Paul Felix Lazarsfeld was born in Vienna. In 1924 he earned a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Vienna and during 1924-1925 he continued his post doctorate studies in France. Lazarsfeld entered politics and in Austria he joined the S.D.A.P. (Sozialdemokratische Arbeitpartei Oesterreich) and in France he was a member of the Fifth Section of the French Socialist Party. Upon his return to Vienna he was professor of mathematics at the Gymnasium.
Concurrently he began to work in applied psychology. From 1929 to 1933 he was faculty member of the Psychiatric Institute at the University of Vienna. In 1929 he became instructor of psychiatry, subsequently division director of applicable psychiatry and continued studies on consumer research for European and American business corporations and on social psychiatry. Following his studies on unemployment he published: Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal (Leipzig, 1932; 2nd edition Allensbach, 1961) as co-author with wife, Maria Jahoda and Hans Zeisel. In 1933-1935 he was a fellow at Rockefeller Foundation to study psychiatric research in USA. He decided to remain in the USA and returned to Vienna only to obtain his immigration visa. In 1935-1936 he was supervisor at the National Youth Administration, N.J, and in 1936-37 was director at Research Center, University of Newark, N.J. From 1937 to 1940 Lazarsfeld became director at the Office of Radio Research, Princeton University (from 1939 in Columbia University, later renamed: the Bureau of Applied Social Research). From 1940 to 1976, P. F. Lazarsfeld was a faculty member at Columbia University. At first he was associate professor of sociology, from 1940 director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research. From 1949 he served as associate director, and was chairman of graduate department of sociology. In 1963 he became Quetelet Professor of Social Sciences and in 1971 professor emeritus. From 1971 to 1976 he was professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During World War II Lazarsfeld was consultant at O.W.I. (Office of War Information), War Production Board, War Department. In 1949 he was consultant at the New York Public Service Commission on canned music. In 1962-1963 and again in 1967-1968 he was visiting professor at Sorbonne, Paris.
Lazarsfeld specialized in analyzing the impact of all mass media on society. His collaboration in the 1930s and 1940s with Dr. Frank Stanton, head of research for CBC and later its president, resulted in the invention of the “Stanton-Lazarsfeld box”, a tool to register audience reactions, in order to analyze listener preference. They co-edited Radio and the Printed Page (New York, 1940); two reports, Radio Research 1941 (New York, 1942); Radio Research 1942-1943 (New York 1944), and Communications Research 1948-1949 (New York, 1949). Theodor Adorno and Lazarsfeld’s second wife, Herta Herzog, aided him in his radio-analyses. He wrote Radio Listening in America (New York, 1948) with Patricia Kendall (his third wife). Further studies include: The People’s Choice: How The Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign (New York, 1944, 3rd ed. 1968, as Wahlen und Wahler (Berlin, 1969), and Voting (Chicago, 1954; 2nd edition 1966). Voter forecasting as used today is based on these studies.
He promoted the use of mathematics in social sciences and was editor of Mathematical Thinking in the Social Sciences (New York, 1954, 2nd ed. 1960). His The Language of Social Research (New York, 1955; 2nd ed. 1967), co-edited with M. Rosenberg, elaborated on P. F. Lazarsfeld’s position that both insight and quantification are necessary ingredients to social scientific research. He served on special TV research commissions at the TV Bureau of Advertising.
Lazarsfeld was a member of American Sociologists Association (past president); American Statisticists Association; American Psychiatrists Association; American Marketing Association; Society for Psychiatry; American Association Public Opinion Research (past president); National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Study for Social Issues.
Lazarsfeld was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for Research in Journalism, Sigma Delta, Chicago (1941); Award, Kappa Tau Alpha (1948); First Julian Woodward Award from American Association, Public Opinion Research (1955), Award Conference on Enlightened Public Opinion (1958); L.H.D. h.c. (honoris causa) from Yeshiva University, New York (1966); LL. D, h.c. from the University of Chicago; LL.D. h.c. Columbia University; Honorary Doctorate, Vienna University (1971); Gold Cross from the Republic of Austria, and others.
Lazarsfeld was co-author of Gemeinschaftserziehung durch Erziehungsgemeinschaften (Vienna, 1925); and of Research Memorandum on the Family in the Depression (New York, 1937). His other publications include Statischtisches Praktikum fuer Psychologen und Lehrer (Jena, 1929); he was an editeor and contributed to Jugend und Beruf (Jena, 1931); Academic Mind: Social Scientists in a Time of Crisis (Glencoe, Ill, 1958); co-author of Personal Influence (Glenco, Ill, 1964); co-editor of The Uses of Sociology (New York, 1967); co-author of Latent Structure Analysis (New York, 1968); Am Puls der Gesellschaft: Zur Methodik der empirischen Soziologie (Vienna, Frankfurt, Zurich, 1968); Qualitative Analysis: Historical and Critical Essays (Boston, 1972); editor of Continuities in the Language of Social Research (New York, 1972); Main Trends in Sociology (New York, London, 1973); Eine Episode in der Geschichte der empirischen Socialforschung (Munich, 1975); co-author of An Introduction of Applied Sociology (New York, 1975). He contributed research reports and numerous articles in international periodicals.