| Mass Media in a Mass Society: Myth and Reality Revised Edition Contributor(s): Hoggart, Richard (Author) |
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ISBN: 0826476260 ISBN-13: 9780826476265 Publisher: Continuum OUR PRICE: $21.80 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2005 Annotation: Richard Hoggart, famous for his writings on literature, education, and the means of communication, has written a new work in which he looks at the ways in which mass communications in the twenty-first century both encourage and hinder greater understanding of the modern world. Hoggart takes a number of aspects of mass society today--celebrity worship, youth culture, broadcasting, and a decline in the proper use of language--and considers the paradox that the ready accessibility of information of all types does not automatically lead to greater comprehension of our world. The central focus of the book is an examination of broadcasting as the prime disseminator of mass information. Hoggart makes an impassioned argument for Public Service Broadcasting in its truest form, and sees the Public Service ideal as coming increasingly under attack from broadcasters who believe that the overwhelming function of television today is to entertain. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Media Studies |
| Dewey: 306.094 |
| Series: Continuum Compact S |
| Physical Information: 0.72" H x 5.22" W x 7.82" (0.53 lbs) 224 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Hoggart takes a number of aspects of mass society today - celebrity worship, youth culture, broadcasting, and a decline in the proper use of language - and considers the paradox that the ready accessibility of information of all types does not automatically lead to greater comprehension of our world. Information itself is inert and only leads to knowledge if it has been ordered and assessed. He assesses the slow but uninterrupted dissolution of old beliefs, the erosion of the traditional pillars of authority throughout a century and a half of sustained intellectual criticism of existing assumptions and beliefs, and the resulting corruption of language. Richard Hoggart is a distinguished cultural critic and author of The Uses of Literacy, his most celebrated book. Formerly Professor of English at Birmingham he has sat on many government advisory committees and was Chairman of the National Book League. |