Media and Society: A Critical Perspective (The R&L Series in Mass Communication) - Softcover

Berger, Arthur Asa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742525120 ISBN 13: 9780742525122

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003

Synopsis

Media and Society is a fun, lively introduction to the role that mass media—and the messages and texts they carry—play in our lives and our society. Comprehensive yet concise, it combines a practical focus with attention to theories, from semiotics and postmodernism to the spiral of silence and uses and gratifications. Arthur Asa Berger explores how much time we spend with media, the role of aesthetics in media, media ethics, different types of audiences, and the effects of media on these audiences. Other topics include new technologies, violence and sexuality in media, media representations of minority groups, and concentration of control and ownership. Illustrated and featuring a glossary of key terms, Media and Society helps us understand the relationship between consumers and media—whether books, television, radio, magazines, web sites, video games, newspapers, movies, or other mass media we encounter every day.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University.

Review:

Berger's text surveys the relevant media studies literatures from a critical studies perspective covering eleven chapters that span narrative analysis to media violence, mass culture, and pornography. . . . His strength appears in his ability to winnow down even the most complex theoretical traditions into a sound bite that students can appreciate and understand. (Journalism & Mass Communication Educator)

No one is better qualified than Arthur Asa Berger to offer this incisive examination of media in our lives. He is the ultimate informed observer, combining a wealth of knowledge with richness of examples and even a sense of humor. Lively and substantive, reader-friendly and wise—these pages pull back the curtain and expose how media saturate our daily lives and how we can best understand, criticize, and appreciate these sometimes subtle, but always powerful influences. After some three dozen books, Media and Society may turn out to be Berger's most comprehensive and important. May you learn from most of it, fight with some of it, and enjoy it all. (Michael R. Real)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0742525120
• ISBN 13: 9780742525122
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256