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© 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Wolfgang Donsbach to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. First published 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1

2008

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data The international encyclopedia of communication/edited by Wolfgang Donsbach. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-3199-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Communication—Encyclopedias. I. Donsbach, Wolfgang, 1949– P87.5.158 2008 302.203—dc22 2007047271 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10/13pt Minion by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed in Singapore by C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website at www.blackwellpublishing.com

Comprehension 891 Kim, M. S. (2002). Non-western perspectives on human communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Miller, G. R., & Burgoon, M. (1978). Persuasion research: Review and commentary. In B. D. Ruben (ed.), Communication Yearbook 2. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, pp. 29–47. Miller, G. R., Boster, F. J., Roloff, M. E., & Seibold, D. (1977). Compliance-gaining message strategies: A typology and some findings concerning effects of situational differences. Communication Monographs, 44, 37–41. Sanders, R. E., & Fitch, K. L. (2001). The actual practice of compliance seeking. Communication Theory, 11, 263–289. Wilson, S. R. (1998). Introduction to the special issue on seeking and resisting compliance: The vitality of compliance-gaining research. Communication Studies, 49, 273–275. Wilson, S. R. (2002). Seeking and resisting compliance: Why people say what they do when trying to influence others. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wilson, S. R., Shi, X., Tirmenstein, L., Norris, A., & Rack, J. (2006). Parental physical negative touch and child noncompliance in abusive, neglectful, and comparison families: A meta-analysis of observational studies. In L. Turner & R. West (eds.), Family communication: A reference for theory and research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 237–258. 0?August Original COMPREHENSION ??? ?? 2007 Articles

Comprehension Howard Grabois East Carolina University

Human beings are uniquely able to understand sophisticated concepts through the use of language. Issues relating to comprehension encompass a wide variety of areas in linguistics, communication, and cognitive studies. Constructs regarding comprehension can be broadly divided into two theoretically diverse approaches, which diverge on the emphasis they place on cognition as an individual, self-contained process, or as a culturally situated one. The first approach is distinctly Cartesian, with emphasis primarily on what takes place within the individual. It is profoundly influenced by the work of Noam Chomsky, who sees the systematic use of rules and representations as central for understanding language systems (→ Linguistics; Language and Social Interaction). Within this approach issues regarding comprehension primarily have to do with how people are able to parse sentences and construe word → meaning, with an emphasis on rules (principles and parameters) for the former, and component features for the latter. Salient aspects of this orientation include the centrality of genetic endowment – the “hard wiring” that allows human beings to learn language – and the consequent emphasis on language universals, as well as the modularity of cognitive processes. This orientation has been criticized for a variety of reasons; among those most relevant to comprehension is that it draws upon and contributes to metaphors of mind that may not accurately or fully describe cognitive processes. The “mind as computer” metaphor constructs the mind as a largely self-contained mechanism that functions by using sophisticated algorithms that allow language input to be understood and produced. The conduit metaphor posits communication largely in terms of the packaging of meaning into words, which are transmitted to the interlocutor, where they are unpacked for understanding.

892 Comprehension The second approach includes a variety of theoretical orientations that emphasize the social and cultural aspects of understanding, and the co-construction of meaning. From this perspective meaning is not simply packaged into words and unpacked by an interlocutor, but rather language itself is a significant tool for the construction of meaning. Theoretical orientations that are consistent with this approach include: cognitive linguistics in the tradition of George Lakoff, with its emphasis on → metaphor and the centrality of embodiment for an understanding of human cognition; approaches to semantics that emphasize context, such as frame semantics; various forms of discourse analysis, particularly those that emerged from ethnographic traditions; and culturalhistorical theory in the tradition of Vygotsky, with its emphasis on socially distributed cognition and the use of cultural artifacts as cognitive tools. These orientations share the belief that comprehension is not something that takes place primarily within the confines of the head, but rather in relation to contexts and environments that include interaction with others, and their intentions. In this way meaning is seen as negotiated rather than transmitted. While less theoretically unified than the Cartesian approach, these orientations in general have been criticized for not conforming to the standards of natural science, and for not providing sufficient models for understanding how cognitive processes are implemented within the brain (→ Cognitive Science; Schemas, Knowledge Structures, and Social Interaction). Disagreements about how categories are formed within the mind reflect this theoretical division. On the one hand the classical approach – in reference to its roots in Aristotle – is predicated on the idea that category membership is based on a set of necessary and sufficient conditions. Hence, we know that a dolphin is a mammal based on its having specific features that define the category “mammal.” Categories are discrete, and all members that meet the criteria enjoy equal status. Prototype theory, on the other hand, holds that categories are constructed around real or idealized central members, or on the basis of family resemblance. Boundaries can be fuzzy, and members can be better or worse exemplars of a category. Hence, a table is a better (more central) member of the category “furniture” than a telephone, and sparrows are better members of the category “bird” than penguins. Proponents of prototype theory hold that studies where subjects are able to rank category members as better or worse indicate the importance of prototypes for cognition and understanding. Proponents of the classical category, on the other hand, hold that the ability to rank membership is essentially an epiphenomenon related to experimental conditions, rather than a true indication of how cognitive processes work. With respect to comprehension, the classical category is highly consistent with the Cartesian approach to language and cognition, emphasizing processes within the individual, while prototype theory is consistent with approaches that emphasize negotiated meaning and the cultural aspects of communication. While much research into comprehension is theory driven, there are also a number of specific issues that researchers within a variety of fields have addressed. In cognitive studies the roles of working → memory (→ Memory, Message), → attention, and auditory perception have been of particular interest. Within linguistics, areas besides syntax and semantics that have been investigated in relation to comprehension include the use and interpretation of speech acts (how we do things with words) and the role of communicative gestures that accompany language.

Computer Games and Child Development 893 A significant question within → discourse analysis is whether understanding takes place primarily from the top-down, with lower-level language aspects being derived from discourse, or bottom-up, with discourse structure being built from lower-level linguistic structures such as syntax and semantics. Within the field of second-language acquisition significant research has been conducted on both listening and reading comprehension (particularly as regards vocabulary, background knowledge, and narrative schema), the relationship of comprehension to production, and the influence of affective factors such as motivation or anxiety. Issues relating to comprehension also extend to neuroscience, in efforts to better understand what takes place within the brain during communicative activity, with studies of aphasias playing an important role. Even literary theory, where questions of whether meaning is contained in the text or constructed by the reader in interaction with the text, deals with issues relevant to comprehension. SEE ALSO:
Attention
Cognitive Science
Discourse Analysis
Gestures in Discourse
Language and Social Interaction
Linguistic Pragmatics
Linguistics
Listening
Meaning
Memory
Memory, Message
Metaphor
Schemas, Knowledge Structures, and Social Interaction References and Suggested Readings Chomsky, N. (1980). Rules and representations. New York: Columbia University Press. Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 0?September Original COMPUTER ??? ?? Articles 2007 GAMES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Computer Games and Child Development John L. Sherry Michigan State University

Nicholas David Bowman Michigan State University

Video games are a prevalent and profitable facet of the modern media entertainment industry (→ Video Games). Although children (anyone under the age of 18) comprise only 31 percent of the $10 billion US video game market, their numbers are increasing. Whereas in the 1990s, only 60 percent of middle-school-aged children reported playing video games on a consistent basis, a 2001 study by the National Institute on Media and the Family reported over 92 percent of US children played video games, an increase of over 30 percent. Worldwide, the video game industry is expected to grow to over $46.5 billion by the year 2010, with a growing portion of this market comprised of children.

894 Computer Games and Child Development Video games have been found to have both positive and negative effects on children, from increased academic test scores to increased aggression levels, but these mixed results, coupled with the increased popularity of video games carrying an “M” rating (for mature audiences only), have media researchers asking the question, “what effects are video games having on the development of today’s youth?” (→ Media Effects). GAME USE DURING CHILDHOOD Several studies have found significant variation in video game play based on age and developmental stage. For example, children in the sensorimotor stage (age birth to two years) are just beginning to learn about concrete objects in their environment and cannot process symbolic information; consequently, studies on US children show that less than three percent play video games at this age. In the most recent study of media use among the very young (ages zero to six), video game play was found to be the least common recreational activity. Whereas over three quarters of young children play outside, read, or listen to music on a typical day, less than 10 percent of these children play video games. This play is severely limited: several studies report that young children play video games for less than six minutes per day, despite three quarters of them having a computer and around half of them having a game system in their home. As children get older, their game play increases until it peaks in the preteen and early teen years. By ages 4 to 6 years – the middle of the pre-operational stage of development – over half of US children have been exposed to video games, and 16 percent report regular video game play; as children enter the concrete and formal operations stages, their game play increases significantly. A study of US school children reports that fifth-graders (children aged 11 years) play an average of 1.81 hours per day, and eighth-graders (children aged 14 years) play 2.46 hours per day. These numbers drop off at the eleventh grade (children aged 16 years) to 1.62 hours daily, and for young adults (aged 18 to 22 years), 1.73 hours daily. Interestingly, a US Kaiser Family Foundation survey (Roberts et al. 1999) found that, when non-gamers are removed from survey data, video game play figures are similar across developmental stages. For example, 16 percent of children aged 2 to 7 years who play video games consistently (as defined by having played the day before the survey administration) play nearly 50 minutes daily. This compares to 45 percent of 8- to 13year-olds who were daily players (at 1 hour and 9 minutes per day), and 30 percent of 14to 18-year-olds who were daily players (at 1 hour and 5 minutes per day). However, there are some methodological issues that make interpretation of these results difficult. For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation survey questioned parents about child game use, while the other surveys reported on child responses. Often, there are sizable differences in reported playing time based on who fills out the survey, parent or child. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN GAMING Patterns of gender differences in video game play appear fairly early in development. One study found that US boys averaged 1.5 hours more game play per day than girls across all developmental stages. Another study found that US boys from 8 to 13 years of age averaged 47 minutes of game play per day as compared to only 16 minutes per day for girls of that same age. The difference stays the same among 14- to 18-year-olds, with boys

Computer Games and Child Development 895 (34 minutes) playing significantly longer per day than girls (7 minutes). In a recent meta-analysis of 90 media use studies, Marshall et al. (2006) estimated that US girls aged 7 to 10 years spend around 30 minutes per day playing video games, while boys of the same age spend more than twice as much time – nearly 71 minutes per day on average – playing video games. These numbers dropped off slightly with age, but the patterns remained the same: older boys (aged 13 to 18) reported playing 60 minutes each day, while older girls played less than 30 minutes. Studies with British youth reported similar patterns (→ Media Use by Social Variable). Clear differences in genre preferences between boys and girls also exist (→ Selective Exposure). The results of four different studies on video game preference of US children are consistent: boys prefer action, fighting, shooting, adventure, and sports games, while girls prefer platform, puzzle, and educational games. These gender differences in game preference are observed as early as 10 years of age. One survey reported that children endorsed statements containing game gender stereotypes and showed clarity on which types of games are “boy games” or “girl games” (→ Sex Role Stereotypes in the Media; Stereotypes). British youth show a similar pattern of game preference by gender. Interestingly, Japanese youth – while showing similar patterns – reported playing fewer violent video games overall. Game sales reflect this trend, as violent video games rarely (if ever) top Japanese video game sales charts, whereas they frequently top the sales charts in the US and the UK. Gender differences in game preferences have been attributed to differences in cognitive skills between boys and girls. Whereas girls have significantly better verbal abilities and tend to like puzzle games, boys tend to have greater capacities for targeting and mental rotational ability, and prefer games that utilize these skills (→ Cognition; Cognitive Science). VIDEO GAME USES AND GRATIFICATIONS Part of the reason why we see differences in amount of game use by age may be because → uses and gratifications derived from game play also vary by developmental stage. Studies on US children show that, although competition and challenge are the highest rated reasons for playing video games across all age groups and genders, older teens (aged 16 years) and young adults (aged 20 years) primarily play video games as a means of social interaction with friends and as a way to get away from stress. Among 14-year-olds, game play is primarily a stress release, a cognitive challenge, and a means of social interaction. For 10-year-olds, their reasons are different. Although these children enjoy playing against friends and as a cognitive challenge against themselves, they also play for the fantastical desire to be a strong character. It appears that games begin as exercises in mastery for younger children (as an intellectual challenge and as an expression of power fantasy), but become more of a social event as children progress through adolescence and into young adulthood. Studies of Japanese and British youth (aged 12 to 14 years), for example, report that companionship and preference for friends are often cited as motivations for video game play; similar results are found when looking at US children of comparable age. VIDEO GAME CONSEQUENCES Scholars have found evidence of positive and negative effects on childhood development associated with video game play. One longitudinal study found that the young children

