Mass communication theory : an introduction / Denis McQuail.

Contents;

1. Introduction: The rise of media of mass communication
The significance of mass media
Media and society relationships
Basic differences of approach
Different kinds of theory
etc.

Part I: Theories
2. Concepts and models
Early perspectives on media and society
The 'mass' concept
The mass communication process
The mass audience
etc.

3. Theory of media and theory of society
Media, society and culture: Connections and conflicts
Mass communication as a society-wide process: The mediation of social relations
A frame of reference for connecting media with society
Main issues for theory: Power and inequality
etc.

4. Mass communication and culture
Setting the scene: the culturalist approach
Communication and culture
The beginnings: the Frankfurt school and critical theory hegemony
Later developments of critical cultural theory: the Birmingham school
etc.

Part II: Structures
5. Normative theories of media performance
Media-society linkages
The status of normative theory
Varieties of theory for the press and other media: Social responsibility
Libertarian theory and press freedom
etc.

6. Media structures and institutions
Media 'not just any other business'
The basics of media structure and levels of analysis
Some economic principles of media structure
Ownership and control
etc.

Part III: Organizations
7. The media organization and its context
Issues and perspectives
Levels of analysis
The media organization in a field of social forces
Relations with society
etc.

8. The production of media culture
Media-organizational activities: gatekeeping and selecting
Alternative approaches to the study of new selection
Access to the media society
Relations with sources
etc.

Part IV: Content
9. Issues, concepts and varieties of discourse
Why study media content?
Critical questions and alternative discourses
The cultural text and its meaning
Structuralism and semiology
etc.

10. Genres and methods of analysis
Media genres and formats
The new genre
News values and the structure of news
etc.

Part V: Audiences
11. Theory and research traditions
The origin and diversity of audiences
Past, present and future of the media audience
Early conceptualization of the audience as a mass
etc.

12. The social character of audience experience
The audience as an active social group
Sociability in media use
Social uses of media
etc.

Part VI: Effects
13. Processes of short-term change
The premise of media effect
The natural history of media effect research and theory: Four phases
Levels and kinds of effect
etc.

14. Longer-term and indirect change
Diffusion in a development context
The distribution of knowledge
News diffusion and learning from news
etc.

15. Endpiece: Lines of development
Mass communication endures
The future theory
The multiple logics of mass communication
etc

References : p. 385-407 . _ Index : p. 408-416.