Description
? What is media theory?
? How do media affect our actions, opinions and beliefs?
? In what ways do media serve powerful political and economic interests?
? Is media consumerism unhealthy or is it empowering?
?Key Themes in Media? Theory provides a thorough and critical introduction to the key theories of media studies. It is unique in bringing together different schools of media theory into a single, comprehensive text, examining in depth the ideas of key media theorists such as Lasswell, McLuhan, Hall, Williams, Barthes, Adorno, Baudrillard and Bourdieu.
Using up-to-date case studies the book embraces media in their everyday cultural forms ? music, internet, film, television, radio, newspapers and magazines ? to enable a clearer view of the ?big picture? of media theory.
In ten succinct chapters Dan Laughey discusses a broad range of themes, issues and perspectives that inform our contemporary understanding of media production and consumption. These include:
? Behaviourism and media effects
? Feminist media theory
? Postmodernity and information society
? Political economy
? Media consumerism
With images and diagrams to illustrate chapter themes, examples that apply media theory to media practice, recommended reading at the end of every chapter, and a useful glossary of key terms, this book is the definitive guide to understanding media theory.