896 Computer Games and Child Development (aged 4 and 5 years) who were exposed to developmentally appropriate software had increased intelligence scores, nonverbal skills, dexterity, and long-term memory (→ Communication Skills across the Life-Span; Longitudinal Analysis; Memory), while children exposed to developmentally inappropriate software showed decreased creativity levels. Because the pre-operational stage is characterized by a child’s understanding of physical space over abstract thought, video games that focus specifically on shapes and structures are most useful as educational and entertainment media for these children (→ Educational Media). Research on 7- and 8-year-olds – children in the pre-operational stage of development – found that children who played video games had better hand–eye coordination and reaction time than children who did not, and Subrahmanyam and Greenfield (1994) found that video game play could significantly increase spatial skills in 10-year-olds. Children at the later stages of development are able to comprehend and play nearly all video games available. This is an area of concern for some scholars due to the content of the more popular video games. As of the end of 2006, the three top-selling video games in the US were all “M” rated; combined, these games have sold over 17 million copies. A → meta-analysis by Anderson and Bushman (2001) suggests that, although children are not as susceptible to short-term effects of media violence as adults are, they are significantly more influenced in the long term (→ Media Effects Duration; Violence as Media Content, Effects on Children of). These findings suggest that exposure to video game violence teaches children antisocial norms and → schemas, although they have been debated due to small effect sizes and lack of causality (Sherry 2001). In terms of academic growth and performance, studies have been inconclusive. One study, using eighth-grade students, found that the poorest performing students were typically the heaviest users of video games, while another study found no effect of game play – positive or negative – on classroom performance (→ Personality Development and Communication). While there have been several studies examining patterns of children’s video game usage and preference, existing research does not compare effects across ages or cognitive stages. Therefore, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the effects of video game play on childhood development. Research has been conducted with children on such diverse topics as learning from games, physiological reactance to games, and the role of personality in game use, but future research in these areas will be necessary to understand the role of gaming in child development beyond simple descriptions of game use and preferences. SEE ALSO:
Cognition
Cognitive Science
Communication Skills across the Life-Span
Educational Media
Fantasy–Reality Distinction
Longitudinal Analysis
Media Effects
Media Effects Duration
Media Use by Social Variable
Memory
Meta-Analysis
Personality Development and Communication
Schemas
Selective Exposure
Sex Role Stereotypes in the Media
Stereotypes
Uses and Gratifications
Video Games
Violence as Media Content, Effects on Children of

References and Suggested Readings Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A metaanalytic review. Psychological Science, 12, 353–359.

Computer Games and Reality Perception 897 Entertainment Software Association (2006). ESA facts and research. At www.theesa.com/facts/ gamer_data.php, accessed April 17, 2006. Dawson, C. R., Cragg, A., Taylor, C., & Toombs, B. (2007). Video games: Research to improve understanding of what players enjoy about video games, and to explain their preferences for particular games. London: British Board of Film Classification. Funk, J. B., & Buchman, D. D. (1996). Children’s perceptions of gender differences in social approval for playing electronic games. Sex Roles, 35(3/4), 219–232. Kato, M., & Colwell, J. (2005). Video game play in British and Japanese adolescents. Simulation Gaming, 36(4), 518–530. Marshall, S. J., Gorely, T., & Biddle, S. J. H. (2006). A descriptive epidemiology of screen-based media use in youth: A review and critique. Journal of Adolescence, 29(3), 333–349. Rideout, V. J., Vandewater, E. A., & Wartella, E. A. (2003). Zero to six: Electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation. At www.kff.org/ entmedia/3378.cfm, accessed July 11, 2006. Roberts, D. F., Foehr, U. G., Rideout, V. J., & Brodie, M. (1999). Kids and media at the new millennium: A comprehensive national analysis of children’s media use. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation. At www.kff.org/entmedia/1535-index.cfm, accessed July 11, 2006. Sherry, J. L. (2001). The effects of violent video games on aggression. Human Communication Research, 27, 409–431. Subrahmanyam, K., & Greenfield, P. M. (1994). Effect of video game practice on spatial skills in girls and boys. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15, 13–32. Vorderer, P., & Bryant, J. (eds.) (2006). Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Walsh, D., Gentile, D., Walsh, E., & Bennett, N. (2006). Eleventh annual MediaWise video game report card. National Institute on Media and the Family. At www.mediafamily.org/research/ report_vgrc_2006.shtml, accessed July 11, 2006. 0?September Original COMPUTER ??? ?? Articles 2007 GAMES AND REALITY PERCEPTION

Computer Games and Reality Perception Matthew S. Eastin University of Texas at Austin

Immediately following the debut of Nintendo in 1995, researchers questioned what effects games like Super Mario Brothers had on those who played them (→ Computer Games and Child Development). Early → video games consisted primarily of objects or unidentifiable characters such as Pac-Man. Now, through several technological advancements, game play is more complex and has begun to visually mimic real life. For instance, within games and gaming communities of players, both male and female human forms of all races make up many of the characters. And, with the arrival of online games, multi-user environments are increasing the number of video game players, the age of players, and the economic structure of play, thus, changing the outcomes and direction of video game research. Within the computer game literature, multi-user environments are defined as massive multi-user online games (MMOGs) or massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs; → Virtual Communities). Players of multi-user environments typically spend more than 20 hours each week playing alone or gaming with others (Yee 2006). MMOGs and MMORPGs can

898 Computer Games and Reality Perception consist of thousands of players. However, large gaming communities typically break down into manageable groups known as “guilds,” defined as a collection of players who share a common belief or outlook, and clans, defined as “an organized gaming team which enters leagues and tournaments” (Griffiths et al. 2003, 90). Unknown groups, typically small (2 players) or medium (2–20 players) in size, consist of players who, since they are only together for a specific mission, are usually not familiar with each other. Known groups, often clans or guilds, are usually medium in size and contain players who are familiar with each other and often play together (Ducheneaut et al. 2005). Although winning is considered a gaming motivation for these groups, players are also motivated to increase the status of their characters, or simply to game with and against others (Yee 2006). As with some of the media effects literature, video game research is most broadly developed within antisocial gaming effects such as aggression (→ Media Effects, History of; Violence as Media Content, Effects of). Investigators have utilized several theories to explain offline outcomes and perceptions from mediated experiences, including arousal, excitation transfer, social learning, and cultivation (→ Cultivation Effects; Emotional Arousal Theory; Excitation and Arousal; Excitation Transfer Theory). From these theoretical frameworks, a comprehensive model on human aggression known as the general aggression model (GAM) was developed and applied successfully to the video game experience (Anderson & Bushman 2002). The GAM suggests that situational and personal input factors combine to influence behavior through the present internal states of cognition, affect, and arousal. Personal inputs include variables such as trait aggression, while situational inputs have included violent and nonviolent game play. During game play, games provide a learning forum for behavior, including aggressive acts. Learned attitudinal and behavioral responses developed and rehearsed during game play can be transposed into real-life behavior and perceptions. The repetitive nature of game play creates a combined effect where longterm play develops schemas that are chronically accessible (Anderson & Bushman 2002). In the case of the GAM, the social perception and reality of game play is a more hostile society. Using GAM logic, a recent → meta-analysis confirms a positive relationship between violent game play and aggressive outcomes (Anderson 2004). That said, the exposure and scripting process also has the potential to influence other game play behaviors (→ Scripts). Most recently, research has argued that realism (Eastin 2006) and realistic behaviors (Eastin & Griffiths 2006) facilitate the learning or scripting process. Complex environments and realistic gaming complicate the agenda and interpretation of research, perhaps rendering meta-analytic analyses ineffective. It is entirely possible that gaming could be a secondary goal of play. That is, the extent to which competitive game play is not the primary goal could attenuate real-world social perceptions. Many games require cooperation between group members; cooperative group play directs goal attainment to the group (Bonta 1997), which should decrease individual competitiveness and frustrations from game play, and subsequent aggressive outcomes. In short, those playing cooperatively with others should experience less aggression from game play than those playing individually. From a general exposure standpoint, cultivation processes posit that heavy users of media such as video games are more likely to perceive a social reality consistent with the

Computer Games and Reality Perception 899 “images, value systems, and ideologies propagated” (Weber et al. 2006, 351). Grounded in → cultivation theory, the first longitudinal study investigating potential influences on social perceptions from playing the online computer game Asheron’s Call 2 found that “after playing the game, the participants in the treatment condition were more likely than those in the control group to say that people would experience robbery with weapons in the real world” (Williams 2006, 79; → Experimental Design; Longitudinal Analysis). Furthermore, significant findings were only discovered with “in-game and real-world parallels” (i.e., robbery with a weapon). The ability to be anyone or anything within games presents a large obstacle for MMORPG or MMOG research, regardless of the theoretical framework. For instance, if “self ” or “other” is central to game play, then scripting-type effects from play could be centrally focused within the game or character, and thus not carrying over into the real world. Although seemingly a positive outcome for role-playing exposure, it is important to note that, if true, then role-playing could also indicate that social relationships developed and maintained through game play represent weak relationships that are conveniently fostered through play. Regardless, amount and type of role-playing points to additional mediating (or moderating) factors to real-world social outcomes from game play. In sum, the social reality of game play is hard to define. We know that there is a small but consistent effect on real-world outcomes, positive and negative (→ Social Behavior, Media Effects on). However, game complexities make studying and understanding video games difficult, or, at least, more difficult than previous media such as television, where content could easily be controlled. SEE ALSO:
Computer Games and Child Development
Cultivation Effects
Cultivation Theory
Emotional Arousal Theory
Excitation and Arousal
Excitation Transfer Theory
Experimental Design
Longitudinal Analysis
Media Effects, History of
Meta-Analysis
Scripts
Social Behavior, Media Effects on
Video Games
Violence as Media Content, Effects of
Virtual Communities

References and Suggested Readings Anderson, C. A. (2004). An update on the effects of violent video games. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 113–122. Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27– 51. Bonta, B. (1997). Cooperation and competition in peaceful societies. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 299–320. Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. (2005). “Alone together?” Exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems: CHI 2006. New York: ACM Press, pp. 407–416. Eastin, M. S. (2006). Video game violence and the female game player: Self and opponent gender effects on game presence and aggressive thoughts. Human Communication Research, 32, 351–372. Eastin, M. S., & Griffiths, R. P. (2006). Beyond the shooter game: Examining presence and hostile outcomes among male game players. Communication Research, 33(6), 448–466. Griffiths, M., Davies, M., & Chappell, D. (2003). Breaking the stereotype: The case of online gaming. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 6, 81–91.

900 Computer–User Interaction Weber, R., Ritterfeld, U., & Kostygina, A. (2006). Aggression and violence as effects of playing violent video games? In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (eds.), Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 347–361. Williams, D. (2006). Virtual cultivation: Online worlds, offline perceptions. Journal of Communication, 56, 69–87. Yee, N. (2006). The demographic motivations and derived experiences of users of massively multiuser online graphical environments. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309– 329. 0?September Original COMPUTER–USER ??? ?? Articles 2007 INTERACTION

Computer–User Interaction David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen University of Alabama

The world wide web has revolutionized the ways in which people communicate (→ Exposure to the Internet; Internet). People can have simultaneous online chats with colleagues across the world. Yet, people often communicate with a single individual so the communication is in many ways like → interpersonal communication – except not face to face. Chatrooms have been created for many reasons, ranging from social interaction with liked others to sharing information about highly specific topics (→ Personal Communication by CMC). Likewise, web communities have sprung up within and around many different games. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) – most notably World of Warcraft – have online communities within the games, such as the guilds that exist in World of Warcraft, and online communities that exist outside of the game to discuss the game. Even console-based → video games such as the Halo franchise have online communities. Again, there are communities that exist to discuss Halo and there are communities that are created while playing the game online as people communicate with each other. Research on computer–user interaction has focused on how changes in the audience – mediated versus face-to-face – influence how people communicate with each other and the consequences of these differences (→ Exposure to Communication Content). Early speculations concerning communication in online communities were rather stereotypic. The expectation was that chatrooms devoted to medical topics would almost exclusively focus on providing information to the users, with the consequent focus on information accessibility on the part of the interface designers (Pena & Hancock 2006; → Information Seeking). Likewise, the expectation was that communication in guilds in World of Warcraft or between team members in Halo would be primarily focused on taskoriented issues because people were communicating to achieve some goal within the game, and the communication would be more hostile or negative because these are violent games. The extant research challenges the stereotypes about communication in online communities. In a study of communication in an online community dealing with medical issues, people often went to the online community seeking empathy and support – not just factual information. In hindsight, people who are dealing with medical issues should seek

