Full Description
'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 & communication, LSE Clearly organized, systematic and combining a critical survey of the field with a finely judged assessment of cutting edge developments, this book provides a 'must have' contribution to media and communication studies. The text is organized into three distinctive parts, which fall neatly into research and teaching requirements: Elements of the Media (which covers media technologies, the organization of the media industry, media content and media users); Media, Power and Control (which addresses questions of the media and manipulation, the construction of news, public service broadcasting, censorship, commercialization); and Media, Identity and Culture (which covers issues of the media and ethnicity, gender, subcultures, audiences and fans).The book is notable for: / Logical and coherent organization / Clarity of expression / Use of relevant examples / Fair minded criticism / Zestful powers of analysis It has all of the qualities to be adopted as core introductory text in the large and buoyant field of media and communication studies.
Contents
1. Introduction Media, Culture, Society Starting PointsMirroring 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: 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 Dilution of the Nation Fragmentation Globalization The Internet: Interactive but Fragmented Conclusion: National Public - Good Riddance? PART THREE: MEDIA, IDENTITY AND CULTURE 10. Media, Ethnicity and Diaspora Introduction Racism and Exclusion Representation Under-Representation Stereotypical Representations The Reproduction of Subordination Promoting 'Positive' Images Reversing Stereotypes of Passivity Successful, Well Adjusted, Integrated The Burden of Representation New Ethnicities and Diaspora New Ethnicities Diaspora Representing Diaspora Audience Segregation Newspapers, Video and Global Bollywood Digital Specialization Online Diaspora Conclusion: Empowerment or Ghettoization? 11. Media, Gender and Sexuality Introduction Constructions of Femininity Female Marginalization The Male Gaze Patriarchal Romance and Domesticity Post-Feminist Independence? The Enduring Gaze Elitist Critics? Empowering Possibilities Reading the Romance Subversive Pleasures? From Consumers to Producers Remaining Critical Media and Masculinities Masculinity or Masculinities? Lads' Mags and Contradictory Representations Beyond Heterosexuality Conclusion: A Balanced Approach 12. Media Communities: Subcultures, Fans and Identity Groups Introduction Media versus Community Homogenization and Atomization Resisting Mass Culture (and Media): Youth Subcultures Moral Panic and Mass Media Stigmatization Targeting Community Local Media Niche Magazines and Consumer Groupings Niche Digital Media DIY Media and Internet Communication Fanzines Online Micro-Communication Virtual Community Communities or Individuals? Conclusion: All about Definitions 13. Saturation, Fluidity and Loss of Meaning Introduction Saturation as Loss of Meaning Consumerism: Expansion and Speed-up Information Overload Media = Reality From Truth, to Ideology, to Simulacra Celebrity Culture as Hyperreal Identity: Fragmentation and Fluidity Recycling and Pastiche The Internet as Virtual Playground Simulated Identity? Internet as Extension of Everyday Life Case Study: Social Networking Sites Conclusion: Saturated but Real? Glossary
