The Diffusion of Innovations. Why Does It Endure?
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1984
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Abstract
The appearance in late 1983 of the third edition of Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation (Free Press) is an event that poses some challenging questions for the communication research community. For those who look at research from a critical perspective, it may seem a contradiction that the book is still popular enough 10 merit a third edition; it has, even according to the author, been subject to a number of criticisms from both ciritical and traditional social science quarters over the past decade. For others who belong to the quantitative tradition, its publication perhaps affirms the enduring value of the positivist/empiricist approach to communication research and the viability of Rogers' basic model of diffusion.
In this brief review essay, I want to respond to both traditions (in which I find myself historically involved, for better or worse!) by a more careful examination of the text than is usually possible in briefer book review formats. Using the analogy of literary exegesis, we can better grasp the text's essential core through its three editions and subsequent emendations over the past twenty-two years. Thereby we will better understand the reasons why-in addition to its broad popularity- it has also been criticized from researchers in both traditions.
Recommended Citation
McAnany, E. G. (1984). The diffusion of innovation: Why does it endure? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1(4), 439–442. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295038409360053
