Media and Society, Second Edition is a lively, illustrated introduction to the role that mass media play in our lives and our society. Featuring updated examples and illustrations, as well as expanded material on media theories and ideology, Media and Society helps us understand the relationship between consumers and media_the books, television, radio, magazines, websites, video games, newspapers, movies, and other mass media we encounter every day....

Objects, artifacts, and other forms of material culture are studied in many different parts of the university. Yet, to date, there has been no introductory book that allows students to understand the basic ways in which material culture can be studied. Arthur Asa Berger, author of an array of texts in communication, popular culture, and social theory, provides a brief, user-friendly guide for students who want to learn what objects can mean. He takes the reader through half a dozen theoretical models that are commonly used to understand objects. He then describes and analyzes fifteen objects, showing how they demonstrate ideas like authenticity, globalization, and identity. Finally, Berger provides a series of exercises to allow students to do their own analyses of objects in their environment. Brief and inexpensive enough to be included as a component in courses ranging from anthropology to art history, pop culture and psychology, Berger’s introductory guide to material culture will be of use to many instructors and their students....

Objects, artifacts, and other forms of material culture are studied in many different parts of the university. Yet, to date, there has been no introductory book that allows students to understand the basic ways in which material culture can be studied. Arthur Asa Berger, author of an array of texts in communication, popular culture, and social theory, provides a brief, user-friendly guide for students who want to learn what objects can mean. He takes the reader through half a dozen theoretical models that are commonly used to understand objects. He then describes and analyzes fifteen objects, showing how they demonstrate ideas like authenticity, globalization, and identity. Finally, Berger provides a series of exercises to allow students to do their own analyses of objects in their environment. Brief and inexpensive enough to be included as a component in courses ranging from anthropology to art history, pop culture and psychology, Berger’s introductory guide to material culture will be of use to many instructors and their students....