Media/Society : Industries, Images, and Audiences

by David Croteau

• ISBN13: 9780761987734
• ISBN10: 0761987738
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Pine Forge Press

Summary

This book gives students an overview of the entire media process - from production to content to audiences - with an emphasis on how social forces influence the media and how media potentially affect society. A key emphasis throughout the work is how various elements in the media process interact with each other. This Third Edition of Media/Society provides students with conceptual tools for understanding the role of media in contemporary society - where mass media images come from, how and why they matter, and the kinds of questions and dilemmas that mass media raise about social life.

Table of Contents

List of Exhibits	xv
Preface	xvii
PART ONE Media/Society	1	(30)
Media and the Social World	3	(28)
The Importance of Media	4	(2)
The Rise of Mass Media	6	(7)
The Print Medium	9	(2)
Sound Recording and the Film Medium	11	(1)
Broadcast Media	11	(1)
``New'' Media	12	(1)
Media and Society	13	(3)
Mass Media in Socialization	13	(2)
Mass Media in Social Relations	15	(1)
A Sociology of Media	16	(9)
The Importance of Social Relations	18	(2)
Structural Constraint and Human Agency	20	(2)
Structure and Agency in the Media	22	(3)
A Model of Media and the Social World	25	(5)
Applying the Model: The Civil Rights Movement	27	(3)
Conclusion	30	(1)
PART TWO Production: The Media Industry and the Social World	31	(126)
The Economics of the Media Industry	33	(44)
Changing Patterns of Ownership	34	(10)
Concentration of Ownership	34	(6)
Conglomeration and Integration	40	(4)
Consequences of Conglomeration and Integration	44	(3)
Integration and Self Promotion	44	(2)
The Impact of Conglomeration	46	(1)
The Effects of Concentration	47	(11)
Media Control and Political Power	47	(4)
Media Ownership and Content Diversity	51	(7)
Mass Media for Profit	58	(5)
Prime-Time Profits	58	(4)
Profit and the News Media	62	(1)
The Impact of Advertising	63	(13)
Advertising and the Press in the Nineteenth Century	66	(4)
Advertising and the Contemporary News Media	70	(3)
Advertising, MTV, and ``New'' Media	73	(3)
Conclusion	76	(1)
Political Influence on Media	77	(44)
The Case of ``Pirate Radio''	78	(2)
Common Features of Media Regulation Debates	80	(3)
The ``First Freedom''	83	(2)
The ``Public Interest'' and the Regulation Debate	85	(2)
Regulation in International Perspective	87	(2)
Regulating Ownership and Control	89	(9)
Regulating Ownership of Media Outlets	89	(3)
Regulating Ownership of Programming: The Case of ``Fin-Syn'' Rules	92	(3)
Regulating Ownership and Control of Technology	95	(3)
Regulating Media Content and Distribution	98	(18)
Regulating the Media Left and Right: Diversity Versus Property Rights	98	(1)
Regulating for Diversity: The Fairness Doctrine	99	(2)
Regulating for Morality	101	(11)
Regulating for Accuracy: Advertising	112	(1)
Regulating in the ``National Interest'': Media and the Military	113	(3)
Informal Political, Social, and Economic Pressure	116	(3)
Conclusion	119	(2)
Media Organizations and Professionals	121	(36)
The Limits of Economic and Political Constraints	122	(2)
Working Within Economic Constraints	122	(1)
Responding to Political Constraints	123	(1)
The Organization of Media Work	124	(11)
News Routines	126	(3)
Selecting Front-Page Stories	129	(2)
Objectivity	131	(4)
Occupational Roles and Professional Socialization	135	(14)
Photography	137	(6)
Editorial Decision Making	143	(6)
Norms on the Internet	149	(4)
Hits, Stars, and Decision Making	153	(3)
Conclusion	156	(1)
PART THREE Content: Media Representations of the Social World	157	(72)
Media and Ideology	159	(36)
What Is Ideology?	159	(5)
``Dominant Ideology'' Versus Cultural Contradictions	161	(2)
Ideology as Normalization	163	(1)
Theoretical Roots of Ideological Analysis	164	(5)
Early Marxist Origins	164	(1)
Hegemony	165	(4)
News Media and the Limits of Debate	169	(3)
Elites and Insiders	169	(2)
Economic News as Ideological Construct	171	(1)
Movies, the Military, and Masculinity	172	(4)
Action-Adventure Films	174	(1)
Vietnam Films	175	(1)
Television, Popularity, and Ideology	176	(5)
Television and Reality	178	(1)
Television and the Changing American Family	179	(2)
