Critical theories of mass media
Subtitle: then and now
By: Paul A. Taylor and Jan Ll. Harris
Contributors: Harris, Jan Ll., 1969-; ebrary, Inc
Publisher: McGraw Hill/Open University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Maidenhead, Berkshire, England; New York
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 233
ISBN-13: 9780335218127; 9780335218110
Subjects: Mass media criticism; Mass media and culture; Social aspects; Popular culture; Philosophy; Study and teaching; Mass media; Objectivity; Critical theory; History
Description: "With the exception of occasional moral panics about the coarsening of public discourse, and the impact of advertising and television violence upon children, mass media tend to be viewed as a largely neutral or benign part of contemporary life. Even when criticisms are voiced, the media chooses how and when to discuss its own inadequacies. More radical external critiques are often excluded and media theorists are frequently more optimistic than realistic about the negative aspects of mass culture." "This book reassesses this situation in the light of both early and contemporary critical scholarship and explores the intimate relationship between the mass media and the disempowering nature of commodity culture. The authors cast a fresh perspective on contemporary mass culture by comparing past and present critiques." "The book begins by introducing the critical insights from major theorists from the past - Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, Theodor Adorno, Marshall McLuhan and Guy Debord. Paul Taylor and Jan Harris then apply these insights to recent provocative writers such as Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek, and discuss the links between such otherwise apparently unrelated contemporary events as the Iraqi Abu Ghraib controversy and the rise of reality television." "Critical Theories of Mass Culture is a key text for students of cultural studies, communications and media studies, and sociology."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2009. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.