Peter Simonson
Assistant Professor
Areas of specialization
Mass Communication and Rhetorical Theory, Intellectual History of
Communication, the work of Robert K. Merton, and Rhetorical and Communication
Pedagogy.
Curriculum Vitae
Phone: (412) 624-6810
Fax: (412) 624-1878
Office: CL 1102
Mailing Address:
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Communication
1117 Cathedral of Learning
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: simonson+@pitt.edu
Major Publications
Books:
John Durham Peters and Peter Simonson, eds, Mass Communication
and American Social Thought: Classic Texts, 1919-1968. To be published
by Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
Recent Journal Articles:
“Voting Alone: The Passing of ‘Mass’ Democracy” (with
Carolyn Marvin), Critical and Cultural Communication Studies 1:1 (2004).
“
A Rhetoric for Polytheistic Democracy: Walt Whitman’s ‘Poem
of Many in One.’” Philosophy and Rhetoric 36:4 (2004)
"Assembly, Ritual, and Widespread Community: Mass Communication
in Paul of Tarsus.” Journal of Media and Religion 2 (2003) 165-182.
"Bioethics and the Rituals of Media."
The Hastings Center Report 32:1 (2002), 32-39.
"Social Noise and Segmented Rhythms:
News, Entertainment, and Celebrity in the Crusade for Animal Rights."
The Communication Review 4 (2001) 399-420.
"Mediated Sources of Public Confidence:
Lazarsfeld and Merton Revisited," Journal of Communication 49:2
(1999) 109-122.
"Dreams of Democratic Togetherness:
Communication Hope from Cooley to Katz," Critical Studies
in Mass Communication 13 (1996) 324-342.
Recent book chapters:
Introduction to Robert K. Merton, Mass
Persuasion: The Social Psychology of a War Bond Drive. New
York: Howard Fertig (2004) [re-publication, with
new introduction,
of 1946 text].
"Critical Research at Columbia: Lazarsfeld
and Merton's 'Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action,'" in Elihu
Katz, John D. Peters, and Tamar Liebes (Eds.), Canonic Texts in Media
Research: Are There Any? Should There Be? How About These? Cambridge,
UK: Polity Press (2002).
Rhetoric and Legitimation, in The
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric (Thomas O. Sloane, Ed.) Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2001.
"Varieties of Pragmatism and Communication:
Visions and Revisions from Peirce to Peters," in David Perry (Ed.), Pragmatism and Communication Research (pp. 1-26). Mahway,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001.
Courses Taught
Graduate
The
Pragmatist Tradition (Spring, 2001)
Twentieth-Century Mass Communication Theory (Spring, 2002)
Ritual Approaches to Communication (Spring, 2003)
Teaching Practicum (each fall)
Undergraduate
Rhetorical Process
Member of:
International
Communication Association (Popular Communication, Philosophy of Communication,
Mass Communication)
National Communication Association (Rhetorical and Communication Theory)
