The social significance of newspaper comics
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Date
1938
Authors
McDonell, Alma Dora, 1907-
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Description
Since the comics are a widely read section of the modern newspaper, we have become interested in the reasons for their great popularity, and in pointing out if possible the nature and extent of their social significance. It is our belief that many people creating, distributing, publishing, and reading the funnies are to a greater or less extent unaware of the social implications of the panel and the strip for individuals, the nation as a whole, and for foreign nations and nationals. Many sociologists and other social scientists must have sensed the rapidly growing popularity and hence the automatically increasing social influence of the comics, but we have been unable to find in any journal, text, or treatise in sociology and related sciences a comprehensive scientific treatment of the existence and possible scope of their appeal and therefore of their importance in the realms of social control and of education. Within the limitations of this work, the research attempted with regard to these two factors has hardly more than scratched the surface of what we believe could be done in this regard.