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Media Theory (media + theory)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences80%

Selected Abstracts

Understanding and Efficiency: Habermas's Concept of Communication Relief

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 2 2008
Thomas Hove
This commentary calls attention to a topic neglected in the scholarly reception of Habermas's work,the concept of communication relief. In his recent public sphere theory, he classifies different media forms that are necessary for coordinating different types of social action. He identifies three such media forms: linguistic agreement, steering media, and generalized communication. Although communication scholars acknowledge his ideas on linguistic agreement, they have overlooked those on steering media and generalized communication. Accordingly, this analysis focuses more on the latter two media forms, which fall under the broader concept of relief mechanisms. Extending the media theories of Talcott Parsons, Habermas identifies four types of relief mechanisms: money, power, influence, and value commitment. Money and power perform steering media functions that promote efficiency. Influence and value commitment perform generalized communication functions that promote not only efficiency but also understanding. Implications for normative theories of mass-mediated democratic communication are discussed. Résumé Compréhension et efficacité : Le concept habermassien du soulagement communicationnel Ce commentaire attire l,attention sur un sujet négligé dans la réception universitaire des travaux de Habermas : le concept du soulagement communicationnel (communication relief). Dans sa récent théorie sur la sphère publique, il classifie différentes formes de médias nécessaires à la coordination de différents types d'action sociale. Il identifie ainsi trois formes médiatiques : l,accord linguistique, les médias de direction et la communication généralisée. Bien que les chercheurs en communication reconnaissent ses idées sur l'accord linguistique, ils ont négligé celles sur les médias de direction et la communication généralisée. Par conséquent, cette analyse se concentre surtout sur les deux dernières formes médiatiques, regroupées sous le concept de mécanismes de soulagement. Prolongeant les théories médiatiques de Talcott Parsons, Habermas identifie quatre types de mécanismes de soulagement : l,argent, le pouvoir, l'influence et l,engagement envers des valeurs. L'argent et le pouvoir accomplissent des fonctions de médias de direction qui promeuvent l,efficacité. L'influence et l,engagement envers des valeurs accomplissent des fonctions de communication généralisée qui promeuvent non seulement l'efficacité mais aussi la compréhension. Les conséquences pour les théories normatives de la communication démocratique de masse sont commentées. Abstract Verstehen und Effizienz. Das Habermas'sche Konzept der Kommunikationserleichterung Dieser Kommentar greift ein Thema auf, dass in der bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit den Arbeiten Habermas' vernachlässigt wurde , das Konzept der kommunikativen Erleichterung. In seiner aktuellen Theorie der Öffentlichkeit klassifiziert er verschiedene Formen von Medien, die notwendig sind, um verschiedene Arten von sozialem Handeln zu koordinieren. Er identifiziert drei solche Medienarten: linguistische Übereinstimmung, Führungsmedien und generalisierte Kommunikation. Obwohl Wissenschaftler seinen Ideen zur linguistischen Übereinstimmung zustimmen, haben sie die Annahmen zu Führungsmedien und generalisierter Kommunikation bislang übersehen. Dementsprechend fokussiert dieser Beitrag auf diese zwei Medienformen, welche dem Konzept des Erleichterungsmechanismus zuzuordnen sind. In Erweiterung der Medientheorien von Talcott Parsons identifiziert Habermas vier Typen von Erleichterungsmechanismen: Geld, Macht, Einfluss und Wertebindung. Geld und Macht leisten führende Medienfunktionen, welche Effizienz fördern. Einfluss und Wertebindung hingegen erfüllen generalisierte Kommunikationsfunktionen, welche nicht nur Effizienz, sondern auch Verständnis fördern. Abschließend werden Schlussfolgerungen für normative Theorien der massenmedial vermittelten demokratischen Kommunikation diskutiert. Resumen La Comprensión y la Eficiencia: El Concepto de Comunicación de Alivio de Habermas Este comentario llama la atención sobre un tema desatendido en la recepción de los estudiosos del trabajo de Habermas,el concepto de la comunicación de alivio. En su teoría reciente sobre la esfera pública, Habermas clasifica las formas diferentes de los medios que son necesarias para coordinar distintos tipos de acciones sociales. Él identifica 3 formas de los medios: acuerdos lingüísticos, la dirección de los medios, y la comunicación generalizada. Aún cuando los estudiosos de la comunicación reconocen sus ideas sobre los acuerdos lingüísticos, han pasado por alto la dirección de los medios y la comunicación generalizada. Por consiguiente, este análisis se enfoca más en estas dos últimas formas de los medios, las cuales caen bajo el concepto amplio de mecanismos de alivio. Extendiendo las teorías de los medios de Talcott Parsons, Habermas identifica 4 tipos de mecanismos de alivio: dinero, poder, influencia, y valor del compromiso. El dinero y el poder funcionan como dirección de los medios que promueven la eficiencia. La influencia y el valor del compromiso funcionan como las funciones de comunicación general que promueven no sólo la eficiencia sino también la comprensión. Las implicancias para las teorías normativas de los medios masivos de comunicación democráticos son discutidas también. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source]

