Media Effects

Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction “Media effects”: What are they? “Media effects”: An etymology Opinion “Mass” communication “A word has appeared”: Propaganda Public opinion Toward media effects Another way Critical studies Cultural studies Other concerns and outlooks Summary and outline Notes 2 A Narrative Perspective The narrative perspective Narrative theories, communication, and media Media effects: Reluctantly focused on persuasion Recovering orality Narrative structure Narrative psychology and the evolution of narrative The evolution of narrative Notes 3 Media and Violence Imitation and social learning Scientific agreement New technologies and new concerns: Guns, video games, institutional opinions An uneasy consensus Cultural indicators The Violence Profile Cultivation Violence as a cultural indicator Cultivation and narrative Notes 4 Media and Social Representation Representation and effects Women African Americans Sexual minorities and social change Summary Notes 5 Media Use and Social Control Cultural indicators and social control Authoritarianism The irony of the turn from propaganda: The reality of powerful media effects Summary Notes 6 “New” Media, New Narratives? Categories of media effects research The “new” new media? Post-mass media Networks and media theory Two Americas? Did technology change narrative? Convergence culture Digital degradation Summary Notes 7 Conclusion Media as conversation Conversations and narratives Symptoms, Dx, and Rx References Index