Media Audience And Social Structure

The essays in Media, Audience, and Social Structure were commissioned by the editors to provide an integrated overview of current sociological research on mass media and society. The contributors share the assumption that the media, their audiences and their content must be studied within the context of their society and as interactive components of a larger system of mass communication. Specific questions addressed include the media's role in such social processes as control, adaptation, and integration; how and why media organizations operate as they do; the relationships between media and special audiences and interest groups; how to conceptualize and measure media effects and their impact on public opinion and politics; and how to analyze (both qualitatively and quantitatively) media content.