Media Theory

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MANDATORY READINGS

Chapter 1. Modernity

Benjamin, Walter, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” [1936], in M.G. Durham, and D.M. Kellner, Media and Cultural Studies (Malden, Oxford and Carlton: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 18-40. (URL)

Chapter 2. Transmission

Harold Lasswell, “The Structure and Function of Communication in Society” [1948], in Wilbur Schramm, Mass Communication (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1960), pp. 84-99

Chapter 3. Persuasion and Influence

Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence. The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1955)

Chapter 4. Signs

Roland Barthes, “The Photographic Message”, in R. Barthes Image, Music, Text (London: Fontana Press, 1977) pp. 15-31. (PDF)

Chapter 5. Media Rituals

James Carey, “A Cultural Approach to Communication”, in Jarice Hanson and David J. Maxcy eds., Sources. Notable Selections in Mass Media (Dushkin / McGraw-Hill, 1999), pp. 237-246.

Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, “Electronic Ceremonies: Television Performs a Royal Wedding”, in Marshall Blonsky, On Signs (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1985), pp. 16-32. (URL)

Chapter 6. Prosthesis

Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man (New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill, 1964). (URL)

Chapter 7. Decoding

Stuart Hall, “Encoding/decoding”, in Culture, Media, Language, edited by Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 128-138

MR 8. Chapter 8. Public Sphere

Jüger Habermas, “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article”, in Meenaskshi Gigi Durham, Douglas M. Keller, eds., Media and Cultural Studies (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006)

Alexander, J.C., “Communicative Institutions: Public Opinion, Mass Media, Polls, Associations”, in The Civil Sphere (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 69-105

Chapter 9. Agenda Setting and Framing (URL)

Walter Lippmann, “The World Outside and the Picture in Our Heads”, in Public Opinion (New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1991), pp. 3-3 (URL)

Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Saw, “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media, in Jarice Hanson and David J. Maxcy eds., Sources. Notable Selections in Mass Media (Dushkin / McGraw-Hill, 1999), pp. 100-108

Chapter 10. Convergence

Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, in Durham, Keller, eds. Media and Cultural Studies, pp. 549-576 (URL)