You are in: North America
Change location

You are here

Book > Textbooks > Mass Communication
Media/Society
Share
Share

Media/Society
Technology, Industries, Content, and Users

Eighth Edition
May 2025 | 432 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Download flyer
Media/Society: Technology, Industries, Content, and Users provides a framework to help students understand the relationship between media and society while developing skills to critically evaluate both conventional wisdom and one’s own assumptions about the social role of media. The Eighth Edition retains its basic sociological framework but has been thoughtfully streamlined in length, while still including additional discussions of new studies and up-to-date material about a rapidly changing media landscape. With updated research, the latest industry data, and current examples from popular media, this edition helps illustrate enduring themes in the sociology of media.
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I: Introduction
 
Chapter 1: Media/Society in a Digital World
The Importance of Media

 
Models of Communication Media

 
A Sociology of Media

 
A Model of Media and the Social World

 
Applying the Model: Civil Rights in Two Media Eras

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Part II: Technology
 
Chapter 2: The Evolution of Media Technology
The History of Media Technology

 
Technological Determinism

 
Social Constructionism

 
From Print to Television

 
The Internet

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Part III: Industry
 
Chapter 3: The Economics of the Media Industry
Media Companies in the Internet Era

 
Changing Patterns of Ownership

 
Consequences of Conglomeration and Integration

 
The Effects of Concentration

 
Mass Media for Profit

 
The Impact of Advertising

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 4: Political Influence on Media
Media and Democracy

 
Free Speech to Free Markets: The Evolution of U.S. Regulatory Policy

 
Regulation in International Perspective

 
Competing Interests and the Regulation Debate

 
Regulating Ownership

 
Regulating Content

 
Regulating Access and Distribution

 
Informal Political, Social, and Economic Pressure

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 5: Media Organizations and Professionals
The Limits of Economic and Political Constraints

 
Decision Making for Profit: Imitation, Hits, and Stars

 
The Organization of Media Work

 
Occupational Roles and Professional Socialization

 
Norms on the Internet, Newer Media, and Newer Organizations

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Part IV: Content: Media Representations of The Social World
 
Chapter 6: Media and Ideology
What Is Ideology?

 
Theoretical Roots of Ideological Analysis

 
News Media and the Limits of Debate

 
Movies, the Military, and Masculinity

 
Television, Popularity, and Ideology

 
Rap Music as Ideological Critique?

 
Advertising and Consumer Culture

 
Ideology Online

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 7: Social Inequality and Media Representation
Comparing Media Content and the “Real” World

 
The Significance of Content

 
Race, Ethnicity, and Media Content: Inclusion, Roles, and Control

 
Gender and Media Content

 
Class and the Media

 
Sexual Orientation: Out of the Closet and into the Media

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Part V: Users
 
Chapter 8: Audiences and Creators
The Active Audience: Balancing Agency and Structure

 
Decoding Meanings and Social Position

 
The Social Context of Media Use

 
The Limits of Interpretation

 
Content Creation and Distribution

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 9: Media Influence
Learning from Media Effects Research

 
Early Works: Establishing the Agenda

 
Mitigating Media Effects

 
Highlighting Media Influence

 
Mediatization

 
The Mediatization of Politics

 
Digital Dilemmas: Online Media Influence

 
Conclusion

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Part VI: Afterword
 
Chapter 10: Globalization and the Future of Media
What Is Globalization?

 
The Global Media Industry

 
Interpreting Global Media Content

 
Regulating Global Media

 
The Ubiquity of Change and the Future of Media

 
 
References
 
Index

The book's greatest strength is the sociological focus of mass media. Many texts of this ilk are structured to look at media from a historical perspective and silo each medium. This examines media as a confluence of all platforms.

Alan Goldenbach
Hood College

Up-to-date, understandable, good explanations of cultural trends, and authors who have familiarity with the issues confronting media today.

Donna L. Halper
Lesley University
Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • Overall length has been streamlined significantly.
  • In-depth coverage of recent key media issues includes online platforms and platform decay, social media effects, inequality in book publishing, longitudinal changes to sitcoms, war films, and rap music.
  • Updated examples and new topics include generative AI in newsrooms, understanding how perceptions of authenticity in media industries are used to promote and sell media, and examining how tastes for media reflect and are sometimes used by audiences to create inequalities.
  • Learning objectives identify what students should be able to accomplish after reading each chapter.
  • Updated figures and statistics reflect the ever-changing features of our media environment.
KEY FEATURES:
  • A "big picture" sociological focus examines overarching relationships between the various components of the media process (the industry, its products, audiences, technology, the social world) to help students develop a broad understanding.
  • Integrated coverage of media technologies, collective influences, and connections between mass media issues that are often treated as separate provide a clear picture of media today.
  • An emphasis on how economic and political constraints shape the media and how audiences actively construct their own interpretations of media messages helps students understand key concepts.
  • A wide range of current examples connect theory to everyday life.
  • Chapter-ending discussion questions give students the opportunity to reflect on and think critically about chapter content to reinforce their learning.

Sage College Publishing

You can purchase or sample this product on our Sage College Publishing site:

Go To College Site