Media and Society: The Production of Culture in the Mass Media

Rating:
Summary: What the culture machine does and how it works
Review: In looking for possible textbooks for my Popular Culture class I am considering "Media and Society: The Production of Culture in the Mass Media" by John Ryan and William M. Wentworth. While as the audience for mass media we have a vested interest in how culture is produced, this book will be of greater utility for those who will be involved from the production standpoint. "Media and Society" is a book that would benefit from having the table of contents reproduced so instructors interested in selecting this book for class would have a better idea of what is covered. In the absence of that, I offer the following:

Part I details The Mass Media and Society, considering what mass communication is, starting with (1) Human Communication and the Mass Media, which focuses on the basic characteristics of the mass media as well as critical perspectives taken on the mass media in academia. (2) Classical Sociological Theory and the Mass Media deals briefly with Marx, Durheim, and Weber, while emphasizing Mead as providing the transition to a modern social psychology of communication. (3) Mass Media Effects I: Individual Effects presents both the early attempts to search for mass media effects and the evidence that exists against those effects. (4) Mass Media Effects II: Societal Effects actually does not do the same thing as the previous chapter on a societal level, but instead looks at the new ways of communicating that exist in modern society, such as time use, globalization and shared identity, and agenda setting.

Part II covers The Production of Culture and the place of the mass media in social life, beginning with (5) Mass Media Technology, in which the seven general principles of media technology development are extended to the internet, desktop publishing, and the electronic cauldron of the new "datasphere." (6) Regulating the Media covers government regulation from Freedom of the Press and the Fairness Doctrine to Obscenity and Copyright Law. (7) Industry Structure deals with some theoretical concerns, such as resource dependency theory, but focuses primarily on industry structure and effects from newspapers to the internet. (8) Media Organizations and Occupations has interesting sections on the problem of creative production where the role of the artist collides with organizational forms and the organizational requirements of the media for stars and new material. There are a couple of case studies of Hollywood looking at "Heaven's Gate" and "Jaws." (9) "Show Me the Money": Advertising and the Mass Media goes from the rise of marketing to the role of advertising to the effects of target marketing and narrowcasting to fragmented audiences. (10) The Mass Media Audience deals with special problems of culture markets such as creating brands, to measuring the audience and the consequences of having inaccurate pictures of that audience.

The idea here is that Part I describes what the "machine" does and Part II describes how the machine works. From the perspective of the production-of-culture Ryan and Wentworth look at the influence of technology, law, industry structure, organizational structure/occupational careers, advertising, and ideas about audience, separating each to highlight the specific impacts of each, although obviously they all act in concert to influence media content. I am more interested in how the products produced by the mass media impact upon audiences in general, and my students in particular, but there are certainly many key aspects of the production process that I would like my students to understand. "Media and Society" covers a lot of concepts with enough references to contemporary examples that most students will make the connection.

Rating:
Summary: What the culture machine does and how it works
Review: In looking for possible textbooks for my Popular Culture class I am considering "Media and Society: The Production of Culture in the Mass Media" by John Ryan and William M. Wentworth. While as the audience for mass media we have a vested interest in how culture is produced, this book will be of greater utility for those who will be involved from the production standpoint. "Media and Society" is a book that would benefit from having the table of contents reproduced so instructors interested in selecting this book for class would have a better idea of what is covered. In the absence of that, I offer the following:

Part I details The Mass Media and Society, considering what mass communication is, starting with (1) Human Communication and the Mass Media, which focuses on the basic characteristics of the mass media as well as critical perspectives taken on the mass media in academia. (2) Classical Sociological Theory and the Mass Media deals briefly with Marx, Durheim, and Weber, while emphasizing Mead as providing the transition to a modern social psychology of communication. (3) Mass Media Effects I: Individual Effects presents both the early attempts to search for mass media effects and the evidence that exists against those effects. (4) Mass Media Effects II: Societal Effects actually does not do the same thing as the previous chapter on a societal level, but instead looks at the new ways of communicating that exist in modern society, such as time use, globalization and shared identity, and agenda setting.

Part II covers The Production of Culture and the place of the mass media in social life, beginning with (5) Mass Media Technology, in which the seven general principles of media technology development are extended to the internet, desktop publishing, and the electronic cauldron of the new "datasphere." (6) Regulating the Media covers government regulation from Freedom of the Press and the Fairness Doctrine to Obscenity and Copyright Law. (7) Industry Structure deals with some theoretical concerns, such as resource dependency theory, but focuses primarily on industry structure and effects from newspapers to the internet. (8) Media Organizations and Occupations has interesting sections on the problem of creative production where the role of the artist collides with organizational forms and the organizational requirements of the media for stars and new material. There are a couple of case studies of Hollywood looking at "Heaven's Gate" and "Jaws." (9) "Show Me the Money": Advertising and the Mass Media goes from the rise of marketing to the role of advertising to the effects of target marketing and narrowcasting to fragmented audiences. (10) The Mass Media Audience deals with special problems of culture markets such as creating brands, to measuring the audience and the consequences of having inaccurate pictures of that audience.

The idea here is that Part I describes what the "machine" does and Part II describes how the machine works. From the perspective of the production-of-culture Ryan and Wentworth look at the influence of technology, law, industry structure, organizational structure/occupational careers, advertising, and ideas about audience, separating each to highlight the specific impacts of each, although obviously they all act in concert to influence media content. I am more interested in how the products produced by the mass media impact upon audiences in general, and my students in particular, but there are certainly many key aspects of the production process that I would like my students to understand. "Media and Society" covers a lot of concepts with enough references to contemporary examples that most students will make the connection.

Rating:
Summary: As good as it gets
Review: In the world of academic textbooks, a truly enjoyable read is something to be cherished. Media and Society: The Production of Culture in the Mass Media by John Ryan and William M. Wentworth is perhaps the most interesting, richly informative, and thoroughly enjoyable literary work I have had the pleasure of reading throughout my collegiate career. The authors perform a marvelous job of outlining theory, while interweaving real world examples throughout the text resulting in a comprehensive investigation of the mutually affective relationship between leisure, mass media and society. Much of the writing could be equally likely to reside in an academic journal as well as any respectable main stream periodical such as Time magazine. Due to its unique blend of writing styles, this book is not only highly recommended to scholars but anyone wishing to learn of the fascinating relationship between leisure, the mass media, society and the production of culture. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: This is simply the best book on the mass media that I have read. It does a terrific job of covering academic research while maintaining its appeal to a general audience. The chapter on the effects of the media are powerful examples of what good sociology can be. If you want to increase your understanding of the internal workings of media industries and the effects of the mass media on the individual and society, you couldn't make a better choice.