Media and Society: A Critical Perspective
by Berger, Arthur AsaEdition: 3rd
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2012-08-09
Publisher(s): Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
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Summary
Media and Society: A Critical Perspective offers an accessible introduction to the role that the mass media play in our lives, our society, and American culture. Berger explores the relationship between consumers and media with an emphasis on the shaping influence that both have on each other. This lively text, illustrated with original sketches by the author, equips students with the tools necessary to analyze the media that permeates their lives. The third edition features a discussion of the impact of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media on youth culture, an expanded discussion of media ethics, including the Murdoch phone-tapping scandal, an analysis of how media has affected our political landscape, and updated examples and material on media theories and ideology.
Author Biography
Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments for the Third Edition | p. xi |
| Introduction: You and the Media A Consideration | p. 1 |
| Focal Points in the Study of the Mass Media | p. 2 |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the Focal Points | p. 3 |
| Two Anecdotes on Choice | p. 5 |
| Media in Our Thoughts and Lives: A Psycho-Social Perspective on Individuals, Society, and the Media | p. 9 |
| Johnny Q. Public's Media Usage | p. 9 |
| A Group Portrait of My Readers | p. 10 |
| Statistics on Media Use | p. 11 |
| Media Effects and Your Life | p. 13 |
| Television Viewing and "Vicious" Cycles | p. 14 |
| The Media in Society | p. 15 |
| A Case Study: Where Did I Get That Idea? | p. 16 |
| Society, the Individual, and the Communication Process | p. 21 |
| Media Usage in the United States | p. 23 |
| The Kaiser 2010 Media Usage Study | p. 23 |
| The Kinds of Media We Use | p. 25 |
| A Primer on Communication | p. 26 |
| Traditional Ways of Classifying the Media | p. 28 |
| McLuhan on Hot and Cool Media | p. 29 |
| The Media Help Shape the Texts They Carry | p. 32 |
| Semiotics and Media Aesthetics | p. 35 |
| Saussure on Signs | p. 36 |
| Peirce on Icons, Indexes, and Symbols | p. 38 |
| Lying with Signs | p. 39 |
| Editing Techniques and Semiotics | p. 41 |
| The Nature of Narratives: Vladimir Propp | p. 44 |
| A Proppian Analysis of James Bond Novels and Films | p. 46 |
| The Nature of Narratives: Claude Levi-Strauss | p. 48 |
| The Importance of Narratives | p. 49 |
| Postmodernism and Media Aesthetics | p. 50 |
| Blade Runner, Rashomon, and Survivor: Three Postmodern Texts | p. 52 |
| Media and Textual Analysis | p. 55 |
| Yuri Lotman on Texts | p. 55 |
| Theories of Art: What Texts Do | p. 57 |
| The Texts the Media Carry Have Power | p. 59 |
| Convention and Invention in Texts | p. 59 |
| The Power of Commercials | p. 60 |
| Analyzing Commercials | p. 63 |
| Narratives in the Media | p. 64 |
| Aristotle on Narratives | p. 65 |
| Texts and Other Texts: Intertextuality | p. 67 |
| The Question of the "Ur-Text" | p. 69 |
| News on Television | p. 70 |
| 9/11 and the Social and Political Impact of Media Images | p. 71 |
| By Words Alone | p. 72 |
| Audiences I: Categories | p. 75 |
| Audiences Are Specialized | p. 75 |
| Problems Advertisers Face | p. 76 |
| Shares and Ratings | p. 77 |
| New Developments in Obtaining Ratings | p. 78 |
| Demographics and Audiences | p. 80 |
| Psychographics and Audiences | p. 83 |
| The VALS Typology | p. 84 |
| Categories of Consumers | p. 85 |
| Political Cultures and Lifestyles as Audiences | p. 87 |
| Active Audiences: Decoding Mass-Mediated Texts | p. 90 |
| Active Audiences: Uses and Gratifications | p. 92 |
| Uses and Gratifications and Genres | p. 94 |
| Audiences II: Effects | p. 97 |
| Is Mass Culture Making Us All Morons? | p. 97 |
| Johnny and Emily Make Dinner | p. 99 |
| The Concept of Media Effects Needs Qualification | p. 100 |
| Criticisms of the Mass Media and the Texts They Carry | p. 101 |
| Anti-Media Rage | p. 111 |
| Defenders of the Mass Media and Popular Culture | p. 112 |
| Other Defenses of the Mass Media and the Texts They Carry | p. 114 |
| The Postmodern Solution | p. 115 |
| The Mass Culture/Mass Society Hypothesis | p. 121 |
| The Mass Culture Hypothesis: Myth or Reality? | p. 121 |
| Round Up the Usual Indictments; or, The Language of Criticism in the Fifties | p. 122 |
| Where are the Mass Men and Mass Women the Critics of the Fifties Warned Us About? | p. 123 |
| Does Popular Culture Destroy Our Ability to Enjoy Elite Culture? | p. 124 |
| Are We Becoming Homogenized? Are the Mass Media Uniform? | p. 126 |
| Mass Culture and the Melting Pot | p. 127 |
| Mass Culture and American Society: The Myth of the Monolith | p. 129 |
| The Social Impact of New Media Technologies | p. 133 |
| The Impact of Cell Phones | p. 134 |
| The Digital World | p. 136 |
| The Computer and Culture | p. 138 |
| Virtual Communities | p. 142 |
| Video Games: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective | p. 145 |
| Criticisms of Video Games | p. 146 |
| The Supreme Court and Video-Game Violence | p. 147 |
| Positive Aspects of Video-Game Playing | p. 148 |
| The Technological Imperative | p. 149 |
| The Problem of Media Violence | p. 153 |
| How Is Media Violence Defined? | p. 154 |
| A Longitudinal Study of Television Viewing and Violence | p. 155 |
| Kinds of Violence | p. 158 |
| Violence in Texts: Quantity Versus Quality | p. 159 |
| Violence in News Broadcasts | p. 160 |
| Children and Media Violence | p. 162 |
| "Kill 'em" | p. 164 |
| Media and Politics | p. 167 |
| Media Consolidation | p. 167 |
| On Cultural Imperialism: The Coca-colonization Hypothesis | p. 170 |
| A Note on Ideology and the Media | p. 172 |
| The Problem of Pornography | p. 172 |
| A Supreme Court Decision on Virtual Child Pornography | p. 174 |
| The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion and Political Ideology | p. 176 |
| Government Regulation and Deregulation of Broadcasting | p. 178 |
| Ethnic Media: A Complicating Factor | p. 180 |
| Media Artists | p. 183 |
| Publishing a Scholarly Book: A Case Study | p. 184 |
| The Book Business | p. 186 |
| The Kindle, the Nook and the E-Book Revolution | p. 188 |
| Script Writing and Aberrant Decoding | p. 189 |
| Media Ethics and Journalists | p. 192 |
| The Rupert Murdoch Scandal | p. 192 |
| Ethics and Advertising 1: Selling Cancer | p. 192 |
| Ethics and Advertising 2: Portrayal of Women | p. 193 |
| Ethics and Advertising 3: Political Commercials | p. 195 |
| The Citizens United Supreme Court Decision | p. 198 |
| Glossary | p. 201 |
| Selected Bibliography | p. 215 |
| Index | p. 227 |
| About the Author | p. 235 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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