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Media and society : a critical perspective / Arthur Asa Berger.
LIBRA HM1206 .B47 2003
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Berger, Arthur Asa, 1933-
- Series:
- R & L series in mass communication
- R&L series in mass communication
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Mass media--Social aspects.
- Mass media.
- Physical Description:
- ix, 238 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
- Other Title:
- Media & society
- Place of Publication:
- Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, [2003]
- Summary:
- Media and Society is a lively, illustrated introduction to the role that mass media--and the messages and texts they carry--play in our lives and our society. Arthur Asa Berger explores the time we spend with media, media aesthetics, ethics, audiences, media effects, technologies, violence and sexuality in media, and ownership. Media and Society helps us understand the relationship between consumers and media--the books, television, radio, magazines, web sites, video games, newspapers, movies, and other mass media we encounter every day.
- Contents:
- Introduction: The Media and You
- a Consideration 1
- Focal Points in the Study of Mass Media 2
- Friends and the Focal Points 2
- Two Anecdotes on Choice 4
- 1 Media in Our Thoughts and Lives: A Psychosocial Perspective on Individuals, Society, and the Media 7
- Johnny Q. Public's Media Usage 7
- A Group Portrait of My Readers 8
- Media Effects and Your Life 12
- Television Viewing and "Vicious" Cycles 13
- The Media in Society 14
- A Case Study: Where Did I Get That Idea? 14
- 2 Media Usage in the United States 21
- The Media We Use 22
- A Primer on Communication 23
- Traditional Ways of Classifying the Media 25
- McLuhan's Hot and Cool Media 26
- The Media Help Shape the Texts They Carry 29
- 3 The Social Dimension of Media Aesthetics 33
- Saussure on Signs 34
- Peirce on Icons, Indexes, and Symbols 35
- Lying with Signs 36
- Editing Techniques and Semiotics 38
- The Nature of Narratives: Vladimir Propp 42
- A Proppian Analysis of James Bond Films 45
- The Nature of Narratives: Claude Levi-Strauss 46
- Postmodernism and Media Aesthetics 49
- 4 Audiences I: Categories 53
- Audiences Are Specialized 53
- Problems Advertisers Face 54
- Shares and Ratings 55
- Demographics and Audiences 57
- Psychographics and Audiences 61
- Political Cultures as Audiences 65
- Active Audiences: Decoding Mass Mediated Texts 68
- Active Audiences: Uses and Gratifications 70
- 5 Audiences II: Effects 75
- Is Mass Culture Making Us All Morons? 76
- Johnny and Tiffany Make Dinner 77
- The Concept of Media Effects Needs Qualification 79
- Criticisms of the Mass Media and the Texts They Carry 80
- Anti-Media Rage 90
- Defenders of the Mass Media and Popular Culture 91
- Other Defenses of the Mass Media and the Texts They Carry 92
- The Postmodern Solution 95
- 6 The Social Impact of New Media Technologies 99
- The Digital World 101
- The Computer and Culture 103
- Virtual Communities 107
- Video Games: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective 110
- Positive Aspects of Video-Game Playing 111
- The Technological Imperative 113
- 7 The Social Significance of Mass Mediated Texts 117
- The Texts the Media Carry Have Power 118
- Convention and Invention in Texts 119
- The Power of Commercials 120
- Narratives in the Media 122
- Aristotle on Narratives 124
- Texts and Other Texts: Intertextuality 125
- The Question of the "Ur-Text" 129
- News on Television 130
- The 9/11 Tragedy 131
- 8 Media and Violence 135
- How Is Media Violence Defined? 136
- A New Longitudinal Study of Television Viewing and Violence 137
- Kinds of Violence 140
- Violence in Texts: Quantity versus Quality 141
- Violence in News Broadcasts 142
- Children and Media Violence 145
- "Kill 'Em" 147
- 9 Media Artists 151
- Publishing a Scholarly Book: A Case Study 152
- The Book Business 155
- Script Writing and Aberrant Decoding 157
- Media Ethics and Journalists 159
- Ethics and Advertising 1 Selling Cancer 160
- Ethics and Advertising 2 Portrayal of Women 161
- Ethics and Advertising 3 Political Commercials 164
- 10 The Mass Culture/Mass Society Hypothesis 171
- The Mass Culture Hypothesis: Myth or Reality? 171
- Round Up the Indictments, or, The Language of Criticism in the Fifties 172
- Where Are the Mass Men and Mass Women the Critics of the Fifties Warned Us About? 173
- Does Popular Culture Destroy Our Ability to Enjoy Elite Culture? 175
- Are We Becoming Homogenized? Are the Mass Media Uniform? 176
- Mass Culture and the Melting Pot 178
- Change and Continuity in American Culture 180
- Mass Culture and American Society: The Myth of the Monolith 180
- 11 Media in Society 185
- Media Consolidation 185
- On Cultural Imperialism: The Coca-Colonization Hypothesis 188
- A Note on Ideology and the Media 190
- The Problem of Pornography 191
- A Supreme Court Decision on "Virtual" Child Pornography 194
- Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion and Political Ideology 195
- Government Regulation and Deregulation of Broadcasting 197
- Ethnic Media: A Complicating Factor 199.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-229) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0742525112
- 0742525120
- OCLC:
- 52090588
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