附註:Includes bibliographical references (pages 234-259) and index.
Introduction: Unravelling media theory -- Section 1 Developing the field: a history of media theory -- Mass society and modernity: early media theory -- Schools of thought: developing approaches to media theory -- Section 2 The production process -- The censorship of money: theories of media ownership and control -- Inside the image factory: theories of media organisation and media work -- Section 3 Media content -- Telling it as it is? Questions of media representation -- Ways of making you think: theories of ideology and meaning -- Section 4 Theories of media effects and audiences -- Effects, what effects? Power and influence of the media -- The audience strikes back : new audience and reception theory -- Section 5 Media change and media theory -- Living in the global village: new media theory.
摘要:Understanding Media Theory is an accessible introduction to the different theories of the mass media. The author seeks to emphasise the importance of using theory not only to make sense of the role of media in society but also to understand particular aspects of the process of mass communication. , The book outlines the historical development of theorising about the media and introduces a number of the key approaches and perspectives that have shaped media theory. These include Marxism, liberal-pluralism, feminism and post-modernism. , It also examines how different parts of the mass communication process have been understood and conceptualised by media theorists including media work and production, media content and media audiences and reception. The book concludes by looking at media theory in light of the radical changes that are likely to revolutionise the media and the processes of mass communication in the twenty-first century. , Understanding Media Theory acknowledges the distrust and suspicion many have of theory and the different types of theoretical knowledge of the media that exist. The focus is on social scientific theories but also recognised is the influence of common sense and practitioner thinking.