Computer–User Interaction 901 information and empathy. As Preece (1999) notes, designers need to be sensitive to the needs of the people participating in the online community and let the people determine what type of content is going to be sought and what is not (→ Human–Computer Interaction). Likewise, a study of communication in an online gaming community found that the assumption that the communication would primarily be task-oriented was not supported. Pena and Hancock (2006) found that substantially more socio-emotional statements were produced than task-oriented statements. While the participants in this community are there to play a game, they are probably participating in an online community because they are seeking more than the gaming experience. They are seeking interaction with other humans. Indeed, one of the important reasons for participating in online games is to spend time with friends or to make new friends. Both of these examples illustrate that the communication in online communities reflects the function that the communication is serving for its participants. While there is a clear lack of research on communication in online communities, the existing literature suggests several interesting insights into online communication. First, research on perspective-taking theory found that people tend to do a poorer job of taking the perspective of the other people they are communicating with online (Jarvela & Hakkinen 2003). This makes sense because there are fewer contextual cues to help people adequately interpret and understand what other people are trying to communicate. However, these perspective-taking skills are a critical part of goal-directed and task-oriented communication because perspective taking is critical to adapting to other people. On the other hand, research also suggests that the longer a person spends on the web communicating with other people, the more sophisticated they become at online communication (Pena & Hancock 2006). For example, more experienced online communicators are more fluent in their use of emoticons. So the limitations in perspective taking demonstrated in some studies may disappear with greater experience of communicating on the web. Research on communication in online communities is in its infancy. There are many things that need to be done to advance our understanding of how communication operates in these domains. What is the impact of a lack of nonverbal communication such as vocalics (how words are stressed) or paralanguage (“ums” and “ahs”) on how people interpret emotion? Do emoticons, e.g., the “smiley,” adequately address these limitations? Communication in online communities provides unique opportunities for studying basic interpersonal communication processes. Likewise, it is an exciting time for studying the impact of web design on how people communicate in online communities. Does the option of one-to-one communication that is found in many online websites as an alternative to one-to-many communication increase empathic communication in these communities? If the community involves a moderator, how does that moderator impact empathy in that community? More research is necessary to address how the design of these communities impacts how people communicate within them. SEE ALSO:
Blogger
Cognition
Discourse
Discourse, Cognitive Approaches to
Discourse Comprehension
Exposure to Communication Content
Exposure to the Internet
Goals, Social Aspects of
Human–Computer Interaction
Information Overload
Information Seeking
Internet
Interpersonal Communication
Language and the Internet
Personal Communication by CMC
Video Games

902 Computers and Display Programs in Education

References and Suggested Readings Chan, E., & Vorderer, P. (2006). Massively multiplayer online games. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (eds.), Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 77–88. Eucheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. J. (2006). Building a MMO with mass appeal: A look at gameplay in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1, 281–317. Jarvela, S., & Hakkinen, P. (2003). The levels of web-based discussions: Using perspective taking theory as an analytical tool. In H. van Oostendorp (ed.), Cognition in a digital world. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 77–95. Pena, J., & Hancock, J. T. (2006). An analysis of socioemotional and task communication in online multiplayer video games. Communication Research, 33, 92–109. Preece, J. (1999). Empathic communities: Balancing emotional and factual communication. Interacting with Computers, 12, 63–77. 0?July Original Computer ??? ?? 2007Articles Display Programs in Education

Computers and Display Programs in Education Joe R. Downing Southern Methodist University

Communication instructors use two broad categories of display programs in their classrooms. The first category is whiteboard technology (→ Classroom Instructional Technology). When delivering a lecture, instructors make notes on the whiteboard using a special stylus. The text is digitized, so the whiteboard subsequently becomes the display program. Instructors can email these digitized notes to their students or post their lecture notes to courseware packages like Blackboard (→ Course Organization Programs in Education). An interactive whiteboard represents the latest technology in this area. In class, students can use their laptop computers, which are connected to a local wireless network to collaborate on a project. The group’s output is displayed on the interactive whiteboard. The second category of display programs are software applications which instructors use to create visual aids (→ Design; Graphic Design). Popular presentation software packages include Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows and Macintosh), Keynote (Macintosh only), and OpenOffice.com (→ Open Source). Monitors/plasma TVs and overhead LCD projectors display the output that presentation software applications create. The use of presentation software – especially PowerPoint – is widespread. Microsoft officials contend that nearly 30 million PowerPoint presentations are delivered each business day (Mahin 2004). Despite their popularity, little empirical research examines how students and instructors can benefit from using these technologies in the classroom (→ Learning and Communication). Indeed, most empirical research was done in the late 1980s when a visual aid included an overhead transparency as often as a presentation software slide.

Computers and Display Programs in Education 903 In general, researchers have argued that both students and instructors can benefit from using visual aids like PowerPoint. The use of presentation software is most effective when instructors combine both verbal and visual supports into their presentation (Vogel et al. 1986). Visual learners and English as a Second Language (ESL) students can benefit especially when their instructors use display program technologies in the classroom (Atkins-Sayre et al. 1998). Instructors’ use of visual aids, researchers contend, helps students take better class notes and increases their recollection of lecture material (Hamilton 1990). However, there is little evidence that instructors’ use of visual aids – or, more recently, presentation software slides – increases students’ long-term retention of lecture material. So far, no instructional research has been conducted on the efficacy of digital and interactive whiteboards. Several academics and practitioners, including Edward Tufte (2003), are vocal critics of speakers’ reliance on presentation software applications like PowerPoint. PowerPoint, they argue, is popular because the software mirrors Westerners’ tendency toward rational, linear arguments (→ Communication Modes, Western; Rhetoric, Argument, and Persuasion). The verbal support for this mode of argumentation often relies on statistical data and expert opinion (→ Rhetoric and Logic). Speakers then include each piece of verbal support as an individual bullet point and, in doing so, outline their argument. As a result, speakers may neglect to tie their ideas together for the listener. Instead, from the listeners’ perspective, each bullet point acts merely as a sound bite (→ Sound Bites). In sum, critics argue, PowerPoint hides the structure of presenters’ arguments. An emerging cadre of PowerPoint scholars, designers, and practitioners urge speakers to supplement their traditional (logical) forms of verbal support with narrative forms of argument (→ Rhetoric and Narrativity). Instead of relying too heavily on bulleted lists of text, speakers can use images that support their stories (→ Visual Representation). These images can focus on the actors, plot, and inherent conflict (between central characters or broader ideas) that make stories resonate emotionally with an audience. Speakers’ use of these narratives can also meet the needs of international listeners who prefer nonlinear types of arguments. SEE ALSO:
Classroom Instructional Technology
Communication Modes, Western
Course Organization Programs in Education
Design
Educational Media
Graphic Design
Information Overload
Learning and Communication
Open Source
Rhetoric, Argument and Persuasion
Rhetoric and Logic
Rhetoric and Narrativity
Rhetoric and Orality – Literacy Theorems
Rhetoric and Technology
Sound Bites
Visual Representation References and Suggested Readings Atkins-Sayre, W., Hopkins, S., Mohundro, S., & Sayre, W. (1998). Which is more effective for learning? Paper presented at the South Dakota Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Sioux Falls, SD. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED429037. Atkinson, C. (2005). Beyond bullet points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to create presentations that inform, motivate, and inspire. Redmond, WA: Microsoft. Connor, M., & Wong, I. F. H. (2004). Working through PowerPoint: A global prism for local reflections. Business Communication Quarterly, 67(2), 228 –231.

904 Concentration in Media Systems Cyphert, D. (2004). The problem of PowerPoint: Visual aid or visual rhetoric? Business Communication Quarterly, 67(1), 80–84. Downing, J., & Garmon, C. (2001). Teaching students in the basic course how to use presentation software. Communication Education, 50(3), 218–229. Downing, J., & Garmon, C. (2002). A guide to implementing PowerPoint and overhead LCD projectors in communication classrooms. American Communication Journal, 5(2). At http:// acjournal.org/holdings/vol5/iss2/articles/guide.htm, accessed April 14, 2006. Hamilton, C. R. (1990). The effect of quality and color visual aids on immediate recall, attitude toward speaker, and attitude toward speech. Unpublished dissertation, University of North Texas, Denton. Levasseur, D. G., & Kanan Sawyer, J. (2006). Pedagogy meets PowerPoint: A research review of the effects of computer-generated slides in the classroom. Review of Communication, 6(1–2), 101–123. Mahin, L. (2004). PowerPoint pedagogy. Business Communication Quarterly, 67(2), 219–222. Rubin, R. B., & Morreale, S. P. (2000). What college students should know and be able to do. Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, 29(1), 53–65. Seely Brown, J., Denning, S., Groh, K., & Prusak, L. (2004). Storytelling in organizations: Why storytelling is transforming 21st century organizations and management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Tufte, E. (2003). The cognitive style of PowerPoint. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press. Vogel, D., Dickson, G., & Lehman, J. (1986). Persuasion and the role of visual presentation support: The UM/3M study. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 0?September Original CONCENTRATION ??? ?? Articles 2007 IN MEDIA SYSTEMS

Concentration in Media Systems Guillermo Mastrini University of Buenos Aires

Martin Becerra National University of Quilmes

Concentration of ownership in the media sector presents important problems for the cultural industries. First, concentration creates dominant positions for some players, which can affect the necessary pluralism of ideas in a society (→ Plurality). From another point of view, there are strong pressures to allow strong players in a given market because of the growing trend toward globalization in cultural markets (→ Globalization Theories). The digitization of the whole field of cultural production and technological convergence processes have also stimulated concentration (→ Competition in Media Systems; Media Conglomerates). THE PROBLEMS OF CONCENTRATION As Sánchez Tabernero and Carvajal have specified, “concentration can be analyzed from the market viewpoint or from the perspective of the companies. In the first case, concentration increases when the position of dominance or influence of the main companies becomes stronger, the public’s power of choice is reduced and when some ‘independent

Concentration in Media Systems 905 voices’ disappear. From the business point of view, concentration implies industrial growth of the communications groups” (2002a, 15). Economic centralization explains how a few players increase control of the means of production in a given society. From a critical perspective, the main danger with concentration is the trend toward oligopoly (i.e., when the market is dominated by a small number of companies) and monopoly (when the market is dominated by a single firm, instead of a large number of companies). Less critical theories are more tolerant of concentration. For instance, Schumpeter (1943) argues that imperfect markets with a certain amount of concentration stimulate innovation and economic development, so long as this dominant position does not entail abuse over long periods of time. And classical economic theories support the self-regulatory capacity of the market and underestimate the ability of state action to prevent concentration. The concentration of media systems implies a process whereby a certain set of companies tends to increase the relative or absolute number of units that they control (Miguel de Bustos 1993). This phenomenon involves companies adopting two strategies of growth: internal growth takes place when new products are created to gain markets thanks to investment and accumulation; external growth involves the purchase of other companies. Even though the capital demands tend to be larger for external growth, it has the advantage of immediate growth with foreseeable risk. In the cultural sector, internal and external growth result in three forms of concentration, which are also found in other industries. First, horizontal integration or monomedia expansion occurs when a company produces various final products within the same type of business. Monomedia expansion takes place within the same business, with the objective of increasing market share, eliminating idle capacity of the company, and allowing the formation of economies of scale. This type of concentration developed early in the history of the press, with the consolidation of press groups. There is also strong monomedia concentration in the phonograph and cinema markets. Second, vertical integration or expansion takes place when companies that operate in different stages of the value or supply chain are added. In this case, the companies expand with the objective of embracing different phases of production, from raw materials to the finished product, in order to obtain a reduction of costs and better supply. This type of concentration generally allows for the lowering of the costs of intermediation. Transactional costs are reduced and the power of suppliers and dominant buyers become more limited. Particularly in the audiovisual sector, companies depend on reliable access to content and/or distribution of this content. This type of concentration has been growing worldwide during the past two decades (→ Cost and Revenue Structures in the Media). Third, diagonal or lateral growth of conglomerates represents diversification outside the original business, with the objective of reducing risks by developing synergies. According to Gillian Doyle (2002), evidence suggests that diagonal growth is the most effective way to facilitate the sharing of specialized content or a supply structure. Diversification allows companies to disseminate the costs of the risks involved in innovation in a variety of formats and methods of distribution. The appearance of the → Internet has apparently promoted this possibility. Another example of such growth strategies is the conglomerate growth of the daily press, which has tried to explore more profitable sectors, such as TV (→ Cross-Media Marketing; Cross-Media Production). This is a long-term strategy with the objective of securing safer investments, to counteract the slightly lowering trend of decreasing profit rates.

