The Future of the Mass Audience / Edition 1

by W. Russell Neuman

Overview

The Future of the Mass Audience focuses on how the changing technology and economics of the mass media in postindustrial society will influence public communication. It summarizes the results of a five-year study conducted in cooperation with the senior corporate planners at ABC, CBS, NBC, Time Warner, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. The central question is whether the new electronic media and the use of personal computers in the communication process will lead to a fragmentation or "demassification" of the mass audience. This study demonstrates, contrary to the opinion of some analysts, that the movement toward fragmentation and specialization will be modest and that the national media and common political culture will remain robust. W. Russell Neuman, directs the Communications Research Group of MIT's Media Laboratory. He has published widely and among his recent books are The Paradox of Mass Politics (1986) and the The Telecommunications Revolution (1991). Prior to teaching at MIT he held posts at Yale University and University of California, Berkeley.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521424042
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/29/1991
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The communications revolution; 2. The logic of electronic integration; 3. The psychology; 4. The fragmentation of the mass audience; 5. The political economy of the mass media; 6. The future of the mass audience; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"A pathbreaking study of how changes in the character and control of information technologies affect social structure and political communications. An important book." Daniel Bell, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

"Instead of wishful crystal-ball gazing, the reader gets historically and scientifically grounded, sensitively interpreted projections of the interplay between technological developments and the prevailing political culture and political economy. Social scientists, policy makers and communication professionals will benefit immensely." Doris Graber, University of Illinios, Chicago

"The most coherent and intelligent guide available about postindustrial society. He aligns the reader to the new emerging range of questions—cultural, technological, economic, social—which constitute the aftermath of mass society." Anthony Smith, Magdalen College, Oxford

"The Future of the Mass Audience presents a concise and highly readable summary of trends and theories affecting the business of communications...a valuable addition to the literature in this field." Harold Vogel, Merrill Lynch

"His research on audience psychology and newer communications technologies is exemplary...He speaks from a small data to big issues." George Comstock, Syracuse University

"A crucial contribution to the most important debate in America: the future, if any, of television." George Gilder, Manhatten Institute

"In his useful book The Future of the Mass Audience, W. Russell Neuman recently suggested that there is very little evidence to support the most alarming speculations that have been advanced by social scientists." — The New Republic

From the Publisher