Media Studies: A Reader - 2nd Edition

By Sue Thornham

Book Overview

Media Studies: A Reader provides a thorough introduction to the full range of theoretical perspectives on the mass media from the past thirty years. Ranging from the arguments between the American mass communication tradition and the Europe-centered Frankfurt School of the 1940s, to the analyses of communication technologies by Marshall McLuhan and Raymond Williams in the 1960s, Media Studies: A Reader maps the mass media field, its varied and often conflicting histories, and its current debates. Sixty-five articles provide comprehensive coverage of all the main theorists and approaches. The first half, Studying the Media, explores in detail three core elements of media studies: production and regulation of mass media; media texts; and reception and consumption of media. The second half brings together concrete examples of how theoretical debates can be realized in a series of case studies on soap operas, the news, and advertising. A general introduction and introductions to each section summarize and contextualize the debates. Contributors include: Theodor W. Adorno, Marshal McLuhan, Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall, Annette Kuhn, J rgen Habermas, John Fiske, Richard Dyer, Niki Strange, Danae Clark, Angela McRobbie, Bill Nichols, Lynne Joyrich, David Morley, Ien Ang, Janice Radway, Henry Jenkins, Tania Modleski, Anne McClintock, Sadie Plant.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814756476
• ISBN13: 9780814756478
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 869 Pages
• Weight: 3.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.8" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

a very good reader

This is a well chosen and very well edited selection. It gives short 4-5 page samples of some of the most valuable things that have been written on media in the past fifty years. Compared to its 1997 predecessor, the 2000 American edition tones down the focus on British media, and includes new excerpts by Fairclough, Radway and a whole new section on 'New Media'. The emphasis in the new volume is on the present rather than on the history of media studies. The bad news is that things had to be cut to make space for the new material. Too bad that two illuminating pieces by Judith Williamson (from Decoding Advertisements) and Alan Tomlinson (from Consumption, Identity, and Style) were left out.