Synopsis

This comprehensive resource on mass communication theory is structured around the key conceptual areas of text, audience, media, production and society. Using illustrations from popular genres - particularly film and television - Arthur Asa Berger combines his broad knowledge of the mass communications field with his unique ability to translate difficult theories and models into comprehensible terms and accessible language. He concludes with suggestions for further work and discussion plus an up-to-date bibliography, making this an excellent introduction for students of communication.

Booknews

An introductory text for an undergraduate course on mass communication--particularly mass communication theory--organized around the key conceptual areas of text, audience, media, production, and society. An appendix provides questions for discussion and research, while a glossary and bibliography provide a comprehensive resource on mass communication theory. Paper edition (unseen), $15.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Biography

Arthur Asa Berger is Professor Emeritus of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University, where he taught between 1965 and 2003.. He has published more than 100 articles, numerous book reviews, and more than 60 books. Among his latest books are The Academic Writer’s Toolkit: A User’s Manual (2008), What Objects Mean: An Introduction to Material Culture (2009), Bali Tourism (2010), Tourism in Japan: An Ethno-Semiotic Analysis (2010), The Culture Theorist’s Book of Quotations (2010) and The Objects of Our Affection: Semiotics and Consumer Culture (2010). He has also written a number of academic mysteries such as Durkheim is Dead: Sherlock Holmes is Introduced to Sociological Theory (2003) and Mistake in Identity: A Cultural Studies Murder Mystery (2005). His books have been translated into nine languages and a dozen of his books have been translated into Chinese . Professor Berger is married, has two children, four grandchildren, and lives in Mill Valley, California.

His e-mail address is arthurasaberger@gmail.com