Introduction to Theories of Mass Communication

Instructor: Wu Jing; Email: jwu@pku.edu.cn
 
Media Studies (or mass communication research) is a field only recently named. Its center and mission are still objects of struggle in many ways, as media studies is a confluence of several different academic and intellectual traditions such as pragmatism, empirical social research, critical theory, cultural studies, and feminist analysis. This class attempts to give a guided tour through this thicket and to help you become familiar, comfortable, and even fluent with theoretical vocabulary and questions.
 
The seminar emphasizes the importance of social theory as the historical and cultural context of communication and media studies.  Thus, the philosophical/sociological literature of the course ranges from the contributions of American pragmatism (since the Progressive era, 1890s to 1920s) to the influence of alternative visions of society by German and British intellectuals, from a Marxist critique of modern capitalism (1930s to 1960s), to the contributions of neo-Marxist interpretations of society (since the 1950s) and an outlook on the postmodernist position.
 
Aims of the class are: (1) to offer a survey of the main strands of theory, research programs, assumptions and arguments historically found in mass communication theory; (2) to introduce you to the vocabulary and intellectual style and basic issues of social theory in general, to the world of theoretical talk in which you will find yourself immersed here (in this, it could be called a theory survival course); (3) to expose you to some relevant work done by communication scholars; and (4) to help orient you to the greater conversation and debate which you are entering both as a scholar in general and a student of communication and social life in particular.
 
Class Schedule (subject to change and modifications):
1、Class Introduction: Social Theory and Mass Communication Research
Unit One：Mass Media as Social Institution
2、The Progressive Era and Mass Communication as means of Enlightenment
3、Mass Society Theories and the Fear of Mass Media
4、Functionalism in Mass Communication Research and the Managerial Paradigm: debates and consolidations 
5、Media Effects: Multiple Definitions and Development
6、Sociology of Media Institutions and Professional Work
Unit Two: The Political Economy of Mass Communication
7、Media and Public Sphere  
8、Media Technology, History and Power
9、Consumer Culture and the Mass Media    
10、Blurring the Boundary between the Public and Private in Commercial Media
11、The Cultural Industry Critique
Unit Three: Mass Communication as Cultural Processes
12、The Mass Culture Debate
13、The Cultural Turn in Social Theory
14、Ideology: A Central Concept
15、Media Representation, Social Identity and Power
16、New Audience Research: the Anthropological Turn
  
Class Projects:
A. Class Presentation: Prepare a group (2-3 members) presentation concerning chosen articles of the week (25% of the total grade). Presentation should include not only summaries of the articles but also your thoughts on them. Asking questions about the area, perspective and method of the study, evaluate the article for your own theoretical interest, contextualize themin larger areas of study and research, and finally generate questions for class discussion.Please limit presentation time to at most 30 minutes. Schedules of presentation are to be arranged later.
B. Book Review: Your task is to write a book review of some more or less classic book in mass communication theory, social theory or cultural theory. A book review, in general, must characterize the topic, approach, and style of the book, offer an evaluation of its quality and contribution, and deal with any issues the book might raise. You can see example of book reviews in many scholarly journals, such as Journal of Communication and 《读书》. Length is not a determinant factor of quality, but to clarify your ideas with sufficient reasoning and elaboration, the book review should be around 5000-7000 Chinese characters in estimation(Final paper 75% of the total grade). You are strongly invited to talk to me about your topic at any time during the project.
No plagiarism of any form is tolerated in all kinds of class projects!
 
推荐阅读：
 
Unit One：Mass Media as Social Institution
米尔斯，《权力精英》，南京大学出版社，2004年
大卫·理斯曼，《孤独的人群》，南京大学出版社，2002年
勒庞，《乌合之众：大众心理研究》，中央编译出版社，2001。
C·赖特·密尔斯，《社会学的想象力》，生活读书新知三联书店，2001。
利萨·泰勒，《媒介研究：文本、机构与受众》，北京大学出版社，2005。
斯坦利·巴兰 丹尼斯·戴维斯，《大众传播理论：基础、争鸣与未来》，清华大学出版社，2004。
Michael Schudson, Discovering the News: a Social History of American Newspapers.
[美]约翰·V·帕夫利克，《新闻业与新媒介》(西方新闻传播学经典文库)，新华出版社，2005。
[英]奥利弗·博伊德－巴雷特 克里斯·纽博尔德 编《媒介研究的进路：经典文献读本》，汪凯刘晓红译，新华出版社。
 
Unit Two: The Political Economy of Mass Communication
杨伯溆，《全球化：起源、发展和影响》，人民出版社，2002，
本·H·贝戈蒂克安，《媒体垄断》，河北教育出版社，2004。
安德烈·希夫林，《出版业》，机械工业出版社。2003。
[美]麦克切斯尼，《富媒体穷民主：不确定时代的传播政治》(西方新闻传播学经典文库)，新华出版社，2004年1月。
[英]尼克·史蒂文森，《认识媒介文化――社会理论与大众传播》，商务印书馆，2003。
[英]麦克奈尔，《政治传播学引论》(第2版)(西方新闻传播学经典文库)，新华出版社，2005年8月。
Schiller, Herbert I., Mass communications and American empire，Boulder : Westview Press, 1992.
[英]尼古拉斯·加汉姆，《解放·传媒·现代性――关于传媒和社会理论的讨论》(西方新闻传播学经典文库)，新华出版社，2005年。
[美]米切尔舒德森，《广告：艰难的说服――广告对美国社会影响的不确定性》。华夏出版社，2003。
[加拿大]文森特·莫斯可，《传播：在政治和经济的张力下――传播政治经济学》，华夏出版社，2000。
[加拿大] 哈罗德·伊尼斯，《传播的偏向》，中国人民大学出版社，2003。
[加拿大] 哈罗德·伊尼斯，《帝国与传播》，中国人民大学出版社，2003。
[美]柯克·约翰逊，《电视与乡村社会变迁――对印度两村庄的民族志调查》，中国人民大学出版社，2005。
 
Unit Three: Mass Communication as Cultural Processes
[美]詹姆斯·W·凯瑞，《作为文化的传播：“媒介与社会”论文集》，华夏出版社，2005。
多米尼克·斯特里纳蒂，《通俗文化理论导论》，商务印书馆，2001。
约翰·斯道雷，《文化理论与通俗文化导论》，南京大学出版社，2000。
[英]霍尔，《表征：文化表象与意指实践》(文化和传播译丛)，商务印书馆，2003年11月。
[英]杜盖伊 等，《做文化研究：索尼随身听的故事》(文化和传播译丛)，商务商务印书馆，2003年12月。
[美]黛安娜·克兰，《文化生产：媒体与都市艺术》，译林出版社，2001。
[英]迈克·费瑟斯通，《消费文化与后现代主义》，译林出版社，2002。
[美]约翰·R·霍尓与玛丽·乔·尼兹，《文化：社会学的视野》（文化和传播译从），商务印书馆，2002。
[英]约翰·塔洛克，《电视受众研究――文化理论与方法》，商务印书馆，2004。
[英]戴维·莫利与凯文·罗宾斯，《认同的空间：全球媒介、电子世界景观与文化边界》，南京大学出版社，2001。