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Does exposure to media violence make us more violent? Do stereotypes in the media affect the way we see different social groups? Do media institutions play any role in social change?
Media Effects is a concise introduction which studies the ways in which media use affects society. James Shanahan explores how researchers and society became interested in media effects, outlines the important developments in the field, and looks at how research on narrative is playing a progressively important role in revealing what we know. The book also provides a timely interweaving of different perspectives, ranging from concerned and critical voices within media studies to quantitative psychological approaches which tend to be more sceptical about powerful media effects.
Concise and authoritative, Media Effects is the go-to text for students and scholars getting to grips with this fascinating and important topic.
List of contents
Preface Acknowledgments
1 Introduction "Media effects": What are they?
"Media effects": An etymology
Opinion
"Mass" communication
"A word has appeared": Propaganda
Public opinion
Toward media effects
Another way
Critical studies
Cultural studies
Other concerns and outlooks
Summary and outline
Notes
2 A Narrative Perspective The narrative perspective
Narrative theories, communication, and media
Media effects: Reluctantly focused on persuasion
Recovering orality
Narrative structure
Narrative psychology and the evolution of narrative
The evolution of narrative
Notes
3 Media and Violence Imitation and social learning
Scientific agreement
New technologies and new concerns: Guns, video games, institutional opinions
An uneasy consensus
Cultural indicators
The Violence Profile
Cultivation
Violence as a cultural indicator
Cultivation and narrative
Notes
4 Media and Social Representation Representation and effects
Women
African Americans
Sexual minorities and social change
Summary
Notes
5 Media Use and Social Control Cultural indicators and social control
Authoritarianism
The irony of the turn from propaganda: The reality of powerful media effects
Summary
Notes
6 "New" Media, New Narratives? Categories of media effects research
The "new" new media?
Post-mass media
Networks and media theory
Two Americas?
Did technology change narrative?
Convergence culture
Digital degradation
Summary
Notes
7 Conclusion Media as conversation
Conversations and narratives
Symptoms, Dx, and Rx
References
Index
About the author
James Shanahan is Dean of the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Summary
Does exposure to media violence make us more violent? Do stereotypes in the media affect the way we see different social groups? Do media institutions play any role in social change?
Media Effects is a concise introduction which studies the ways in which media use affects society. James Shanahan explores how researchers and society became interested in media effects, outlines the important developments in the field, and looks at how research on narrative is playing a progressively important role in revealing what we know. The book also provides a timely interweaving of different perspectives, ranging from concerned and critical voices within media studies to quantitative psychological approaches which tend to be more sceptical about powerful media effects.
Concise and authoritative, Media Effects is the go-to text for students and scholars getting to grips with this fascinating and important topic.
Report
"James Shanahan provides a compelling new map for well-trodden ground, theory and research on media effects. His book is impressively wide-ranging at the same time that it coalesces into sharp focus. I was excited to find new synergies, new insights, and new possibilities for explorations of the ways that the media shape individuals and the wider social world." Erica Scharrer, University of Massachusetts "Too rarely do prominent scholars take the time to pause and take stock of their own academic field. Media Effects" is a rare exception. Jim Shanahan offers us his very nuanced and compelling editorial take on almost a century of media effects research that has hopefully learned from its own past. It is particularly refreshing to have one of the eminent media effects researchers of our time help us to separate signal from noise in this rapidly growing field of research." Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin "James Shanahan provides a compelling new map for well-trodden ground, theory and research on media effects. His book is impressively wide-ranging at the same time that it coalesces into sharp focus. I was excited to find new synergies, new insights, and new possibilities for explorations of the ways that the media shape individuals and the wider social world." Erica Scharrer, University of Massachusetts "Too rarely do prominent scholars take the time to pause and take stock of their own academic field. Media Effects is a rare exception. Jim Shanahan offers us his very nuanced and compelling editorial take on almost a century of media effects research that has hopefully learned from its own past. It is particularly refreshing to have one of the eminent media effects researchers of our time help us to separate signal from noise in this rapidly growing field of research." Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin
