Page 301 - Religion in the Media Age Media, Religion & Culture

290 Conclusion: what is produced?

individuals, families, and groups in the media audience work to make
sense of all of this on a day-to-day basis. We now know more about what
media experience is capable of in those contexts. Audiences seem to know
more about what is going on in relations between religion and media than
they are often given credit for. They are engaged with media in a variety of
ways, and are able to position themselves with some ease with reference to
the claims of the media sphere. It is another step to move beyond this
level – where we have been looking at the integration of media, religion,
and spirituality in daily media experience – to a level where more focused
questions of value and action are brought to bear. The “where” of our
inquiries here has been the “where” of domestic life and the social
network relations that immediately surround it. What is needed next are
more focused, “located” studies of those times, places, and occasions
where questions of value and action are brought to bear in the lives of
people such as the ones we’ve seen here.
That task, and the range of intriguing questions we’ve considered in this
chapter, but found to be beyond the scope of this study, still await. Among
these are studies that will pursue questions of how varying religious and
spiritual perspectives and attitudes interact with media in ways that do
reflect those commitments. This would shift the perspective away from the
broad analysis of audience practice (and how religion and spirituality
figure into it) to more focused questions of how specific groups differen-
tially use media to make meanings and representations. It is clear from this
study that the media are important, even determinative. The ways they are
determinative, and for whom, under what circumstances, and with what
consequences, remain to be shown.
It was the purpose of this book to look in depth at one important set of
questions in a way that would provide groundwork for other inquiries into
the broad and complex implications of religion in the media age. There is
important and provocative groundwork here. What is more exciting,
though, is to look forward to the reflections, reactions, inquiries, and new
insights that will follow.