906 Concentration in Media Systems Alberto Pérez Gómez (2002) identifies five forms of concentration: horizontal integration or monomedia; vertical integration; multimedia integration, when a company controls different types of media; conglomeration, when a company goes beyond the communications sector; and internationalization, when a company transcends national boundaries. Because of the growing convergence between the telecommunications, computer, and audiovisual sectors, some authors argue for the need to incorporate the category of convergence into the processes of concentration (Miguel de Bustos 2003). In this way, convergence would include offline activities that move toward the Internet. These forms can obviously complement or juxtapose each other (→ Convergence of Media Systems; Digitization and Media Convergence). As a result of concentration processes, companies acquire a firmer standing and act as barriers to the entrance of other companies. In an international and dynamic market, companies often face a dilemma on how to grow: either by acquisition – purchasing smaller firms – or by merging with international groups. The multiplication of mergers and acquisitions of companies in the information/ communication sector has given rise to a new structure of conglomerates, replacing the traditional corporate structure of these firms. Despite the growing levels of concentration, the existence of thousands of small companies with a short life and little economic relevance is still functional to the process, whereby they renew the market by exploring new formats. Measuring concentration poses a problem. There are several recognized methods and indicators, such as the index of relative entropy, the GINI index, which can be represented by a Lorenz curve, the four-firm concentration ratio (CR4), and the Herfindahl–Hirschman (HH) index. Although concentration can be measured, it is much more complex to quantify its effects on pluralism and diversity. Another important problem is analyzing the issue of control. Historically, media companies have been family owned. Yet recent decades have seen a gradual change toward dispersed capital companies. In order to understand concentration processes as such, it is necessary to analyze the different forms of control and participation in the large groups or conglomerates. DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO CONCENTRATION There are three dominant positions on concentration: first, a liberal perspective that does not question concentration processes except for the case of monopoly; second, the critical school, which identifies concentration of ownership as one of the main capitalist mechanisms for its legitimacy; and, third, an eclectic position that does not share the critical view, but is concerned about the risks of concentration and argues for state interventionism to limit it. From a liberal perspective, Eli Noam (2006) claims: “Pluralism is important. But there is no conceptual, practical or legal way to officially define and measure the vigor of a marketplace in ideas. The best one can do is to count voices, and assume that in a competitive system, diversity of information increases with the number of its sources.” To improve the analysis of the impact of media concentration of ownership, Noam divides the HH index (which is a sign of market power) by the square root of the number of voices. In this way, the index allows for consideration of different markets. Other recent works in the United States intend to show that the presence of the big media conglomerates does not affect informational → balance, sources, or even electoral

Concentration in Media Systems 907 behavior (Groseclose & Milyo 2005; Della Vigna & Kaplan 2006; → Election Campaign Communication). From this perspective, concentration of ownership would not be a threat for democratic societies. In Europe, the liberal thesis is found in the works of Spanish authors such as Alfonso Nieto, Francisco Iglesias, and Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero. Nieto and Iglesias (2000) point out that “the power to inform under circumstances of monopoly are not legitimate . . . but a direct sign of political or economic power which hinders competition in the information market.” Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero and Miguel Carvajal (2002b) believe that the concentration of media markets has clear limits because an inordinate amount of growth could lead to paralysis. Even though these authors recognize that the concentration of power can be an obstacle to free competition and to the exchange of ideas, they emphasize that growth processes should not be stopped because that would interfere with success and innovation. A study conducted by World Bank researchers points out that in modern societies and economies, the availability of information is central to the best decision-making by citizens and consumers because of efficiency. The media are intermediaries that collect information and place it at the disposal of consumers and citizens, and, according to the researchers, private organization of this content is superior to public organization (Djankov et al. 2001). From another perspective, the critical school has denounced the processes of concentration of ownership (→ Critical Theory). In a pioneering work, Ben Bagdikian (1983) shows how the owners of the media promote their own values and interests. Their interference in editorial policies can be either indirect, through the influence of editors and selfcensorship, or direct, through the rewriting of text. Furthermore, the concentration of ownership in the hands of the economically dominant sectors tends to inhibit the expression of voices critical of the system. Following the same lines, but more recently, Edward Herman and Robert McChesney (1997) draw attention to the risks of communications concentration at a global level, transcending historical national barriers: “According to the logic of the market and convergence, we should expect the global oligopoly of the media to evolve gradually to an even larger communications oligopoly.” In Europe at the beginning of the 1990s, the British researcher Graham Murdock observed with concern the conflicts inherent in concentration: “Press freedom was seen as a logical extension of the general defense of free speech. This was plausible so long as most proprietors owned only one title and the costs of entering the market were relatively low . . . By the beginning of this century the age of the chain ownership and the press barons had arrived, prompting liberal democratic commentators to acknowledge a contradiction between the idealized role of the press as a key resource for citizenship and its economic base in private ownership” (Murdock 1990). In Spain, the work of Enrique Bustamante (1999), Ramón Zallo (1992), and Juan Carlos Miguel de Bustos (1993) stands out among Latin researchers studying these issues. The work of Miguel de Bustos provides a detailed analysis of the structures and strategies of media groups. There is also work that represents an intermediate group with respect to the two previous schools. Gillian Doyle (2002) offers two ways of approaching the subject. On the one hand, she presents economic and industrial arguments that tend to favor a more legal

908 Concentration in Media Systems approach to the problem, with an inclination to allow some level of concentration. On the other hand, she also discusses perspectives that focus on society and citizens, political power, political pluralism, and cultural diversity. Pérez Gómez (2002) analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of concentration in media systems. In the first case, he underlines the exploitation of synergies and economies of scale, as well as the possibility to improve distribution and lower costs. Bureaucracy and limits to competition stand out as the risks. Yet, the major problems are not so much in the economic area but with the issue of information pluralism. Pérez Gómez is not conclusive as to whether concentration affects pluralism of information, and argues that it is very difficult to determine the cases in which it does influence it. Finally, Carles Llorens Maluquer (2001) envisages the need to defend pluralism and diversity in the media, which shape public views, although not exclusively. He warns that the homogeneity of audiovisual services has more to do with competition than with the concentrated structure of the industry. According to him, “the liberalization of the audiovisual sector has promoted pluralism, but the levels of diversity remain the same or have decreased.” EMPIRICAL STUDIES Several works have approached the difficult task of studying empirically the processes of concentration of media ownership. In most of them the analysis is focused on the national structure in certain countries. A much smaller number of studies have analyzed concentration on a regional scale, with a comparative approach. Europe is the region with the greatest work on the subject. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Commission for the European Community sponsored a study by Booz-Allen and Hamilton on pluralism and concentration in the media (1992). This report shows a strong concern with the risks that pluralism would encounter when faced with concentration processes, especially in the distribution and consumption of media. The study analyzed the situation of twelve member countries of the European Community at the time. Even though the main focus was centered round consumption, it highlighted the predominance of the public media, as well as the growing role of the large media groups in the main European markets. It also sent a warning about the incipient transnationalization of broadcasting, currently limited by national frontiers. The researchers’ proposal was to harmonize different legislation in order to guarantee pluralism (→ Communication Law and Policy: Europe). A more recent study commissioned by the Netherlands Media Authority analyzed the levels of concentration of ownership in the national and regional press, radio, and television markets (Ward 2004). The study takes into account the percentage of audience share and turnover of the first three operators of each country and the presence of media groups that hold assets in diverse media markets (cross-ownership). The report states that there are several regulatory instruments that guarantee pluralism in media markets. Nevertheless, it warns that the concentration processes are reaching the levels established by law. Even though the public media still retain a considerable market share in radio and television, the report points out that since the 1990s, the concentration of media ownership has increased on a yearly basis (→ Netherlands: Media System).

Concentration in Media Systems 909 Another study conducted in eighteen eastern European countries shows the growing level of concentration of the media in the region. Even though the passage from state-owned media to mixed systems after the fall of the communist regimes led to the appearance of a significant number of new media, both print as well as electronic, a strong concentration process based on a market rationale took place rapidly. A new group of media came onto the stage after a privatization process where the interests between the media and political parties became a matter of fact. The report emphasizes the following common denominators: small and fragmented markets, a strong bond between media owners and political parties, state influence through the granting of subsidies, a monopoly in press distribution, and the growing presence of foreign capital. The report recommends the establishment of limits to the concentration of media ownership (Petkovic 2004). In Latin America, Mastrini and Becerra (2006) have done research that takes into account the structure of the cultural industries’ markets and their levels of concentration. In the first place, the economic relevance of the information/communications sectors was analyzed; second, measurement of concentration levels was assessed in six different markets (press, radio, open television, paid television, basic telephony, and mobile telephony) of ten countries in the region. Finally, the study analyzed the main media groups in each country. The results show a very high degree of concentration in all cases. In fact, the research shows that the first four operators dominate 80 percent of every market. These are not the only studies of media concentration. However, these are useful examples of how concentration studies have been conducted. The research does not typically include a methodology to relate concentration of ownership with media content. All of these cases highlight the high level of concentration reached in the different markets, the presence of media and communication groups that have dominant positions in several media markets, and the need to have regulations that protect content diversity and media pluralism. SEE ALSO:
Balance
Communication Law and Policy: Europe
Competition in Media Systems
Convergence of Media Systems
Cost and Revenue Structures in the Media
Critical Theory
Cross-Media Marketing
Cross-Media Production
CrossOwnership
Digitization and Media Convergence
Election Campaign Communication
Globalization Theories
Internet
Media Conglomerates
Media Corporations, Forms of
Media Economics
Netherlands: Media System
Ownership in the Media
Plurality

References and Suggested Readings Bagdikian, B. (1983). The media monopoly. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Booz-Allen & Hamilton (1992). Study on pluralism and concentration in media: Economic evaluation. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Bustamante, E. (1999). La televisión económica. Financiación, estrategias y mercados [The economic television: Finance, strategies and markets]. Barcelona: Gedisa. Della Vigna, S., & Kaplan, E. (2006). The Fox News effect: Media bias and voting. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Djankov, S., McLiesh, C., Nenova, T., & Shleifer, A. (2001). Who owns the media? Washington, DC: World Bank.

910 Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span Doyle, G. (2002). Media ownership. London: Sage. Groseclose, T., & Milyo, J. (2005). A measure of media bias. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120(4), 1191–1237. Herman. E., & McChesney, R. (1997). The global media: The new missionaries of corporate capitalism. Madrid: Cátedra. Llorens Maluquer, C. (2001). Concentración de empresas de comunicación y el pluralismo: la acción de la Unión Europea [Concentration of communications companies and pluralism: The European Union action], PhD thesis, Barcelona. Mastrini, G., & Becerra, M. (2006). Periodistas y magnates. Estructura y concentración de las industrias culturales en América Latina. [Journalists and press barons: Structure and concentration of the cultural industries in Latin America]. Buenos Aires: Prometeo. Miguel de Bustos, J. (1993). Los grupos multimedia. Estructuras y estrategias en los medios europeos [Multimedia groups: Structures and strategies in the European media]. Barcelona: Bosch. Miguel de Bustos, J. (2003). Los grupos de comunicación: la hora de la convergencia [Media groups: The time for convergence]. In E. Bustamante (ed.), Hacia un nuevo sistema mundial de comunicación. Las industrias culturales en la era digital [Toward a new global system of communications: The cultural industries in the digital age]. Barcelona: Gedisa. Murdock, G. (1990). Redrawing the map of the communications industries: Concentration and ownership in the era of privatization. In M. Ferguson (ed.), Public communication: The new imperatives. London: Sage. Nieto, A., & Iglesias, F. (2000). La empresa informativa [The information company]. Madrid: Ariel. Noam, E. (2006). How to measure media concentration. At www.ft.com/cms/s/2/da30bf5e-fa9d11d8-971-00000e2511c8.html, accessed 19 June 2006. Pérez Gómez, A. (2002). El control de las concentraciones de medios de comunicación [The control of concentration in the media]. Madrid: Dykinson. Petkovic, B. (2004). Media ownership and its impact on media independence and pluralism. Ljubljana: Peace Institute. Sánchez Tabernero, A., & Carvajal, M. (2002a). Media concentration in the European market: New trends and challenges. Pamplona: Universidad de Navarra. Sánchez Tabernero, A., & Carvajal, M. (2002b). Concentración de empresas de comunicación en Europa: nuevos datos contradicen los viejos mitos [Concentration of media companies in Europe: New facts contradict the old myths]. Comunicación y Sociedad [Communication and Society], XV(1), 129–162. Schumpeter, J. A. (1943). Postwar economic problems (ed. S. E. Harris). New York: McGraw-Hill. Ward, D. (2004). A mapping study of media concentration and ownership in ten European countries. Amsterdam: Netherlands Media Authority. Zallo, R. (1992). El mercado de la cultura. Estructura económica y política de la comunicación [The culture market: Economic and political structure of communication]. Donostia: Gakoa. 0?August Original CONFLICT ??? ?? 2007 Articles AND COOPERATION ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN

Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span Yan Bing Zhang University of Kansas

Conflict is pervasive and has been examined extensively in various relationships and communication contexts (Hocker & Wilmot 1991; Putnam & Poole 1987). Communication

Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span 911 scholars, however, have only recently begun to investigate this phenomenon from a lifespan perspective, suggesting that communication among people at different ages deserves special attention. Nussbaum (1989) argued that people of different ages not only experience life events in unique historical contexts, but also develop different physical, cognitive, and psychological selves (→ Development Communication). In line with the life-span perspective, recent research on intergenerational communication in conflict situations has demonstrated several key factors influencing individuals’ conflict styles, including age, age stereotypes, and cultural values. From the life-span perspective, the focus of this article is to explore the nature of conflict, conflict styles, intergenerational conflict management, and how younger and older adults differ in their perceptions and attributions of conflict and conflict-management styles. CONCEPTUALIZING INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICT AND MANAGEMENT STYLES Putnam and Poole (1987) state that conflict is “the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values, and who see the other party as potentially interfering with the realization of these goals” (p. 552). In a similar vein, Hocker and Wilmot (1991) define conflict as “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals” (p. 21). Conflict can be functional and dysfunctional; its constructive functions are contingent upon appropriate management. Therefore, in the last few decades, scholars have sought to identify, conceptualize, and teach the preferred and most effective conflict styles in various relational and communication contexts (→ Conflict Resolution). Thomas and Kilmann (1974) identified five major conflict-management styles: competing, collaborating (or problem-solving), avoiding, compromising, and accommodating (→ Interpersonal Conflict). These five styles have been applied, adapted, and validated in slightly different ways in research. Conceptually, the competing style focuses on the needs of the self over those of another by using an assertive communication style in an uncooperative manner to defend a personal position. The problem-solving style attempts to generate a plan of action in a cooperative manner that is mutually satisfying to all parties. The avoiding style has been identified with withdrawal and failure to take a position through an unassertive and uncooperative response with low concern for self and the other party. The compromising style emphasizes mutual concession-making by following the middle ground. The accommodating style is a self-sacrificing approach featuring the other person’s satisfaction through being unassertive and cooperative. A few studies have provided justification for combining compromising and problemsolving (e.g., Cai & Fink 2002). The accommodating style specified in Thomas and Kilmann (1974) has been largely ignored. Recently, however, research has found that the accommodating style, which emphasizes relational harmony and not necessarily problem-solving, is a distinctive style. In addition, the four conflict styles of competing, avoiding, accommodating, and problem-solving are found to be applicable to intergenerational communication research (e.g., Zhang et al. 2005), which has been examined from interpersonal and intergroup perspectives (→ Intergenerational Communication).

912 Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span Each individual’s communication behaviors are influenced by a personal identity, a social identity, and a cultural identity (→ Age Identity and Communication). While personal identity is composed of individuals’ unique characteristics (e.g., polite, honest, and hardworking), social identity develops as a consequence of membership in a particular group within one’s culture. Without denying the impact of one’s personal identity, the life-span perspective on intergenerational communication incorporates intergroup and intercultural theories to enhance our understanding of the particular ways in which people from different generations manage their interactions. Intergenerational conflict management thus refers to an ongoing communication process where younger and older adults negotiate and manage their interactions as individuals while also considering group differences. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICT Aside from the interpersonal conflict frameworks, several intergroup theories speak of the nature of conflict management in intergenerational relationships. Tajfel’s (1981) Social Identity Theory (SIT) maintains that human beings have an innate need to organize their social world into categories or groups (e.g., age groups) and to show positive ingroup distinctiveness in social comparisons in order to gain self-esteem (→ Social Identity Theory). As a consequence of this categorization, individuals might ascribe to group traits, behave in stereotypical group ways, and show ingroup favoritism and outgroup prejudice and discrimination. Grounded in SIT, Howard Giles’s Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) examines how different motivational processes influence communication styles, as well as the attributions, evaluations, and intentions for future interaction that people make as a result (→ Communication Accommodation Theory). Guided by CAT, Ellen Ryan’s Communication Predicament of Aging (CPA) model was developed to explain roles of age stereotypes in intergenerational communication (→ Social Stereotyping and Communication). In its simplest form, the CPA model outlines how young people’s speech accommodations based on age stereotypes may create a negative feedback cycle for older adults (Ryan et al. 1986; → Intergroup Contact and Communication). Guided by these theoretical frameworks, research on intergenerational communication has revealed unsatisfying young-to-old and old-to-young communication behaviors that are sources of intergenerational conflict. In intergenerational communication, conflict may arise due to generational differences over lifestyle choices, habits, worldviews, and political beliefs, and the negotiation of these differences often involves verbal or behavioral expressions. Conflict can easily escalate if these differences are not managed well. Zhang (2004) examined Chinese college students’ written accounts of their intergenerational communication experiences in conflict situations to uncover conflict-initiating factors. Results indicated five major types of initiating factors including old-to-young criticism, old-to-young illegitimate demand and rebuff, young-to-old criticism and disagreement/ generation gap. Comparison of the initiating factors identified in this study with previous studies on interpersonal conflict (e.g., Witteman 1992) reveals that some of the categories are shared (e.g., criticism, illegitimate demand, and rebuff) and some are different (i.e., young-to-old criticism and disagreement/generation gap, young-to-old rebuff and older

Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span 913 adults’ physical/mental inability). While the most frequent initiating factor in interpersonal conflict is annoyance, the most frequent initiating factor in intergenerational context is criticism. These results indicate the influence and functions of age and age stereotypes in intergenerational communication in conflict situations. Several studies have been conducted as initial forays into intergenerational conflict management styles. Bergstrom and Williams (1995) took an intergroup perspective to examine young people’s perceptions of intergenerational conflict. They manipulated age in order to make the target either an older person or a young adult in a work setting. Results indicated that respondents reported most satisfaction with an older co-worker who was cooperative and least satisfaction with a young co-worker who competed. Bergstrom and Nussbaum (1996) examined younger and older adults’ general conflictstyle preferences. Participants completed a conflict questionnaire and recalled and described a recent conflict scenario. The researchers found that younger participants scored higher on the control style whereas the older sample scored higher on the solution-oriented style. They also found that the younger adults preferred to use non-confrontational style as the depth of the conflict increased, but depth of conflict did not affect older adults’ reports of style preference. Bergstrom and Nussbaum (1996) claimed that preference for solution-orientation in conflict management increases as individuals age (→ Communication Skills across the Life-Span). Supporting this view, Cicirelli (1981) found a negative relationship between the age of adult children and their report of conflict with their parents, indicating that maturity likely minimizes the base for conflict between them. Zhang et al. (2005) examined intergenerational conflict management styles in China from both older and younger adults’ perspectives. Older and younger Chinese adults were randomly assigned to evaluate one of the four conversation transcripts in which an older worker criticizes a young co-worker. The young worker’s response to the older worker’s criticism was manipulated to reflect competing, avoiding, accommodating, or problemsolving. Results demonstrated that older participants favored the accommodating style over the problem-solving style. Young adults either preferred the problem-solving style to the accommodating style, or judged the two styles as equally positive. The findings revealed the combined effects of age-group membership and cultural values on how conflict styles are evaluated (→ Communication Modes, Asian). Suitor and Pillemer (1988) examined intergenerational conflict in the family context between adult children and elderly parents who live together. The researchers’ telephone interviews with 372 older adults revealed that the conflict frequency in general was reported as very low. From the perspectives of adult development and intergenerational relations, they explained that older adults were irritated less often in their relationships with young adults, due to more developed social maturity and emotional control. Among the reported conflicts, adult children’s dependence on housing and need for financial assistance were listed as sources of conflict in addition to other factors such as how money is spent, who should do household chores, and the child’s job. In general, previous research has indicated that young adults have more trouble differentiating between salient and non-salient conflict than older adults; thus older adults may not report those very same interactions as salient conflict (Sillars & Zeitlow 1993). From both elderly parents’ and adult children’s perspectives, Clarke et al. (1999) uncovered six most common themes of conflict between aging parents and their adult children, including communication and

914 Conflict and Cooperation across the Life-Span interaction styles, habits and lifestyle choices, values, religion, work, and household standards. Close examination of the conflict themes reveal several frequent initiating factors centering on issues of interaction style (e.g., old-to-young criticism), most often listed by young adults, and generational difference in personal habits and lifestyle, most often cited by older adults. Intergenerational conflict management from the life-span perspective emphasizes the influence of age-group membership, age stereotypes, and culture on the process. Yet much of the research on negative aspects of relationships such as conflict has focused on young adults’ views. In addition, there has been little effort devoted to deriving theoretical explanations for why and how young versus older adults differ in perceptions and attributions of conflict. As age is a fundamental aspect of social categorization similar to other intergroup distinctions such as gender and race, future research should examine the influences of age salience on intergenerational conflict-management styles. SEE ALSO:
Age Identity and Communication
Communication Accommodation Theory
Communication Modes, Asian
Communication Skills across the Life-Span
Conflict Resolution
Development Communication
Intergenerational Communication
Intergroup Contact and Communication
Interpersonal Conflict
Social Identity Theory
Social Stereotyping and Communication References and Suggested Readings Bergstrom, M. J., & Nussbaum, J. (1996). Cohort differences in interpersonal conflict: Implications for the older patient–younger care provider interaction. Health Communication, 8, 233–248. Bergstrom, M. J., & Williams, A. (1995, May). International conflict from a young perspective: Beliefs, communication satisfaction and response strategies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association. Albuquerque, NM. Older people’s perceptions of intergenerational conflict: Some evaluations and response strategies. Poster presented at International Communication Association, Chicago. Cai, D. A., & Fink, E. L. (2002). Conflict style differences between individualists and collectivists. Communication Monographs, 69, 67–86. Clarke, E. J., Preston, M., Raksin, J., & Bengtson, V. L. (1999). Types of conflict and tensions between older parents and adult children. Gerontologist, 39(3), 261–270. Cicirelli, V. G. (1981). Helping elderly parents: The role of adult children. Boston: Auburn House. Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In H. Giles, J. Coupland, & N. Coupland (eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–68. Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (1991). Interpersonal conflict, 4th edn. Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown. Nussbaum, J. F. (ed.) (1989). Life-span communication: Normative processes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates. Putnam, L. L., & Poole, M. S. (1987). Conflict and negotiation. In F. M. Jablin, L. L. Putnam, K. H. Roberts, & L. W. Porter (eds.), Handbook of organizational communication. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, pp. 549–595. Ryan, E. B., Giles, H., Bartolucci, G., & Henwood, K. (1986). Psycholinguistic and social psychological components of communication by and with the elderly. Language & Communication, 6, 1–24. Sillars, A. L., & Zietlow, P. H. (1993). Investigations of marital communication and lifespan development. In N. Coupland & J. F. Nussbaum (eds.), Discourse and lifespan identity. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 237–261.

Conflict as Media Content 915 Suitor, J., & Pillemer, K. (1988). Explaining intergenerational conflict when adult children and elderly parents live together. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 1037–1047. Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thomas, K. W., & Kilmann, R. H. (1974). Thomas-Kilmann conflict MODE instrument. Tuxedo, NY: Xicom. Williams, A., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2001). Intergenerational communication across the life span. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Witteman, H. (1992). Analyzing interpersonal conflict: Nature of awareness, type of initiating event, situational perceptions, and management styles. Western Journal of Communication, 56, 248–280. Zhang, Y. B. (2004). Initiating factors of Chinese intergenerational conflict: Young adults’ written accounts. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 19, 299–319. Zhang, Y. B., Harwood, J., & Hummert, M. L. (2005). Perceptions of conflict management styles in Chinese intergenerational dyads. Communication Monographs, 72, 71–91. Original Article xxx ACADEMY AWARDS

Conflict as Media Content Simon Cottle Cardiff University

Conflicts are endemic to the known social world and can be defined straightforwardly as struggles between opposing interests and outlooks. How the media report and represent conflicts have been questions throughout the history of media and communications research. From early studies of propaganda in World War I to the latest research into the media’s role in propagating, post-9/11, the US-led “global war on terror,” media researchers have analyzed and theorized the multiple roles, dimensions, determinants, and impacts of media conflict reporting. In addition to studies of war reporting, countless others have examined, for example, how minority groups and protesters have been labeled and stereotyped in the media and how new social movements and cultural identities seek media access and symbolic recognition; how moral panics, public crises, and political scandals are performed and conditioned on the media stage (→ Scandalization in the News); how some conflicts become forgotten or hidden in dominant news agendas and how in others the media become involved in forwarding peace processes; how natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies are signaled around the world and how global risks, such as the fallout from nuclear accidents, migrating health pandemics, or climate change, become periodically symbolized and dramatized, discussed and debated (→ Agenda Building; Cottle 2006; in press). Everyone, it seems, from elected presidents to eco-warriors, now looks to the media to advance strategic aims and symbolic claims. Some protagonists have considerable institutional advantages over their opponents and unashamedly use them to manipulate media agendas to insure that their preferred message gets across (or, equally, that damaging information never finds its way into the media sphere). The resource-poor and institutionally powerless, for their part, are apt to resort to creative tactics or turn to new media in their bid to gain media space and symbolically counter structural imbalances of power.

