Key Media Theories

Question 1

What is Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation?

Answer 1

Hall theorised that:
- Representation is the production of meaning through language (media language being a system of signs).

• The relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes.
• Stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits.
• Stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (eg. Through ethnocentrism).

Question 2

What is David Gauntlett’s Theory of Identity?

Answer 2

• The idea that the media provides us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities.
• The idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offers us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.

Question 3

What is Barthes Theory of Semiotics?

Answer 3

• The idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification.
• The idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign.
• The idea that constructed meanings can come to seem self- evident, achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalisation.

Question 4

What is Curran and Seaton’s Theory of Power and Media Industries?

Answer 4

• The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power.
• The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality.
• The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.

Question 5

What is Albert Bandura’s Theory of Media Effects?

Answer 5

• The idea that the media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly.
• The idea that audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling.
• The idea that media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression, can lead audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour.

Question 6

What is George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory?

Answer 6

• The idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (I.e. cultivating particular views and opinions).
• The idea that cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).

Question 7

What is Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory?

Answer 7

• The idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences.
• The idea that there are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded:

. The dominant- hegemonic position: the encoder’s intended meaning (the preferred reading) is fully understood and accepted.

. The negotatied postition: the legitimacy of the encoder’s message is acknowledged in general terms, although the message is adapted or negotiated to better fit the decoder’s own individual experiences or context.

. The oppositional position: the encoder’s message is understood, but the decoder disagrees with it, reading it in a contrary or oppositional way.