Violence sells. The media industries say they are simply businesses responding to market desires, but when they are criticized for contributing to a culture of violence, they claim First Amendment protection. If anything, media violence is more prevalent today than at any other time in the past. Yet, although scientific researchers have produced a strong body of evidence demonstrating that exposure to media violence harms society, that evidence has never been translated into practical and accessible ideas. This book clearly explains why media violence has not only been allowed but encouraged to escalate. The author challenges many of our assumptions about the relationship between media and violence. He argues that these assumptions are the primary barriers preventing us from confronting the issue of violence in films, TV, and video games. While dispelling misperceptions and evoking emotions, each chapter: identifies a myth, its origin, its acceptance by the public, and its growth in popularity; analyzes the faulty nature of the myth and shows how it deflects attention away from the truth; presents dilemmas that challenge readers to reconsider their assumptions; and includes a list of indispensable references. The book provides an in-depth review of how Congress, journalists, and researchers contribute to the problem and raises important questions that place the reader at the heart of the conflict. Consumer activists, teachers, and families will find it an essential resource and invaluable step toward finding solutions to this critical social issue.

"Media Literacy is a captivating, engaging, reader-friendly textbook essential for introductory Media Studies courses in communication, sociology, film studies, and English." -SirReadaLot.org In this media-saturated world, it is critical to approach media influences using critical thought and active participation. Media Literacy, Fourth Edition uses an engaging and conversational style to help students gain the skills needed to navigate the rocky terrain of mass messages - which are designed to inform them, to entertain them, and to sell them. This captivating book offers a plan of action for gaining a clearer perspective on the borders between the real world and the simulated media world, helping readers become responsible media consumers.

This definitive examination of this important social topic asks questions such as: How much media violence is there? What are the meanings conveyed in the way violence is portrayed? What effect does it have on viewers?Divided into four parts, the book covers: a review of research on media violence; re-conceptions of exisiting theories of media violence; addresses the need to rethink the methodological tools used to assess media violence; and introduces the concept of Lineation Theory, a perspective for thinking about media violence and a new theoretical approach explaining it.

Michael Haneke is one of Europe's most successful and controversial film directors. Awarded the Palme d'Or and numerous other international awards, Haneke has contributed to and shaped contemporary auteur cinema and is becoming more and more popular among academics and cinephiles. His mission is as noble as it is provocative: he wants "to rape the audience into independence," to wake them up from the lethargy caused by the entertainment industry. The filmic language he employs in this mission is both highly characteristic and efficient, and yet his methods are open to criticism for their violence toward and manipulation of the audience. The aim of this book is to analyze critically Haneke's aesthetics, his message, as well as his ethical motivation from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective. Contributors to the book come from a variety of academic disciplines and cultural backgrounds-European and North American.

How do we explain the lurid fascination that most people experience when confronted by real or simulated acts of violence, murder, horror, and crime? This is the subject examined in this candid assessment of our dark vicarious thrills. Based on a series of interviews with perpetrators, victims, and "consumers" of violence, including several celebrities, the author of a best-selling book on serial killers explores what there is about this subject that draws such a wide audience. Unlike many other books that attempt to probe the murky psyches of deviant individuals, this book focuses on normal, average people who, despite themselves, enjoy getting close to the most forbidden, perverse side of destruction and evil. The persons interviewed range from homicide detectives and emergency room personnel to a heavyweight boxer and groupies of serial killers on death row. The author considers ideas from a variety of theories and research to explain our responses to violence, raises questions about the shifting line between normal and abnormal, evaluates the confusion and ambivalence that many people feel when witnessing others'' suffering, and suggests future trends in society''s attitudes toward violence.

"Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship challenges scholars and students to consider and reconsider what we know about media and how we think about media. As such, the book provides an important framework for thinking about knowledge—regardless of the discipline... The text provides all of the necessary tools to move the field forward in a way that will increase the rigor of the work being done and augment the overall profile of the discipline." –Dana Mastro, University of Arizona In this groundbreaking book, W. James Potter presents an innovative perspective to media scholars and students who are frustrated with the fragmentation of research findings across so many journals, books, and fields. Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship presents a clear plan for a more efficient way to build knowledge about the mass media so that it can be better organized and made more useful. Key Features Conducts an in-depth analysis of mass media scholarship′s four major facets of effects, content, audiences, and organizations Presents a significant shift in conceptualizing media effects and ways research can be conducted to generate more useful knowledge about media influence Develops "narrative line" as a tool to guide analyses about how content decisions are made by producers Synthesizes a system of explanation about why audiences attend to certain messages and how individuals construct meaning from those messages Incorporates an analysis of mass media organizations to provide greater context of understanding messages and their effects on individuals and macro units in society "The book will play an important role in providing structure to a broad, fragmented discipline. I believe it will, at the very least, create important dialogues about what we now know/understand about areas of mass media, and where we should move as a discipline... This book is clearly a ′call to arms′ for mass media scholars to ratchet up the quality of research (and what we know), to see the interconnections within and among strands of scholarship, and to move forward in a more efficient, organized manner. Professor Potter should be commended for this." —Roger Cooper, Ohio University "This book is...that call to action that comes forward every few years, to wake us up and challenge our ways of doing things, not by being radical, but via synthesis... I′ve been waiting for several years for a book like this." —Sahara Byrne, Cornell University

'Consistently excellent.... The level and coverage of the content make this an invaluable reference for students studying criminology or taking criminal psychology modules at degree level and beyond' - Adam Tocock, Reference Reviews In discussing a criminology topic, lecturers and course textbooks often toss out names of theorists or make a sideways reference to a particular theory and move on, as if assuming their student audience possesses the necessary background to appreciate and integrate the reference. However, university reference librarians can tell you this is often far from the case. Students often approach them seeking a source to provide a quick overview of a particular theory or theorist with just the basics - the who, what, where, how and why, if you will. And reference librarians often find it difficult to guide these students to a quick, one-stop source. In response, SAGE Reference is publishing the two-volume Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, available in both print and electronic formats. This serves as a reference source for anyone interested in the roots of contemporary criminological theory. Drawing together a team of international scholars, it examines the global landscape of all the key theories and the theorists behind them, presenting them in the context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses. In addition to interpretations of long-established theories, it also offers essays on cutting-edge research as one might find in a handbook. And, like an unabridged dictionary, it provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools, and figures. Coverage will include: contexts and concepts in criminological theory the social construction of crime policy implications of theory diversity and intercultural contexts conflict theory rational choice theories conservative criminology feminist theory.

Adolescents are eager consumers of mass media entertainment and are particularly susceptible to various forms of media influence, such as modeling, desensitization, and contagion. These once controversial phenomena are now widely accepted along with the recognition that th media are a major socializer of youth During the economic boom of the post-World War II era, marketers and advertisers identified adolescents as a major audience, which led to the emergence of a pervasive youth culture. Enormous changes ensued in the media's portrayal of adolescents and the behaviors they emulate. These changes were spurred by increased availability and consumption of television, which joined radio, film, and magazines as major influence on youth. Later, the rapid growth of the video game industry and the internet contributed to the encompassing presence of the media. Today, opportunities for youthful expression about to the point where adolescents can easily create and disseminate content with little control by traditional media gatekeepers. In The Changing Portrayals of Adolescents in the Media since 1950, leading scholars analyze the emergence of youth culture in music and powerful trends in gender and ethnic-racial representation, sexuality, substance use, violence, and suicide portrayed in the media. This book illuminates the evolution of teen portrayal, the potential consequences of these changes, and the ways policy-makers and parents can respond.

Introduction to Media Literacy builds students’ media literacy step-by-step to make them more knowledgeable about all facets of the media and more strategic users of media messages. In nine streamlined chapters, all of the essential media topics are covered – from understanding media audiences, industries, and effects to confronting controversies like media ownership, privacy, and violence – in a concise format that keeps students focused on improving their media literacy skills as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Counters the claim that media violence leads to widespread social aggression. Dispelling this myth through a multiple-method analysis, this work argues that there are, indeed, media effects that derive from media violence, pornography, and other kinds of visual, cyberspace, and print based messages.