916 Conflict as Media Content Environmentalists and antiwar protestors, for example, have become adept at deploying symbols and cultural myths or at staging stunning media events – “dissent events” – to attract the media spotlight (→ Media Events and Pseudo-Events). Whether pursued strategically by powerful corporate and government interests, or more tactically by diffuse cultural identities, the media have become a prized arena for the waging of conflict. The discourses, symbols, and themes of media representations serve to variously define and legitimize or deny and delegitimize conflict aims (→ Symbolic Annihilation; Bias in the News). Conflict protagonists can be humanized, heroized, and held in high moral esteem or publicly dehumanized, denigrated, and even demonized. And conflicts can also be presented in historical context, discussed in terms of perceived or real injustices, and portrayed as politically dynamic and culturally meaningful, or they can be depicted as random violent events, seemingly without context or cause, perpetrated by criminals, pathological crowds, and bloodthirsty states or reified in Manichean terms as a “clash of cultures.” It is in and through the array of contending voices and views that manage to access the media and thus have the opportunity to publicly “put their case” that the state of democracy in today’s societies is revealed and publicly constituted. The voluminous research into media conflict has also helped to recover the complex interactions between media and conflict processes as they unfold through time and in relation to political and other contingencies (Cottle 2006; → Reciprocal Effects). Researchers are increasingly cognizant of the dynamic nature of media conflicts and how representations of the same are often contested within and outside the media and how and why these can change across time (Wolfsfeld 1997). Critical sights are prematurely narrowed if media conflict representations are presumed to remain constant or invariant across different fields of conflict, say war, environment, crime, or political scandal, or when ideas of “media bias,” “distortion,” or even “propaganda” are uncritically assumed (→ Construction of Reality through the News). These concepts often do not have the necessary analytical precision and overlook epistemological issues surrounding media representations and analysis. Enemies and opposing parties, by definition, are likely to hold to different beliefs, values, and historical accounts, so recourse to notions of “nonbiased” media representations based, say, on “experts” and “evidence,” “history” and “truth,” can often simply compound, not reconcile, contending world outlooks. With few notable exceptions (Herman & Chomsky 1988), researchers today distance themselves from earlier monolithic views of mainstream media as instruments of “propaganda” working at the behest of dominant political and corporate elites. Nonetheless, most acknowledge the continuing structural imbalances, market imperatives, and political alignments of western mainstream media and how conflicts involving state interests such as war, terrorism, and foreign policy continue to summon government and military attempts at media control and censorship (Allan & Zelizer 2004). These, however, are often opposed by media professionals, and other shaping factors of media conflict are also at work. Deep-seated news values (“violence,” “deviance,” “drama,” “elite orientation,” “human interest,” and “spectacular images”), as well as the known “event orientation” of news and journalism’s reliance on key institutional sources and their definitions of events are all key explanatory factors in media conflict studies (Gitlin 2003/1980; Murdock 1981; → News Factors; News Values). Today’s media ecology includes traditional media of mass publicity, press, and broadcasting as well as new digital and interactive media such as the Internet. Here

Conflict Resolution 917 top-down, vertical communication flows from the “few to the many” by national elites are rapidly being supplemented by wider networks of bottom-up and horizontal communication flows conveyed by diverse groups and individuals around the world in “many-to-many” mode (Bennett 2003). This complex of media forms and flows makes attempts at censorship and control of conflict representations increasingly difficult. Globalizing communications and “contraflows” of alternative and oppositional views and voices render national borders and political cultures increasingly porous and contribute also to the historical “transformation of visibility” (Thompson 2000). Here powerful elites and their misdeeds are more readily exposed in the media than hitherto and they can often become subject to public censure in media-led scandals. SEE ALSO:
Agenda Building
Bias in the News
Construction of Reality through the News
Disasters and Communication
Media Ecology
Media Events and Pseudo-events
News Factors
News Sources
News Values
Public Sphere
Reciprocal Effects
Scandalization in the News
Social Movements and Communication
Symbolic Annihilation References and Suggested Readings Allan, S., & Zelizer, B. (2004). Reporting war: Journalism in wartime. London: Routledge. Bennett, L. (2003). New media power: The Internet and global activism. In N. Couldry and J. Curran (eds.), Contesting media power: Alternative media in a networked world. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 17–38. Cottle, S. (2006). Mediatized conflict: Developments in media and conflict studies. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Cottle, S. (in press). Global crisis reporting. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Gitlin, T. (2003/1980). The whole world is watching: Mass media in the making and unmaking of the new left. Berkeley: University of California Press. Herman, E., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon. Murdock, G. (1981). Political deviance: The press presentation of a militant mass demonstration. In S. Cohen and J. Young (eds.), The manufacture of news: Deviance, social problems and the mass media. London: Constable, pp. 206 –225. Thompson, J. B. (2000). Political scandal: Power and visibility in the media age. Cambridge: Polity. Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Media and political conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 0?September Original CONFLICT ??? ?? Articles 2007 RESOLUTION

Conflict Resolution Katharina Holzinger University of Constance

Conflict resolution, in general, deals with ways of eliminating, terminating, or settling all kinds of conflict. Conflict can be broadly defined as a state of opposition, incompatibility, contradiction, or disharmony of statements, beliefs, goals, interests, or values among or

918 Conflict Resolution within individual or collective actors, and the observable processes of dealing with these differences. The notion of conflict thus has two aspects: (1) the “state of opposition,” which can be established and analyzed without any reference to the behavior of the parties; for example, opposing interests or contradictory claims of the parties to a conflict, and (2) the actual “conflict behavior” of the parties; for example, physical force or verbal dispute. The first aspect relates to the causes or motives behind the conflict; the second to observable action. Conflict behavior may take two forms: physical action, as in the use of force, and communicative action, as in arguments or disputes. TYPES OF CONFLICT Conflict is ubiquitous and not even restricted to social → interaction. It can take place within individuals (intrapersonal → cognitions or → emotions), between individuals (partners, neighbors), between societal groups (religious or ethnic groups, social strata), and between more or less organized collectives (e.g., in industrial relations), most notably, states (international conflict and war; → Intercultural and Intergroup Communication). The objects of conflicts are manifold: scarce commodities, money, income and property distribution, power positions, individual or political goals, values, ideologies, religion, and so forth. Given this background and depending on research interest, various typologies of conflict have been proposed. Examples of simple dichotomous typologies are the distinctions of latent or manifest, antagonistic or nonantagonistic, and functional or dysfunctional conflict. An early and encompassing typology was provided by Dahrendorf (1959), who divided conflict according to the affected actors, reaching from the individual to the nation state into role, group, class, party, and international conflict. Holzinger (2004), concerned with the communicative resolution of social conflict, distinguishes three types according to the substance of conflict: conflict over facts, over values, and over interests. Game theoretic typologies classify various constellations of conflict according to the degree of opposition of interests: the level of conflict is highest in zero-sum games while nonzero-sum games (such as the prisoners’ dilemma or the battle of the sexes game) include also motives for common action. Coordination and harmony games, by contrast, do not include any conflict of interest (e.g., Rapoport et al. 1976; Scharpf 1997). TYPES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION Like conflict behavior, conflict resolution may take the two basic forms of physical action and communication. Physical force may be used to terminate conflicts. However, in a more demanding meaning, any resolution of conflict will have to rely on communication. The notion of conflict resolution or dispute settlement may imply various meanings. First, the most ambitious is an understanding of conflict resolution that aims at the elimination of the causes or the motives behind the conflict. If the causes are eliminated, no future outbreaks of conflict behavior are to be expected. One example is the clearing up of a misunderstanding leading to conflict behavior. Another example is the misperception of a conflict constellation by the parties. A classical story used in the literature on mediation may illustrate this. Two sisters quarrel over a lemon until the mother joins in and finds

Conflict Resolution 919 out that one of the sisters wants the juice while the other one wants the peel for baking a cake (Amy 1987). Perceived conflict turns out to be no conflict in the first meaning outlined above, although there was conflict behavior. We can thus assume that such a solution is stable. Second, a less ambitious notion of conflict resolution aims at the termination of destructive conflict behavior. There are basically two ways of achieving this. First, the parties in conflict can voluntarily come to an agreement they can live with. The conflict is settled. However, there remains a problem of implementation and compliance, as there may be incentives to deviate from the agreement. The solution is thus not stable; the conflict behavior may break out again. Second, one party may have the power to impose a particular “solution” on the other. The manifest conflict is terminated, but it is not “resolved” in any demanding meaning of the term. Examples of this kind of termination are decisions taken by the winner of a war or by the superior party in a hierarchical setting. There will usually be winners and losers in such a situation. The solution is less stable than in the case of voluntary agreement discussed above, because the inferior parties will be dissatisfied with it. Modern societies have developed sophisticated mechanisms for the resolution of conflict. These mechanisms include: 1 Hierarchies and physical force: conflict resolution by power and force or in hierarchies will usually lead to winners and losers and will terminate a conflict rather than dissolve it. The stability of the solution will certainly depend on the power difference of the parties, but also on the legitimacy of a hierarchical relationship. 2 Laws and courts: dispute resolution by laws and courts, based on general rules and their interpretation by a neutral party, possesses legitimacy and will thus produce more acceptance and stability, although it might also create winners and losers. 3 Majority voting: the same is true for the resolution of a conflict by majority voting. It has democratic legitimacy but creates losers. Conflict will not be eliminated; however, it can be settled and terminated, at least for some time. 4 Negotiation and consensus-based procedures: the highest potential for reaching a stable settlement has unanimity or consensus as a decision rule. As all parties must agree with the solution found, there are no clear winners or losers. All parties win something, but usually do not get everything they wanted. In negotiations, a compromise can be reached by the willingness of the parties to make concessions. Bargaining usually does not strive for the elimination of the conflict of interest, but for only its settlement. In procedures based on argumentation or deliberation, a consensus can be achieved by reasoning and by convincing the other parties of one’s own position. Consensusoriented arguing has the potential to eliminate those aspects of a conflict that result from opposing views on values or facts, and may thus lead to the full resolution of a conflict. However, mechanisms based on unanimity are very demanding in terms of finding a solution at all. 5 The involvement of a neutral party: such mechanisms as arbitration in industrial relations build on the ideas of fairness and impartiality. Whether these procedures lead to a stable resolution of conflict depends not only on the quality and the impartiality of the arbitrators’ proposal, but also on whether it is obligatory. If it is accepted by the parties, it has a better chance of surviving.

