The ideological octopus: an exploration of television and its audience

Abstract

The discipline of communication studies is now firmly established in the academic marketplace. This classic text is a lucid introduction to the main authorities in the field, aimed at students coming to the subject for the first time. It outlines a range of methods of analysing examples of communication, and describes the theories underpinning them. Thus armed, the reader will be able to tease out the latent cultural meanings in such apparently simple communications as news photos or popular TV programmes, and to see them with new eyes. This second edition includes new material on the theory, methods, and applications of structuralism, ideology, and audience ethnography.