skilled working-man, aged 60. 'Wering trilby hat, gloves, blue jacket, black striped trousers. Takes up News Chronicle . First spends 2 minutes skipping throu

More from Faber & Faber