Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The fully revised edition of this successful textbook has been comprehensively rewritten to take account of recent theory and research and to improve the accessibility of the text. The book provides a nontechnical introduction to the range of approaches to understanding mass communication. It offers an integrated treatment of the major components of mass communication - the sender, the message and the audience - and encompasses the various forms of mass communication in contemporary societies including television, radio, newspapers, film, music and new communication technologies. Throughout, Denis McQuail shows how theories of mass communication relate to the understanding of society as a whole.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• The Rise of Media of Mass Communication
• Part 1 Theories
• Concepts and Models
• Theory of Media and Theory of Society
• Mass Communication and Culture
• Part 2 Structures
• Normative Theories of Media Performance
• Media Structures and Institutions
• Part 3 Organizations
• The Media Organization in Its Context
• The Production of Media Culture
• Part 4 Content
• Issues, Concepts and Varieties of Discourse
• Genres and Methods of Analysis
• Part 5 Audiences
• Theory and Research Traditions
• The Social Character of Audience Experience
• Part 6 Effects
• Processes of Short-Term Change
• Longer-Term and Indirect Change
• Endpiece
• Lines of Development
• The Rise of Media in Mass Communication - Extended Contents For Use in Solus Onlyintroduction
• The Significance of Mass Media
• Media and Society Relationships
• Basic Differences of Approach
• Different Kinds of Theory
• Communication Science and the Study of Mass Communication
• Levels of Communication
• Different Networks
• Alternative traditions of analysis
• Structural, Behavioural and Cultural
• Mass Communication Defined
• The Mass Media Institution
• The Rise of the Media
• Origins of Media Definitions
• Print Media
• The Book
• The Early Newspaper
• The Press as Advesary
• Rise of a Newspaper-reading Public
• The Political Press
• The Prestige Press
• Commercialization of the Newspaper Press
• Film
• Broadcasting
• Recorded Music
• New Electronic Media
• Inter-media Differences
• Freedom verus Control
• Issues of Use and Reception
• Changes in Society
• Internationalization
• Informatization
• Rise of Postmodern Culture
• Individuation
• Changes in the Media
• Conclusion
• Implications for the Public Interest in Media
• Part 1 Theories
• Early Perspectives on Media and Society - Concepts and Models
• The Power of Mass Media
• Communication and Social Change
• The Potential Benefits of Mass Communication
• The 'Mass' Concept
• The Mass Communcation Process
• The Mass Audience
• Mass Culture and Popular Culture
• Definitions and Contrast
• Dynamics of Cultural Forms
• The Rise of a Dominant Paradigm for Theory and Research
• A View of the Good Society
• Scientific Origins
• Bias of the Paradigm
• Concentration on Effects
• An Alternative Paradigm
• A Different View of Society and Media
• Diverse Sources of Challenge
• The Status of the Alternative Paradigm
• Implications for the Study of Communication
• Four Models of Communication
• A Transmission Model
• A Ritual or Expressive Model
• Communication as Display and Attention (A Publicity Model)
• Encoding and Decoding of Media Discourse
• A Reception Model
• Comparisons
• New Patterns of Information Traffic
• Allocution
• Conversation
• Consultation
• Registration
• An Integrated Typology
• New Theoretical Perspectives on Media and Society
• The Information Age
• Postmodernism
• Conclusion
• Implications for Mass Media Theory
• Media, Society and Culture - Theory of Media and Society
• Connections and Conflicts
• A Typology of Society Culture Relations
• An Inconclusive Outcome
• Mass Communication as a Society-Wide Process
• The Mediation of Social Relations
• The Mediation Concept
• Mediation Metaphors
• A Frame of Reference for Connecting Media with Society
• Types of Media-Soceity Theory
• Main Issues for Theory
• Power and Inequality
• Main Issues for Theory
• Social Integration and Identity
• A Dual Perspective on Media
• Ambivalence About Social Integration
• Different Types and Levels of Integrative Media Effects
• Mass Communication and Social Change
• Mass Society Theory
• Marxism and Mass Media
• The Classic Position
• Neo-Marxist Variants
• Functionalist Theory of Media and Society
• Conceptual Basics
• Specifying the Social Functions of Media
• Uses and Disuses of Functionalism
• Media and Social Integration
• Critical Political-Economic Theory
• Theory of Media and Development
• Rise and Decline
• Communication Technology Determinism
• The Toronto School
• Technology and Ideology
• An Interactive Alternative
• The Information Society
• New Theory of Media-Society Linkages
• Conceptual Underpinnings
• Logic of Change
• 'Videotopia' versus 'Dystopia'
• Progressive or Conservative Direction?
• Bias to Globalization
• Conclusion:
• Conflict versus Consensus and Media-Centric versus Soceity-Centric Approaches
• Setting the Scence - Mass Communication and Culture
• The Culturalist Approach
• Communication and Culture
• Towards Defining Culture
• Research Issues
• The Beginnings
• The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory
• Hegemony
• Later Developments of Critical Cultural Theory
• The Birmingham School
• Gender and Mass Media
• The 'Redemption' of the Popular
• The (Semiotic) Power of the People
• Links to the Postmodern
• Unanswered Questions
• Commercialization
• Communication Technology and Culture
• McLuhan's View of Cultural Change
• A Model of Technology and Cultural Change
• Media Logic and the Culture of Communication
• Cultivation and the Mediation of Identity
• The Shifting Boundaries of Social Space
• Globalization of Culture
• Structural Trends Towards Transnationalization
• Transnational Media Flow as a Process
• Globalizing Effects
• Pro and Con
• Concepts of Cultural Identity
• Cultural Invasion
• Resistance and Subversion
• Towards a Global Media Culture?
• Conclusion
• Time, Space and the Media
• Part 2 Structures
• Media-Society Linkages - Normative Theories of Media Performance
• The Status of Normative Theory
• Varieties of Theory for the Press and Other Media
• Social Responsiblity
• Origins
• The 1947 US Commission on the Freedom of the Press
• Media Codes of Conduct
• The Public Broadcasting Idea
• Four Theories of the Press
• Libertarian Theory and Press Freedom
• The Libertarian Ideal
• Questions About Press Freedom
• Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Property
• Beyond 'Theories of the Press'
• Development Media Theory
• Democratic-Participant Media Theory
• Other Models
• Limitations of the Press Theory Approach
• Media Change
• New Normative Theory Needed for New Times?
• The Concept of a 'Public Interest' in Media
• Issues for Social Theory of the Media
• Concentration and Monopoly
• News Quality
• Security and Social Order
• Morals and Decency
• Commercialism
• Cultural Issues
• Response to Issues
• Principles of Structure and Performance
• An Interpretative Overview
• Media Freedom
• Freedom Requirements
• Benefits of Media Freedom
• Media Equality
• Media Diversity
• Diversity Requirements
• Benefits of Media Diversity
• Information Quality
• The Objectivity Concept
• The Benefits of Objectivity
• A Framework for Objectivity Research and Theory
• Main Information Quality Requirements
• Limits of Objectivity
• Social Order and Solidarity
• Expectations and Norms Relating to Order
• Cultural Order
• Cultural Quality Norms
• The Range of Application of Normative Media Theory
• Conclusion
• A Changing Normative Environment
• Media 'Not Just Any Other Business' - Media Structures and Institutions
• Alternative Perspectives
• The Main Issues
• The Basics of Media Structure and Levels of Analysis
• Some Economic Principles of Media Structure
• Different Media Markets and Sources of Income
• Advertising versus Consumer Revenue - Implications
• Media Market Reach and Diversity
• Competition for Revenue
• Media Cost Structures
• Ownership and Control