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58 Communication Theory & Research
terms, reception analysis has been concerned with cultural contexts both within
and outside Europe and the United States (Liebes and Katz, 1986; Lindlof, 1987;
Lull, 1988).
Reception analysis thus understood may be regarded as the most recent devel-
opment in the area of audience studies. By and large it has taken as its points
of departure what are seen as limitations in the modes of enquiry of both the
humanities and the social sciences. On the one hand, it has questioned the valid-
ity of interpretive content analyses carried out in the humanities as a source of
knowledge about the uses and effects of mass-media content. This criticism is
generally held to be well-founded, sometimes even by those being hit by it,
although, as traditionalists may remind us, qualitative empirical studies some-
times leave behind important theoretical and political issues regarding the epis-
temological status and aesthetic quality of different media texts (Gripsrud, 1989).
On the other hand, reception analysis has questioned the predominant method-
ologies of empirical social–scientific research, a criticism which, while met with
qualified enthusiasm, has at least contributed to debates across the field about
the nature and purpose of media scholarship (Rosengren, 1989).
Thus, reception analysis develops what may be referred to as audience-
cum-content analysis which is both qualitative and empirical in nature. While
producing empirical data about the audience through in-depth interviewing and
observation, studies normally apply qualitative methods in a comparative analysis
of audience data as well as content data. The immediate aim, then, is to examine
the very processes of reception, which, further, have a bearing on the use and
impact of media content.

Systematics

Theories

Theories about mass-media audiences are being developed in all five traditions
discussed in this article. In simplified terms, the sets of theories available in the
area may be divided into the humanistic type and the social-science type, which
are the legacy of ‘arts’ and ‘science’, respectively.
The social-science type theories have been developed mainly within the tradi-
tions of effects research and U&G research, often on the basis of more general
psychological, social-psychological and sociological theories. They are usually
transformed into graphical and statistical models of processes of influence whose
elements and interrelations may be tested by formalized procedures. The human-
istic type theories, in their turn, derive mainly from the traditions of literary crit-
icism and cultural studies. They are systematic but as a rule not formalizable
descriptions of how content structures – media discourses – come to carry specific
meanings for recipients in a particular social context. In reception analysis,
attempts are being made to combine the two types of theories.
Substantively, theories in the area may be thought of as specific conceptual-
izations of mass communication processes within the message/audience nexus.