Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences [Paperback]

David R. Croteau (Author), William D. Hoynes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0761987738 | ISBN-13: 978-0761987734 | Edition: 3rd

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. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Media/Society provides a conceptually clear, substantive guide to the study of mass communication and society. The text helps students develop a critical under­standing of the interplay between media industries, social and economic institutions, media con­tent produced, and the audience. Media/Society encourages students to become more thoughtful consumers of media and prepares them to engage in informed discussions about media practices and policy.” (Christine Bachen )

“This text does a wonderful job of presenting the history of media, the print medium discussion is also excellent. It is well written and examines the media from all angles (technology, history, audiences and social influences). The text also provides the best coverage on the creation of television news and how news has been impacted by media ownership and conglomeration that I have reviewed.” (Donna Goyer )

“I think the strength of this textbook emerges from the general vision shared by the authors, their ability to provide excellent examples, and their engaging writing style. This book is valuable, because it helps reorient readers in their thinking about media industries; the book’s emphasis on media as a social institution is especially relevant to departments con­cerned about the power relationships between media and political institutions. The book is appli­cable to majors preparing for careers in media industries and to the general student whose media literacy is crucial to citizenship.” (Harry Haines )

"Excellent overview of the mass media from a sociological perspective. It is balanced, thorough, and clearly written. Everything you would want in a textbook on the subject. Also reasonably priced...The best media sociology textbook available."

Previously used: Durham & Kellner: Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works (Vincent Carducci )

"I used this title since 2006 (3rd edition), and I designed my course Media and Society based on this text." (Viera Lorencova ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

William Hoynes is Professor of Sociology and former Director of the Media Studies Program at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he teaches courses on media, culture, and social theory. He is the author of Public Television for Sale: Media, the Market, and the Public Sphere.

Croteau and Hoynes are the coauthors of By Invitation Only: How the Media Limit Political Debate (1994) and The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public Interest (2006). Their new introductory sociology textbook, Experience Sociology, will be published in 2012.

David Croteau taught about the sociology of media as an Associate Professor (retired) in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Politics and the Class Divide: Working People and the Middle-Class Left.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 3rd edition (July 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761987738
• ISBN-13: 978-0761987734
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shooting history on the wing, April 14, 2000

By 

Ralph D. Berenger (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences (Paperback)

Media-disseminated messages flood our every waking second, affecting us in ways we often do not readily discern. Croteau and Hoynes take the reader on an exploration of these media forces in a sociological journey that walks then leaps from the birth of printed words for the masses to cyberspace for the individual. In the process, we learn a lot along the way. Not only about media, but, about ourselves. Unlike most college course texts in Media and Society (in sociology or journalism), "Media Society" is written in understandable English and is not ruefully Marxian in ideological slant. The work plays it straight down the middle. The authors' goal, to which they succeed, is to provide information that shows the complexity of social relationships in, around and through which information from all sources is sought and internalized by "receivers" then, through feedback, subtly affects the "senders" and subsequent messages as well. Surprisingly up-to-date in information, especially concerning the so-called New Media (a synthesis of current technologies, traditional entertainment programs-turned-political,and old news media). Croteau and Hoynes not only introduce the reader to the media mileau in society, they show how economics drive news coverage. At the same time they explain that media consolidations have not shrunk the markets as first feared, but have actually led--perhaps inadvertently--to an explosion of different, often smaller and more intimate media. The media pie, they attest, is growing bigger as the number of slices inexplicably increase. In later chapters, the authors do a commendable job acquainting the reader with communications theory, especially explaining how opinions are formed. My favorite chapter, given my predilections, are the chapters dealing with media and the political world (and the rest of the chapters in Part 4). The authors also enter the globalization fray by demonstrating not only how American pop culture is transforming traditional cultures (see Barber's McWorld v. Jihad for greater detail), but also how traditional cultures are influencing American pop culture in ways greater than we had intuited. Anyone interested in gaining a sense of how media is impacting his or her daily life and how we, as social beings, react to that impact, should certainly read this wonderful book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Overview, February 16, 2009

By 

ALHC - See all my reviews

This review is from: Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (Paperback)

This is a great introduction to media studies. It generally covers a lot of theories and their originators. It does not go into a great deal of depth on any one of them, however, this book is great to get ideas for a theory that one might wish to expand on in detail. I have used this many times for short papers in which I want to incorporate an idea, but do not want the hassle of a lot of in depth research on topic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book, February 8, 2009

By 

Kristin M. Mullaney - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences (Paperback)

I have this book for a class. It discusses some very interesting topics. I highly recommend it!