Studies in Culture and Communication – serie

Though video systems are now growing ever more accessible, and practical video work is undertaken at every level of education, this is the first book-length historical and theoretical study of the medium. On Video explores video on two levels: first, it examines the relationship between technology and society; and second, it probes the connection between production methods and the communication of meaning.

First published in 1990. This book is the first specifically about television drama from within a cultural studies perspective and as such examines the active agency of both viewers and media practitioners. The author examines dominant and counter-myths as they circulate in popular culture, discussing soap opera, science fiction, sitcom, cop series and 'authored' drama among its examples. It works within an ethnographic framework, he looks in detail at both the production and reception of TV drama. The overall aim of the book is to examine television representation as part of an historically positioned and differentiated social formation in which knowledgeable actors work in every institutional arena (whether media industry, academia or domestic household) to make their meanings.

Understanding Television offers an introduction to some of the issues of television broadcasting and its main genres. It examines a number of programme categories, such as news, drama-documentary, sit-com, soap opera, sport and quizzes, and discusses aspects of the history of the organisation of television, its audiences and its future; it also looks at some key conceptual debates about hegemony in contemporary television

Iain Chambers approaches the often overlooked details and textures of popular culture through a series of histories which show how it becomes continually remade as each of us defines our own urban space.

Advertising is a form of communication that constantly impinges on our daily lives, yet we are often unaware of its more subtle form of persuasion, or of the extent to which it manipulates our (consumer) culture. This book sets out to examine advertising as a form of communication in contemporary society and also places it in its wider cultural and economic context.

News depends for its effect on a culturally shared language, and this book concentrates on ways we can decode its messages without simply reproducing their underlying assumptions.

The interacting components of everyday life - the weekly supermarket shopping trip, fast food, children's toys - are still largely unremarked by cultural theorists. Grounded in Marxist theory, and guided by feminism, Susan Willis's lucid and entertaining study of the consumer culture broadens the scope of cultural studies to introduce the notion of daily life, with the commodity at its centre. Willis pays particular attention to the influence of commodity fetishism on social relations. Her investigation includes the taken for granted phenomena of modern culture - Barbie dolls, plastic packaging, banana sticker logos and the aerobic workout.A Primer For Daily Life demonstrates that the trivial is crucial for our understanding of capitalist culture, and argues for the necessary development of a critical perspective on daily life.

'... a highly imaginative and often very entertaining book ... which ... probably says more than any other available text about the limitations and possibilities of present forms of radio.' Professor Laurie Taylor on the first edition of Understanding RadioUnderstanding Radio is a fully revised edition of a key radio textbook. Andrew Crisell explores how radio processes genres such as news, drama and comedy in highly distinctive ways, and how the listener's use of the medium has important implications for audience studies. He explains why the sound medium, even more than television, has played such a crucial role in the development of modern popular culture.The book also introduces students to the broadcasting landscape in a time of great change for national and local radio provision. Understanding Radio will be essential reading both to students of media and to those with a practical involvement in programme production. This new edition includes:a revised history of radio bringing the reader right up to date a brand new chapter on 'talk-and-music' radio, the format adopted by many of the new stations. Andrew Criselllectures in communication and media studies at the University of Sunderland. He has written widely on radio and co-founded Wear FM, winner of the 1992 Sony 'Radio Station of the Year' award.

This revised edition of a now classic text includes a new introduction by Henry Jenkins, explaining ‘Why Fiske Still Matters’ for today’s students, followed by a discussion between former Fiske students Ron Becker, Elana Levine, Darrell Newton and Pamela Wilson on the theme of ‘Structuralism and Semiotics, Fiske-Style’. Both underline the continuing relevance of this foundational text in communication studies.How can we study communication? What are the main theories and methods of approach?This classic text provides a lucid, accessible introduction to the main authorities in the field of communication studies, aimed at students coming to the subject for the first time. It outlines a range of methods of analysing examples of communication, and describes the theories underpinning them. Thus armed, the reader will be able to tease out the latent cultural meanings in such apparently simple communications as news photos or popular TV programmes, and to see them with new eyes.

This revised edition of a now classic text includes a new introduction by Henry Jenkins, explaining ‘Why Fiske Still Matters’ for today’s students, followed by a discussion between former Fiske students Ron Becker, Elana Levine, Darrell Newton and Pamela Wilson on the theme of ‘Structuralism and Semiotics, Fiske-Style’. Both underline the continuing relevance of this foundational text in communication studies.How can we study communication? What are the main theories and methods of approach?This classic text provides a lucid, accessible introduction to the main authorities in the field of communication studies, aimed at students coming to the subject for the first time. It outlines a range of methods of analysing examples of communication, and describes the theories underpinning them. Thus armed, the reader will be able to tease out the latent cultural meanings in such apparently simple communications as news photos or popular TV programmes, and to see them with new eyes.

Advertising is a form of communication that constantly impinges on our daily lives, yet we are often unaware of its more subtle form of persuasion, or of the extent to which it manipulates our (consumer) culture. This book sets out to examine advertising as a form of communication in contemporary society and also places it in its wider cultural and economic context.

Iain Chambers approaches the often overlooked details and textures of popular culture through a series of histories which show how it becomes continually remade as each of us defines our own urban space.

'... a highly imaginative and often very entertaining book ... which ... probably says more than any other available text about the limitations and possibilities of present forms of radio.' Professor Laurie Taylor on the first edition of Understanding RadioUnderstanding Radio is a fully revised edition of a key radio textbook. Andrew Crisell explores how radio processes genres such as news, drama and comedy in highly distinctive ways, and how the listener's use of the medium has important implications for audience studies. He explains why the sound medium, even more than television, has played such a crucial role in the development of modern popular culture.The book also introduces students to the broadcasting landscape in a time of great change for national and local radio provision. Understanding Radio will be essential reading both to students of media and to those with a practical involvement in programme production. This new edition includes:a revised history of radio bringing the reader right up to date a brand new chapter on 'talk-and-music' radio, the format adopted by many of the new stations. Andrew Criselllectures in communication and media studies at the University of Sunderland. He has written widely on radio and co-founded Wear FM, winner of the 1992 Sony 'Radio Station of the Year' award.

Understanding Television offers an introduction to some of the issues of television broadcasting and its main genres. It examines a number of programme categories, such as news, drama-documentary, sit-com, soap opera, sport and quizzes, and discusses aspects of the history of the organisation of television, its audiences and its future; it also looks at some key conceptual debates about hegemony in contemporary television

Though video systems are now growing ever more accessible, and practical video work is undertaken at every level of education, this is the first book-length historical and theoretical study of the medium. On Video explores video on two levels: first, it examines the relationship between technology and society; and second, it probes the connection between production methods and the communication of meaning.

News depends for its effect on a culturally shared language, and this book concentrates on ways we can decode its messages without simply reproducing their underlying assumptions.