Media Culture and Society - An Introduction

A student-friendly introduction to the interdisciplinary fields of media, culture and society. A cutting edge book aimed at large, introductory undergradute courses in media, communication, cultural studies, and sociology departments.

List of contents

'1. Introduction
Media, Culture, Society
Starting Points: Shaping, Mirroring and Re-Presenting
The Communication Process
Transmitters, Receivers and Noise'Who Says What...?' and Other Questions
Linear and One-Dimensional
Elements of Media in Sociocultural Context
Media, Power and Control
Media, Identity and Culture
Making Connections
PART ONE: ELEMENTS OF MEDIA
2. Media Technologies
Introduction
Contrasting Medium Theories
McLuhan: The Medium Is the Message
Kill Your Television
Technological Determinism
Hot, Cool or Both?
Generalization and Reification
Technologies and Social Contexts
Capacities and Constraints
Into the Digital Age
Convergence
Interactivity
Mobility
The Internet: A Cure for Social Ills?
Conclusion: Technologies in Context
3. Media Industry
Introduction
Media Organizations
Commercial Ownership
Concentration of Ownership = Concentration of Ideas?
The Bottom Line: Sources of Revenue
Advertising Revenue
Direct Audience Payments
Payments between Media Companies
Maximizing Audiences
The Role of Sponsors
Governments and Regulation
Access Restrictions
Ownership Restrictions
Content Regulation
Deregulation
Supporting the Industry: Copyright
Conclusion: Economic Determinism?
4. Media Content
Introduction
Media Texts as Arrangements of Signs
Signs as Arbitrary?
Levels of Meaning
Signs as Relational
Uncovering Mythology
Limitations of Semiology
Narrative, Genre and Discourse Analysis
Narrative Analysis
Genre Analysis
Discourse Analysis
From Quality to Quantity: Content Analysis'Systematic, Objective and Quantitative'Categories and Coding
Population and Sample
Case Study: Gerbner and Television Violence
Limitations of Content Analysis
Conclusion: Putting Texts into Context
5. Media Users
Introduction
U S Empirical Traditions of Audience Research
Effects Research
Limited Effects and Two-Step Flow
Uses and Gratifications
Functionalist and Complacent?
Cultural Studies: Dominant and Oppositional Readings
Encoding, Decoding and Preferred Meanings
Social Context and Differential Readings
Audiences as Cultural Producers
Ethnographies of Audiences, Fans and Users
Conclusion: An Uncritical Celebration?
PART TWO: MEDIA, POWER AND CONTROL
6. Media as Manipulation? Marxism and Ideology
Introduction
Marxism and Ideology: Basics
The Culture Industry as Mass Deception
Unsupported Elitism?
Ideological Meanings
Beyond Marx's Materialism
Case Study: Consumerist Myths
Political Economy and Ideology
Manufacturing Consent
Cultural Imperialism as Globalization of Ideology
Arguments and Criticisms
Political Economic versus Cultural Approaches
Complex Communication Flows and Consumer Resistance
Conclusion: Avoiding Easy Dismissals
7. The Construction of News
Introduction
Selection, Gatekeeping and Agenda-Setting
News Values
Case Study: September 11th 2001
Constructing Stories
Differences between News Providers
Medium
Style and Market Position
Political Stance
Similarities: Back to Bias and Ideology?
Class Bias
Institutional Bias
Infotainment and Depoliticization
Conclusion: Bad News?
8. Public Service or Personal Entertainment? Controlling Media Orientation
Introduction
Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)
Reith and the BBC
Differing PSB Arrangements
Developing PSB Principles
Enabling or Imposing?
Censorship: Preventing Harm and Offence
Avoiding Majority (and Minority) Offence
Pornography
Violence
Preventing Harm or Inhibiting Freedom?
Commercial Competition and Consumer Choice
Neo-Liberal Approaches
US Broadcasting: A Free Market Model
A Toaster with Pictures: The Decline of Regulation
Conclusion: A Rosy Commercial Future?
9. Decline of the National Public: Commercialization, Fragmentation and Globalization
Introduction
Media and the Public Sphere
Habermas' Public Sphere
Media and Public Engagement
Nation as 'Imagined Community'Decline of the Public Sphere
From Facilitators to Shapers
Commercially Driven Content
Digital

Report

In his beautifully balanced, clear and broad-ranging account of a fast-changing field, Paul Hodkinson has successfully brought together myriad perspectives with which to critically analyse today's media culture and media society
Sonia Livingstone
Professor of Media and Communication, LSE

Introductory texts are notoriously difficult to write; they have to be accessible, engaging, well organised and well written. Hodkinson has succeeded in writing a book which makes a distinctive and engaging contribution to the literature; it is a work which combines scholarship and imagination. The book is carefully organised and sets an agenda which will be useful to students in a wide variety of contexts. It manages to combine traditional approaches to understanding the media with new and emergent issues and areas. Contemporary examples and illustrations are used throughout to ensure that general analysis is always embedded in particular case studies and each section is rounded off with a summary conclusion which allows students to reflect on their reading. The book is fully supported by key references and succeeds in providing an introduction to which students will return throughout their studies
Tim O'Sullivan
Professor of Media, Film and Journalism, De Montfort University

Written clearly and accessibly, Media, Culture and Society offers a solid grounding in key theories and debates. From media technologies through to audience communities, Hodkinson is always a sure-footed guide
Matt Hills
Cardiff University

Product details

• Authors: Paul Hodkinson
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 15.10.2010
• EAN: 9781412920537
• ISBN: 978-1-4129-2053-7
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Society; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > General, dictionaries