Page 15 - Religion in the Media Age Media, Religion & Culture

4 Introduction

but rather devolves from the establishment of meaning by an audience
in its encounter with mediated texts through which a variety of read-
ings are possible. My middle level of analysis would begin with the
simple proposition that not all viewers are the same in social or
cultural terms. Not only are there sociocultural dimensions of the
audience that can be said to be systematic, and thus (ultimately) quan-
titatively verifiable, there are also – and this is the critical point –
dimensions that help define the cultural meaning they derive from tele-
vision texts. 4
This book is a major milestone on that research journey, though by no
means the last word. The distance from that idea to this reality has been a
long and complex one, for significant reasons. The idea of a “middle level”
recognized the emergence of a “culturalist” approach to media studies and
a turn toward qualitative and ethnographic approaches to media recep-
tion. Much progress has been made along those lines and an increasing,
substantive literature is developing. Another development critical to this
project has been the emerging discourse of a growing network of scholars
who have made the intersection between media and religion their primary
area of scholarly work. Many of them are credited in these pages for their
contributions to this study and to other efforts that are moving our knowl-
edge of these issues ahead.
In order to actually bring about the kind of analysis called for,
however, it has been necessary to take on board some critical questions
and challenges in theory and methodology. This book addresses the
theoretical debates and attempts a way through them. In the process,
full justice is not done to their depth, breadth, and complexity. Such an
account would have been a book in itself. In the same way, the method-
ological challenges and turns that have been encountered along the way
cannot be fully explored, either. There is an attempt here to describe
these in some detail, but reference to the larger project of which this study
is a part will be necessary for readers who are primarily interested in
method.
The theoretical and methodological roots have received less attention
here in part because the intent of this book is to look closely at the experi-
ences and practices of audiences, and decisions have had to be made about
how best to move to that level of inquiry, description, and analysis. As will
be seen in greater detail in the pages that follow, these studies are rooted
in, and result from, the collaborative work of a team of researchers. A
good deal of the thinking results from that collective enterprise, and, while
I will try to give credit along the way, I cannot fully represent the extent to
which interaction and collaboration with colleagues have made this
“middle level” of analysis possible. This work would not have been
possible as a solo effort. It results from a number of collaborative decisions