920 Conflict Resolution

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION Apart from these classical mechanisms of conflict resolution in society, various so-called alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms have been developed during recent decades (Pruitt & Carnevale 1993; Goldberg et al. 2003). There are many different models of ADR – negotiation, moderation, conciliation, mediation, round tables, policy dialogues, consensus conferences, planning cells, participatory technology assessment, deliberative discourse, just to name a few. Four elements are constitutive of ADR procedures, although they are not all present in each model. First, they are built on communicative strategies of problem solution – information exchange, rationality, and “de-emotionalization” play a great role. The hope is that conflict can be eliminated altogether (or at least in some aspects). Second, they are consensus-based and aimed at win–win solutions. Nobody should be worse off after an agreement has been found, so there are no losers. Third, many of them include the presence of a neutral third party in various roles, as a moderator, mediator, or arbitrator. This contributes to the objectivity, impartiality, and, thus, acceptability of the solution. Finally, most ADR models are based on enhanced participation; that is, not only elected representatives but all stakeholders, or even all citizens, should have a chance to take part in the procedure. These four elements imply an ambitious notion of conflict resolution: if possible, the mechanisms should lead to the complete elimination of the conflict; if this is not the case, they should produce an agreement that is as stable as possible. THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION Any attempt to resolve a conflict or to terminate conflict behavior will usually be accompanied by some communication – which need not necessarily contribute to the resolution. There are three functions for communication in dispute settlement. First, it provides information on facts related to the object of conflict and information on the values, goals, interests, beliefs, and emotions of the parties. Second, communication takes the form of bargaining such as demands, offers, threats, and concessions signaling the willingness of the parties to agree to a compromise. Third, it can take the form of arguing. Arguments are exchanged and reasons are given in order to convince the other parties of the validity of one’s claims and to come to a consensus (Holzinger 2004). Two abstract models of communicative conflict resolution have become especially influential: the Harvard concept of negotiation (Fisher et al. 1997) and the theory of communicative action and discourse ethics by Habermas (1984, 1993). The Harvard concept proposes four principles for objective negotiation. First, the parties shall learn to distinguish between the substantial problem and the emotional aspects of the conflict. Second, the parties shall concentrate on their interests, not on positions. Third, the parties shall develop options advantageous for both sides. Fourth, neutral criteria shall be applied in order to find a fair solution. These rules imply that the parties should not sacrifice their interests but try to find a fair compromise. The third and fourth rules ask for the search for information and for argumentation and justification. The hope is that the parties find a solution that is welfare-enhancing (win–win) and fair.

Conflict Resolution 921 Habermas proposes a procedure for the justification of norms and values in a society. The procedure is called the “ideal → discourse” or the “ideal speech situation,” within which verständigungsorientiertes Handeln – that is, consensus-oriented argumentation – can take place (→ Habermas, Jürgen; Political Discourse; Public Opinion). The goal is the rational justification of norms; i.e., it is about collective decisions over rules valid for the whole society. The ideal speech situation is subject to a range of normative conditions. It has to be public; all concerned shall take part; the participants have to be equal; they have to be truthful and not opportunistic; the participants shall be impartial and their interests “generalizable”; and their preferences must be open to change. It is only the “power of the better argument” which counts. A norm is valid if all participants of a practical discourse achieve a consensus that this norm is valid (“principle of discourse ethics”). The consensus can be achieved as a result of the “principle of universality,” which secures impartiality. A valid norm must satisfy the condition that the consequences following from general compliance to it for each individual’s interests will be accepted by all concerned individuals. The Harvard concept conceives of the process of conflict resolution as a bargaining situation. It focuses on the settlement of a conflict of interests, and emphasizes compromise and the willingness to concede. Communication serves to create more information and generate impartiality and objectivity. However, discourse ethics focuses on argumentation and reasoning. Habermas is concerned about conflict over values and norms in society and emphasizes the role of justification, persuasion, and consensus. The two concepts vary more strongly in which kinds of conflict they have in mind than in the normative rules they develop. Both rely on information, justification, and impartiality. The main difference is that the Harvard concept accepts opposing interests as given and looks for ways of accommodation, whereas Habermas requires the parties in a conflict to be willing to sacrifice their personal interests. Research in conflict resolution is very dispersed in social science. It takes place in many disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, law, political science, and economics, and it comprises normative and analytical approaches. Although there are interdisciplinary research centers, such as the Harvard Program on Negotiation, research areas as different as studies in international conflict and peace, in the resolution of social and institutionalized political conflict, on ADR, or on personal conflict so far lack a common analytical framework. Future research would gain by doing more systematic comparison of the performance of the different conflict resolution mechanisms for various types of conflict. SEE ALSO:
Cognition
Discourse
Emotion
Habermas, Jürgen
Interaction
Intercultural and Intergroup Communication
International Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Organizational Communication
Political Discourse
Public Opinion

References and Suggested Readings Amy, D. (1987). The politics of environmental mediation. New York: Columbia University Press. Bercovitch, J. (ed.) (2002). Studies in international mediation. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan. Dahrendorf, R. (1959). Class and class conflict in industrial society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

922 Conflicts of Law Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (1997). Getting to yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in. London: Arrow. Goldberg, S. B., Sander, F. E., & Rogers, N. H. (eds.) (2003). Dispute resolution: Negotiation, mediation and other processes. New York: Aspen. Habermas, J. (1984). Theory of communicative action. London: Heinemann. Habermas, J. (1993). Justification and application: Remarks on discourse ethics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Holzinger, K. (2004). Bargaining through arguing: An empirical analysis based on speech act theory. Political Communication, 21, 195–222. Pruitt, D. G., & Carnevale, P. J. (1993). Negotiation in social conflict. Buckingham: Open University Press. Rapoport, A., Guyer, M. J., & Gordon, D. J. (1976). The 2 × 2 game. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Scharpf, F. W. (1997). Games real actors play: Actor-centered institutionalism and policy research. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 0?July Original SHORT CONFLICTS ??? ?? 2007TITLE Articles OFRUNNING LAW HEAD: CONFLICTS OF LAW

Conflicts of Law Ashley Packard University of Houston-Clear Lake

The term “conflicts of law” refers to the procedures courts use to determine the appropriate law and place to settle a claim in cases involving litigants from different nations or sovereign states within federations. This area of law encompasses three separate but related concepts: personal jurisdiction, choice of law, and enforcement of foreign judgments. In Europe conflict of law is more commonly called private international law. Its corresponding branches are adjudicative jurisdiction, prescriptive jurisdiction, and enforcement jurisdiction. In the context of communication, these issues come into play when publishers or broadcasters are sued in jurisdictions other than their own for material they disseminate. A New York magazine that publishes an article about a Japanese businessman, for example, could be sued for defamation in Tokyo if the subject feels his reputation was harmed there. In such a case, the forum court in Japan would first have to determine whether it has personal or adjudicative jurisdiction – or, in other words, the power to hear the claim. A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over conduct that occurs within its territory or that involves its citizens. It may also exercise jurisdiction if the effect of the injurious conduct occurs within its borders, regardless of where the actual conduct took place. In cases involving international litigants, courts are obliged to consider the interests of other states that might assert jurisdiction as well. This practice, known as comity, is generally equated with reasonableness. In general, exercise of jurisdiction is considered reasonable if there is a link between the person, natural or a corporation, and the state; if the person has consented to exercise of jurisdiction; if the person regularly does business in the state; or if the person engaged in an activity outside the state that had a

Conflicts of Law 923 substantial and foreseeable effect within the state. If the court determines that, in the interest of justice and convenience of the parties involved, it would be better to try the case in another forum, it may refuse to exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. European Union nations have simplified the process of resolving cross-border disputes by adopting the Brussels Regulation, a treaty specifying the rules for exercising jurisdiction among EU members (→ European Union: Communication Law). Elsewhere, nations have attempted to form international agreements on jurisdiction with less success. The Hague Convention on Private International Law established an international agreement for business-to-business choice of court decisions. But it failed to accomplish its larger goal of developing a general agreement on jurisdiction and recognition of civil judgments, because the negotiating parties could not agree on the appropriate criteria for exercising jurisdiction over foreign defendants. Once a court assumes jurisdiction, it must decide the law to prescribe in the case. The court may apply the law of the forum (lex fori), which is common when the legal question is procedural, or related to the rules used to decide a case. Or the court may apply the law of the site where the tort or delict was committed (lex loci delicti commissi), which is normally the case when the legal question is substantive, or related to the rights and obligations of the parties involved. So, assuming that the Japanese court in the earlier example asserted jurisdiction over the New York magazine, it would then have to decide whether to apply the defamation laws of Japan or New York. Civil law nations, such as Japan and most European countries, predominantly determine choice of law interest based on the principle of territoriality. The lex loci doctrine operates under the theory that people should expect to be held accountable for the laws of the places where they visit or engage in business – or, in the case of media, where they publish or broadcast. The rule also fosters simplicity and predictability. Most commonwealth nations, like Australia and Canada, rely on lex loci for choice of law as well, although they may institute exceptions in certain cases. For example, although the United Kingdom recognizes lex loci as the principal doctrine to be used in tort cases, it exempts defamation from the rule. Defamation cases still fall under its common law rule of double actionability, which requires a tort to be actionable under English law as well as the other nation’s law before English courts will consider it. Lex loci was also the prevailing theory in the United States until the mid-twentieth century. Now, however, while territoriality is still a factor in determining personal jurisdiction and choice of law in the United States, it is considered insufficient to rely on it alone. Most US courts have endorsed the approach recommended in the Restatement (Second) of the Conflict of Laws, which is to apply the law of the state with “the most significant relationship to the occurrence and parties” (American Law Institute 1968). Many also employ interest analysis, in which the forum court is expected to consider the needs of state and international systems, the relative interests of the forum and other states that may be interested in the issue, the protection of litigants’ expectations, the policies underlying the particular law, predictability and uniformity of result, and ease of adjudication in its choice of law. Interest analysis is more nuanced and flexible than lex loci, but it also lacks predictability, an important consideration in legal systems based on stare decisis.

924 Conflicts of Law The borderless nature of the Internet has magnified already inherent tensions in conflicts of law (→ Internet; Internet Law and Regulation). The traditional practice of relying on the place where the harm is felt to determine jurisdiction and choice of law exposes Internet publishers to potential legal action wherever the material can be downloaded (→ Online Media). And, because standards for content vary among nations, Internet publishers can be sued in foreign jurisdictions for content that would be legal in their own country. But the Internet is just the latest in a series of modern advances that have pushed legal issues beyond sovereign boundaries. Broadcast television and radio, satellite and other types of telecommunication technology have raised similar concerns (→ Telecommunications: Law and Policy; Satellite Communication, Regulation of). This dilemma has inspired calls to harmonize conflicts of law among member nations of the European Union. The EU has a choice of law agreement for contractual obligations already in place. Member nations are now trying to reach an agreement on choice of law issues in noncontractual obligations. But the treaty, dubbed “Rome II,” has been impeded by contradictory views on the latitude courts should have in determining choice of law in defamation and invasion of privacy torts, particularly in the context of Internet publication (→ Libel and Slander; Privacy). Courts that render judgments against foreign defendants are powerless to enforce them outside of their own jurisdictions. But most nations show deference to foreign legal decisions in the hope of encouraging reciprocal recognition of their laws and judgments. This deference is not without exception, however. Courts can refuse to enforce foreign judgments that conflict with their nation’s fundamental public policies. SEE ALSO:
Communication Law and Policy
European Union: Communication Law
Internet
Internet Law and Regulation
Libel and Slander
Online Media
Privacy
Satellite Communication, Regulation of
Telecommunications: Law and Policy References and Suggested Readings American Law Institute (1968). Restatement (Second) of the Conflict of Laws, § 6(2) and § 145. American Law Institute (1987). Restatement of the Law (Third) Foreign Relations Law of the United States, sect; 421(1). Commission of the European Communities Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Law Applicable to Non-Contractual Obligations, COM [2006] 83 FINAL; 2003/0168 (COD); “Rome II” (February 21, 2006). Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations, June 19, 1980, 1998 OJ (C 27) 36 (entered into force April 1, 1991). Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (also called the Brussels I Regulation because it replaces the Brussels Convention of 1968). Packard, A. (2006). Wired but mired: Legal system inconsistencies puzzle international Internet publishers. Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, 1, 57– 96. CONSENSUS-ORIENTED PUBLIC RELATIONS 0?September Original ??? ?? Articles 2007

Consensus-Oriented Public Relations 925

Consensus-Oriented Public Relations Roland Burkart Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski

Consensus-oriented public relations (COPR) is a concept for planning and evaluating → public relations (PR). Especially in situations with a high chance of conflict, companies and organizations are forced to present good arguments for communicating their interests and ideas – in other words, they must make the public understand their actions (→ Corporate Communication; Crisis Communication). Therefore, in the viewpoint of COPR, understanding plays an important role within the PR management process (Burkart 2004). THEORETICAL BACKGROUND On the one hand, the COPR model ties up with Grunig and Hunt (1984) and the PR goal “mutual understanding” within their two-way symmetric model of public relations. Grunig and Hunt argue that primarily in situations with a high chance of conflict, PR must try to establish mutual understanding between organizations. On the other hand, the theory and terms of communication used for the COPR model are the ones established by → Jürgen Habermas in his theory of “communicative action” (1981). According to this theory, communication always happens as a multidimensional process, and each participant in this process needs to accept the validity of certain quasi-universal demands in order to achieve understanding. This implies that the partners in the communication process must mutually trust that they fulfill the following criteria: (1) intelligibility (being able to use the proper grammatical rules); (2) truth (talking about something the existence of which the partner also accepts); (3) trustworthiness (being honest and not misleading the partner); and (4) legitimacy (acting in accordance with mutually accepted values and norms). As long as neither of the partners has doubts about the fulfillment of these claims, the communication process will function uninterruptedly. However, these ideal circumstances are an ideal type of imagination – they hardly ever occur in reality. Often, basic rules of communication are violated and therefore there is a certain “repair mechanism,” which is called → discourse. Discourse means that all persons involved must have the opportunity to doubt the truth of assertions, the trustworthiness of expressions, and the legitimacy of interests. Only when plausible answers are given will the flow of communication continue. Basically, Habermas distinguishes three types of discourse (Fig. 1). In an explicative discourse, we question the intelligibility of a statement, typically by asking, “How do you mean this?”, or “How shall I understand this?” Answers to such questions are called “interpretations.” In a theoretical discourse, we question the claim of truth, typically by asking “Is it really as you said?”, or “Why is that so?” Answers to such questions are called “assertions” and “explanations.” In a practical discourse, we question the normative rightness (legitimacy) of a speech act by doubting its normative context, typically by asking “Why have you done this?”, or “For what reason didn’t you act differently?” Answers to such