Does Misery Love Company?

JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 4 2006
Exploring the Therapeutic Effects of TV Viewing on Regretted Experiences
Testing hypotheses derived from regret and mood management theories, this research explores how regretted experiences impact interest in viewing experience-relevant TV programming and such viewing's effects on program enjoyment and felt regret. One hundred and forty-four participants, half of whom had been unfaithful in romantic relationships, were asked first to rate their interest in viewing a series of storylines and then to provide their reactions to 1 of 2 versions of a TV program depicting cheating behavior. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results indicated that those who had both cheated and felt regret about their behavior were more likely than others to want to watch experience-related storylines, were no less likely to enjoy watching such programming, and particularly preferred viewing the program version in which the main character rationalized, rather than expressed regret for, her behavior. Both program versions, however, reduced regret equally. A survey of 206 city residents also offered evidence consistent with predictions based on regret theory. Overall, this research speaks to the value of integrating theories of emotion with media theory to enhance the latter's predictive ability. [source]

The Space-Time of Pre-emption: An Interview with Brian Massumi

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 5 2010
Charles Rice
Abstract The philosopher BrianMassumi is known for his explorations of experience, art, media theory and politics and has recently turned his attention to understanding the impact that sustained fear has on perception in a post-9/11 world. In an interview with guest-editor CharlesRice, Massumi defines threat by distinguishing it from real danger and how it manifests itself in both civil and military spaces of pre-emptive action that are primed to the possibilities of attack. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

LET THERE BE IRONY: CULTURAL HISTORY AND MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY IN PARALLEL LINES

ART HISTORY, Issue 5 2005
WOLFGANG ERNST
Stephen Bann is well known as an art critic, art historian, cultural historian and museologist, but his writings have yet to be discovered from the point of view of media theory. This article applies Bann's proposal of an ,ironical museum' to a self-reflective media culture, while at the same time establishing the difference between a media-archaeological and an art-historical approach, particularly in accounts of new media in the first half of the nineteenth century and in the present. To what extent was the historical imagination developed in the romantic period an effect of new media and new media technologies? It is argued that although the discourse of history has always depended on the media of its representation (verbal and visual), its character changed dramatically with the arrival of mechanical means for recording historical evidence. The ,antiquarian' method of archival investigation of the past, with its almost haptic taste for the mouldy, decaying fragment, is considered and compared to narrative aesthetics. A key question is considered from different disciplinary perspectives: can we speak of a cultural transition or a radical break with the emergence of photography? The essay concludes that what we learn from Stephen Bann's analyses is the significance of an ever-alert awareness of the intricate relations between cultural and technological phenomena, a kind of media self-irony which, apparently, was present in the past to antiquaries and historiographers, to painters, engravers and to creators of historical museums. [source]

Rethinking Nationality in the Context of Globalization

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2004
Stephen B. Crofts Wiley
Globalization poses a significant challenge to the nation as a social form and consequently to theories that rely on nationality as a conceptual category. This article reviews a range of approaches to the conceptualization of nationality within mass communication, media theory, and cultural studies: mainstream nation-based theories, critical nation-based theories, relational theories, globalization theories, and contextualist theories. An analytical strategy is then proposed within which nationality is conceptualized as one particular logic among others that organize economic, political, technological, and cultural territories and flows. [source]