Interpreting Television

The eleven essays in this collection examine various emerging approaches to the study of television, focusing primarily on television as a social process. In contrast to more traditional television research, the critical and cultural approaches presented here emphasize the study of television as a creator and conveyor of meaning, a text through which to interpret culture and society. All the essays are concerned with an understanding of television that relates content, viewing interpretation, and use by individuals and groups to larger patterns of ideology, social experience, economic structures, and politics. Interpreting Television features an outstanding group of international television researchers and represents a significant contribution to the mass culture debate and a challenge to normal science traditions in television research.