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specificity and autonomy of media systems of signification and representation
and the impact it has had on both Marxist and pluralist perspectives is also
registered.
The reader is organized in three sections. The first, ‘Class, ideology and the
media, presents a series of accounts of the major theoretical traditions which
have influenced the development of media theory in the past and in the present,
and indicates the different foci of interest and the crucial issues around which
disagreements and debates about the media could be said to be organized. The
second section examines the role of media institutions: their ownership and
control; the internal organization of media industries and media professionals;
and the role of media institutions in the Third World. The final section of the
reader focuses on the power of the media in different areas: in terms of control of
communications systems within society; in the political effects of mass
communications; in the signification and reporting of race. It also reviews the
theoretical issues raised by the media’s apparent representation—rather than
signification—of reality.
Although we have attempted to identify different theoretical perspectives on
the media and the key areas in which they clash or mark strategic absences, we
would not wish to suggest that the articles here provide an ‘objective’ map of
recent mass communications research, but rather that they seek to select ‘shared’
theoretical problems within the field of media research and to suggest ways,
albeit different ones, of thinking through those problems.
We would like to express our gratitude to all members of the ‘Mass
Communication and Society’ course team, whose work in creating the course,
and then adapting and updating it, made this book possible. We would also like
to acknowledge the sterling efforts of Valerie Byrne and Deirdre Smith in
helping prepare the typescript. Finally, we would like to thank the Open
University for allowing us to adapt and re-use Open University course material.

REFERENCES

Carey, J. (1979) ‘Mass communication and society’, book review, Media, Culture and
Society, 1 (3).
McQuail, D. (1977) ‘The influence and effects of the mass media’, in Curran, J.,
Gurevitch, M. and Woollacott, J. (eds) Mass Communication and Society, London,
Edward Arnold.
Mass Communication and Society (1977) Milton Keynes, The Open University Press.