Rap Music as Ideological Critique?	181	(3)
Advertising and Consumer Culture	184	(5)
Selling Consumerism in the Early Twentieth Century	186	(2)
Women's Magazines as Advertisements	188	(1)
Advertising and the Globalization of Culture	189	(3)
Conclusion	192	(3)
Social Inequality and Media Representation	195	(34)
Comparing Media Content and the ``Real'' World	196	(2)
The Significance of Content	198	(2)
Race and Media Content: Inclusion, Roles, and Control	200	(12)
Racial Diversity in Media Content	202	(2)
Race and Media Roles	204	(6)
Controlling Media Images of Race	210	(2)
Gender and Media Content	212	(4)
Women: Presence and Control in the Media	212	(1)
Changing Media Roles for Women and Men	213	(3)
Class and the Media	216	(8)
``Some People Are More Valuable Than Others''	216	(1)
Class and Media Content	217	(7)
Sexual Orientation: Out of the Closet and Into the Media?	224	(3)
Conclusion	227	(2)
PART FOUR Audiences: Meaning and Influence	229	(106)
Media Influence and the Political World	231	(34)
Media and Political Elites	232	(8)
A Politics of Image	233	(4)
The Decline of Political Parties and Mediating Institutions	237	(1)
Politics as Spectator Sport	238	(2)
Media and Individual Citizens	240	(7)
Media Effects: From Influence to Interaction	240	(4)
The Gap Between Theory and Popular Perception	244	(2)
Lessons From the Research	246	(1)
Media and Social Movements	247	(2)
``New Media'' and the News	249	(4)
Politics and Entertainment Media	253	(6)
Television and Film	253	(3)
Music	256	(3)
Global Media, Global Politics	259	(6)
The Cultural Imperialism Thesis	260	(2)
The Politics of Media in Other Nations	262	(3)
Conclusion	265	(1)
Active Audiences and the Construction of Meaning	265	(34)
The Active Audience	266	(3)
Interpretation	267	(1)
The Social Context of Interpretation	268	(1)
Collective Action	268	(1)
Meanings: Agency and Structure	269	(5)
Agency and Polysemy	269	(4)
Structure and Interpretive Constraint	273	(1)
Decoding Media and Social Position	274	(10)
Class and Nationwide	274	(4)
Gender, Class, and Television	278	(1)
Race, News, and Meaning Making	279	(2)
International Readings of American Television	281	(3)
The Social Context of Media Use	284	(5)
Romance Novels and the Act of Reading	284	(3)
Watching Television With the Family	287	(2)
Active Audiences and Interpretive ``Resistance''	289	(4)
Interpretive Resistance and Feminist Politics	290	(2)
Resistance and Identity	292	(1)
The Pleasures of Media	293	(5)
Pleasure and Fantasy	294	(1)
Celebrity Games	295	(2)
Pleasure and Resistance	297	(1)
Conclusion	298	(1)
Media Technology and Social Change	299	(36)
The Nature and Consequence of Media Technology	300	(7)
Differing Technological Capabilities	300	(2)
Mediating Communication	302	(2)
Rethinking Time and Space	304	(1)
Technological Determinism	305	(2)
Technology and the Media Environment	307	(7)
McLuhan's Message	307	(1)
Images and Public Life	308	(3)
Electronic Media and Social Identity	311	(1)
Medium Theory in a Computer Age	312	(2)
The Social Construction of Media Technologies	314	(7)
The Early Years of Radio	315	(4)
Introducing Television Into the Home	319	(2)
The Internet and the Future of Interactive Media	321	(11)
Struggling to Tame the Wild Frontier: Corporate Efforts to Control of Internet	326	(4)
Beyond Technological Determinism	330	(2)
Conclusion	332	(3)
PART FIVE Globalization and the Future	335	(38)
Media in a Changing Global Culture	337	(36)
What Is Globalization?	338	(5)
Crossing Limits of Time and Space	338	(2)
Crossing Cultural Boundaries	340	(2)
The Promise and Reality of Media Globalization	342	(1)
The Global Media Industry	343	(12)
Global Products, Centralized Ownership	344	(4)
The Case of Bertelsmann	348	(7)
Global Media Content	355	(11)
The Debate Over ``Cultural Imperialism''	355	(1)
The Fight to Preserve Local Cultures	356	(3)
The Imperialism Thesis: Some Complications	359	(4)
The Politics of Information Flow	363	(3)
Global Media Consumption: Limits of the ``Global Village''	366	(3)
Afterword: The Ubiquity of Change and the Future of Mass Media	369	(4)
Appendix: Selected Media-Related Internet Resources	373	(6)
General Directories	373	(1)
Media Education	374	(1)
Media Research, Policy, and Publications	375	(1)
Media Advocacy	376	(1)
Independent Media	376	(3)
References	379	(18)
Index	397