FROM MEDIA EFFECTS TO SYSTEM THEORY: THE JOURNEY OF COMPARATIVE RESEARCH IN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

Departing from the criticisms that have been raised towards the volume Comparing Media Systems (Hallin and Mancini, 2004) I'll try to discuss which consequences the adoption of the "concept" of system may imply for media studies, what its advantages are and what risks. The first part of the article is devoted to discussing how and when the notion of "system" has been used in political science starting from the work of Easton, Almond and Powell and many others. I'll try to highlight which are the main points of strength and weakness and which definitions have been used. Then I'll move to the field of communication studies: here I'll show how there has been a shift from the study of the effects of the message towards a more general approach linking the media to the surrounding context. I will focus mainly on the work of Blumler and Gurvitch who have been among the first scholars to use such a concept in political communication comparative research. Particular attention will be devoted to the discussion of the notion of "system" as deriving from system theory and functionalist approach. The last part of the text is devoted to discussing similarities and differences in the use that political scientists and media scholars have made of the concept of "system".