Television and consumer culture
Subtitle: Britain and the transformation of modernity
By: Rob Turnock
Publisher: I.B. Tauris; Distributed in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2007
Place of publication: London; New York; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 244
ISBN-13: 9781845110789; 9781845110796
Subjects: Television broadcasting -- Social aspects -- Great Britain; Consumption (Economics) -- Social aspects -- Great Britain
Description: The radical expansion of television broadcasting in the post-war years and beyond both reflected and promoted a cultural revolution sweeping across British society. Reaching out to a mass audience for the first time, the new television industry made visible the transition from drab austerity and seeming cultural consensus to the brash, heady glitz and individualism of the new consumer age."Television and Consumer Culture" explores television's institutional, technological and programming developments during this period, revealing how genres as different as action adventure series, serious dramas, situation comedies and quiz and game shows simultaneously promoted both consumer culture and class conflict. Drawing on historical analysis and sociological theory, and looking at issues such as celebrity, scheduling, intimacy and sociability, Turnock argues that television during this era established and promoted itself as a culturally powerful force, a fact that has implications for the way that media power is understood to operate today.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-234) and index