Despite a number of retrospective works on cultural studies, to date no other book dedicates itself to the historical and theoretical examination of British cultural studies' engagement with the »active audience theory« of the Birmingham School and its legacies. However, this book is no mere reconstruction of active audience theory as Huimin Jin develops new theoretical insights initially through a critical review of Stuart Hall's classical model of »encoding/decoding« and close readings of David Morley's groundbreaking ethnographic audience studies. Questioning the discourse model of the active audience proposed by Hall and Morley, Jin elaborates a new materialistic concept of audiences for the twenty-first century.

Contains over 200 entries on key concepts and theorists of cultural studies.

"Chris Barker is a trustworthy field guide for those new to cultural studies." - Ben Highmore, University of Sussex "Remarkable in the breadth of its coverage, it is written with passion and insight. It will be warmly welcomed by students interested in how theory can help us to think through the complexities of real-world issues." - Stuart Allan, Bournemouth University "Has been for many years one of the best guides to and overviews of a broad range of the issues and theories that constitute cultural studies... For those who want to be prepped to play the game of cultural studies, this is the book to read." - Douglas Kellner, UCLA Building upon the scope and authority of previous editions this book represents a definitive benchmark in understanding and applying the foundations of cultural studies. it provides those new to the field with an authoritative introduction to everything they need to know. An indispensible resource for any student or lecturer it is packed with concise, accessible definitions, clear chapter summaries, inspiring student activities, biographical snapshots of key figures and a full glossary. With updates to every chapter and many more practical examples, this new edition includes: New material on social media, subcultures and climate change Improved coverage of digital cultures, digital media, digital games and the virtual city A comprehensive companion website providing student exercises, global case-studies, essay questions and links to relevant SAGE journal articles. Visit www.sagepub.co.uk/barker This is the perfect book for any student needing a vibrant, comprehensive introduction to cultural studies. An essential companion for all undergraduate students embarking on a cultural studies course or module.

`The book is essentially for a student of mass communication or may be of interest to the communications expert into communications reserach, theory or operations research. The author addresses a specific "audience" and does it to perfection with a simple very readable presentation' - The Economic TimesDenis McQuail provides a coherent and succinct account of the concept of `media audience' in terms of its history and its place in present-day media theory and research. McQuail describes and explains the main types of audience and the main traditions and fields of audience research.Audience Analysis explains the contrast between social scientific and humanistic approaches and gives due weight to the view `from the audience' as well as the view `from the media'. McQuail summarizes key research findings and assesses the impact of new media developments, especially transnationalization and new interactive technology. The book concludes with an evaluation of the continued relevance of the audience concept under conditions of rapid media change. Audience Analysis provides both an overview of past research and a guide to current thinking.

Most Americans take for granted that they live in an open society with a free market of ideas. But as Herbert Schiller reveals in Culture, Inc., the corporate arm has reached into every corner of daily life, and from the shopping mall to the art gallery, big-business influence has brought about some frightening changes in American culture. Examining the effects of fifty years worth of corporate growth on American culture, Schiller argues that corporate control over such arenas of culture as museums, theaters, performing arts centers, and public broadcasting stations has resulted in a broad manipulation of consciousness as well as an insidious form of censorship. A disturbing but enlightening picture of corporate America, Culture, Inc. exposes the agenda and methods of the corporate cultural takeover, reveals the growing threat to free access to information at home and abroad, shows how independent channels of expression have been greatly restricted, and explains how the few keep managing to benefit from the many.

Contemporary reception study has developed a diversity of approaches and methods, including the institutional, textual, historical, authorial, and reader-response, which, to a greater or lesser extent, acknowledge the various ways in which readers have found texts-- literature, television shows, movies, and newspapers--meaningful. This collection emphasizes that new diversity, examining movies, newspapers, fans, television shows, and traditional American as well as modern Hispanic, Black, and Women's literature. The essays on literature include James Machor on Melville's short fiction, Kenneth Roemer on Edward Bellamy's utopian work Looking Backward, Amy Blair on the popularity of Sinclair Lewis's Main Street, Marcial Gonzalez on Danny Santiago and his Hispanic novel Famous All Over Town, and Leonard Diepeveen on modernist fiction and criticism. The theoretical essays on reader-oriented criticism include Patsy Schweickart on interpretation and the ethics of careand Jack Bratich on active audiences. Media versions of response criticism include Andrea Press and Camille Johnson's ethnographic analysis of fans of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Janet Staiger on Robert Aldrich's film version of Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly, and Rhiannon Bury on the fans of the HBO television show Six Feet Under. History-of-the-book versions include Barbara Hochman on the popularity of the 1890s editions of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ellen Garvey on nineteenth-century scrapbooks of newspaper, and David Nord on early twentieth-century newspapers' relations to audience charges of bias and unfairness. Poststructuralist studies include Philip Goldstein on Richard Wright's Native Son, Steve Mailloux on Reading Lolita in Tehran, and Tony Bennett on the cultural analyses of Pierre Bourdieu. The collection concludes with essays by Janice Radway on the limits of these methods and on the possibility of new forms of sociological and anthropological reception study and byToby Miller on the "reception deception" in relation to the worldwide distribution and reception of movies and television shows.

Focusing on the case of contemporary Japan, this book theorizes the role of media and ICT in today’s media-rich global environment and introduces a new argument of audience complexity. It will contribute significantly to the ‘internationalisation’ of the media studies movement underway in the global era.