926 Consensus-Oriented Public Relations questions are called “justifications” (Habermas 1984, 110 ff.). A fourth aspect, i.e., the claim of trustworthiness (typical questions: “Will this person deceive me?”, “Is he/she mistaken about himself/herself ?”), is an exception as it cannot be subject to discourse because the communicator can prove his or her truthfulness only by subsequent actions (Habermas 1981, vol. 1, 69). Discourses must be free of external and internal constraints. However, this is what Habermas calls “contrafactual” because the “ideal speech situation” that would be required for this does not exist in reality. We only act as if it were real in order to be able to communicate (Habermas 1984, 180). The process of “understanding” is not an end in itself. Normally we pursue the intention of putting our interests into reality. Thus, understanding becomes the mean for the coordination of actions, as the participants involved in this process aim at synchronizing their goals on the basis of common definitions of a situation (Habermas 1981, vol. 1, 143f., 385f.). This leads to the conclusion that commonly accepted definitions of a situation need undisturbed processes of understanding as a prerequisite for deciding what should be done in a given case. PUBLIC RELATIONS AS A PROCESS OF UNDERSTANDING The COPR model focuses on the above prerequisites. PR managers who reflect on the basic principles of communication will always orient their activities in accordance with possible criticism maintained by the public. However, the COPR model is not a naive attempt to transfer Habermas’s conditions of understanding directly onto the reality of PR. In view of the theory’s contrafactual implications, this would be inadequate. It was rather a goal to gain from Habermas’s concept of understanding new ideas for the analysis of real PR communication. The main impact of creating the COPR model was the possibility of differentiating communicative claims, so that this process of questioning can now be analyzed more systematically. Especially in situations where conflicts are to be expected, PR managers have to take into account that their messages might be questioned by critical recipients. Members of the publics involved will offer their doubts about the truth of presented PR information, especially when confronted with numbers, other data, and facts. They will question the trustworthiness of the company and its communicators, as well as the legitimacy of the company’s interests (→ Trust of Publics). This is illustrated in Figure 1. For example, if a community plans to build a waste disposal site, this will most likely cause disturbance among the local residents. Sometimes even a citizens’ initiative will be formed that aims at bringing down the project. Normally the local media will support the protests, so a conflict situation can be expected (→ Advocacy Journalism). On the basis of the COPR model, the PR managers of the company planning the landfill should consider that (1) any assertion they make will be examined concerning its truth, e.g., whether figures about the quantity of waste to be deposited are correct, whether air, plants, wildlife, groundwater, etc. are really not endangered; (2) the persons, companies, and organizations involved will be confronted with distrust, e.g., representatives of companies might be taken as biased, experts/consultants as incompetent or even corrupt; (3) their intention for building the landfill will be doubted in principal, either because the basic

Consensus-Oriented Public Relations 927

Figure 1 PR communication based on consensus-oriented public relations

strategy for waste disposal is questioned (e.g., by preferring waste avoidance as an alternative to landfills), or because the choice of the site for the landfill is seen as unjustified (e.g., because the region has just started developing tourism). Only if it is possible to eliminate such doubts, or, even better, if doubts are prevented from the very beginning, can the flow of communication not be disturbed (→ Corporate Reputation). PLANNING AND EVALUATION OF COPR In the COPR process, four steps with corresponding objectives can be distinguished. These steps must be adapted to the actual conflict situation, in order to use COPR as a planning tool. This also makes it possible to evaluate the success of PR activities not only in a summative sense (at the end of a PR campaign) but also in a formative way (meaning step by step). For instance, on the information dimension, the following questions can be asked: “Have the relevant facts been presented?” (What?), “Have the main company figures been mentioned?” (Who?), and “Have the project goals been justified?” (Why?). In the case of a planned landfill in Austria, the conception of COPR was useful for analyzing and explaining the consequences of the PR activities that the company launched in the conflict that arose from their project (Burkart 1993, 1994). A representative survey showed that the acceptance of building the landfill correlated convincingly with the degree of understanding. Respondents who tended to accept the project were not only better informed but also less likely to question the trustworthiness of the planners and the legitimacy of the choice of site for the landfill. Nevertheless, the COPR model is not a recipe for generating acceptance. People cannot be persuaded to agree to a project by pressing a “PR button,” because acceptance can only emerge among the persons involved if the process of understanding has worked successfully. The prerequisite for this is that the need for dialogue and discourse on the side of the public is taken seriously by the companies and communication managers concerned, especially when the former feel restricted or even threatened by company interests and plans.

928 Consistency Theories SEE ALSO:
Advocacy Journalism
Corporate Communication
Corporate Reputation
Crisis Communication
Discourse
Excellence Theory in Public Relations
Habermas, Jürgen
Legitimacy Gap Theory
Organization–Public Relationships
Public Relations
Public Relations Field Dynamics
Trust of Publics References and Suggested Readings Burkart, R. (1993). Public Relations als Konfliktmanagement. Ein Konzept für verständigungsorientierte Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Vienna: Braumüller. Burkart, R. (1994). Consensus oriented public relations as a solution to the landfill conflict. Waste Management and Research, 12, 223–232. Burkart, R. (2004). Consensus-oriented public relations (COPR): A conception for planning and evaluation of public relations. In B. van Ruler & D. Vercic (eds.), Public relations in Europe: A nation-by-nation introduction to public relations theory and practice. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 446–452. Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Habermas, J. (1981). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns, vol. 1: Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung; vol. 2: Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Habermas, J. (1984). Vorstudien und Ergänzungen zur Theorie des kommunikativen Handels. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 0?September Original CONSISTENCY ??? ?? Articles 2007 THEORIES

Consistency Theories Sabine Trepte Hamburg Media School

In social psychology, consistency theories constitute a body of four theories: → Leon Festinger’s → cognitive dissonance theory (1957), Fritz Heider’s balance theory (1946, 1958), Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum’s consistency theory (1955), and Rosenberg’s model of affective–cognitive consistency (1956). Consistency theories are characterized by the assumption that humans strive for a balanced state of → cognitions and behaviors. If a set of cognitions or of cognitions and behaviors are contradictory in some manner to the person experiencing them, a state of imbalance, i.e., “dissonance,” occurs. The affected person perceives this state as unpleasant and is therefore motivated to reduce dissonance. Both behavior and cognitive activity are suitable for reducing dissonance. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY The most influential of these four theories is Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory. Initiated by this contribution, consistency became one of the most studied topics in social psychology from 1960 to 1970. The theory implies that people fall into an unpleasant

Consistency Theories 929 state of affairs if the different cognitions (thoughts, → attitudes, beliefs, states of behavior awareness) and the behaviors they produce are inconsistent. According to Festinger (1957, 13), “two elements are in dissonant relationship if, considering these two alone, the obverse of one element would follow from the other.” Consequently, to reduce dissonance a person might change or add elements that led to dissonance, or he or she might engage in active behavior either to avoid situations and information that increase dissonance or to actively reinterpret the situation or information. The → selective exposure hypothesis states that dissonant information is avoided except when attitudes are very strong or very weak. If attitudes are strong, the affected person can find enough opposing arguments to integrate dissonant information into his or her cognitive system. If attitudes are weak, this person might better discover the truth and change his or her personal attitude. In this manner dissonance is avoided more effectively over time. In subsequent research on cognitive dissonance, → selective perception and selective retention were observed. Varying kinds of selective exposure have been differentiated in terms of which information was selected, how much importance and meaning viewers and listeners allocated to it, and how they evaluated this type of media content. Researchers applying cognitive dissonance theory in empirical research discovered a number of methodological and theoretical problems, and found that the theory is unable to predict information behavior in the way its protagonists first thought possible. Nevertheless, cognitive dissonance can explain some variance in exposure to news, although the valence (positive or negative), the news value, and the positioning of a news item can overrule its influence on exposure (Donsbach 1991). BALANCE THEORY Heider’s balance theory was derived from gestalt psychology (1946, 1958). Additionally, its formulation was influenced by Lewin’s field theory, i.e., all kinds of human perceptions such as objects or events can be summarized into a cognitive field (1951). Balance theory describes the relationships between a certain person (P), another person (O), and an attitude, object, or topic (X). A balance between all three elements is said to occur if they have positive relationships, e.g., P liking O (positive relationship), O disliking X (negative relationship), and P disliking X (negative relationship). This example depicts a balanced triad. It is supposed to be perceived as pleasant and remain stable over time. Humans can encounter eight different relationships, four of which are balanced and the other four unbalanced. According to Heider, people prefer to have attitudes that are consistent with each other compared to those characterized by inconsistency. Humans try to retain consistency in their attitudes toward and in their relationships with other people and elements of the environment. People try to establish balanced triads in their day-today lives. As a consequence of unbalanced triads, people are motivated to alter elements and relationships within them. For instance, they could terminate the relationship with another person (O) or change their attitude toward an object or an event (X). However, we humans do not always try to resolve inconsistency in that way. Sometimes people would rather “reorganize” triads. For instance, they would not talk rudely about another person’s (O) hobby (X), if they liked this person but not the hobby. In empirical studies

930 Consistency Theories subjects rated balanced triads as more pleasant and stable; however, research also shows that real-life triads are much more complex and that assumptions from balance theory are not always able to predict the complexity encountered in real-life triads. The most important expansion of balance theory has been suggested by Newcomb (1953, 1961, 1978), who differentiates between balanced and unbalanced triads as well as triads without balance. He also investigates the relationship O has to P. A triad “without balance” is defined as one in which the P–O relationship is negative in at least one direction, e.g., O dislikes P. Accordingly, no interpersonal system can be defined and therefore the question of balance is not posed. Also, Newcomb addresses the relevance of relationships as a determinant of consistency. If, for instance, the relationship between P and O is perceived as very important, they are more likely to establish a state of balance. CONSISTENCY THEORY AND AFFECTIVE-COGNITIVE THEORY OF CONSISTENCY This idea is also depicted in the consistency theory by Osgood and Tannenbaum (1955; Tannenbaum 1968). The authors expand balance theory in terms of quantifying how positively or negatively the other person (O) and the attitude, object, or event (X) are evaluated. These evaluations are made on semantic differential → scales. Osgood’s semantic differential method measures attitudes on a bipolar scale with opposite adjectives at the poles (e.g., good–bad, strong–weak). Subjects are asked to rate an object between the poles of given adjective pairs. Poles usually range from –3 to +3. The five spaces in between –3 and +3 are not indicated by words or numbers. Respondents are asked to check the space in between both poles that best indicates their attitude. Congruity occurs if a person (P) evaluates an object (X) in a similar manner to how another person (O) did. If the evaluation relationships are balanced (e.g., a person evaluates an object as positively as another person did and both these people like each other), yet differ according to their quantitative value (e.g., P evaluates the object very positively, but O appreciates it only mildly), incongruity is the consequence. As with the other consistency theories, incongruity implies an unpleasant state of mind and leads to increased motivation to re-establish congruity. Rosenberg’s affective–cognitive theory of consistency states that attitudes encompass a cognitive and an affective component (1956, 1960). The affective component implies the evaluation of the attitude object (e.g., positive evaluation of a politician) and the cognitive component implies the instrumental means (e.g., knowing that the politician is a Republican). Accordingly, humans strive for consistency among affective and cognitive components of their attitudes. Empirical research on this subject matter provided sound evidence that changes in one component will lead to the motivation to alter the other (Rosenberg 1960). STATE-OF-THE-ART OF CONSISTENCY THEORIES Since 1960, consistency theories have increasingly lost recognition in social psychology, because information processing models have gained popularity and because consistency theories lack the complexity to predict behavior. In fact, in some instances, people may be

Consistency Theories 931 happy in situations characterized by imbalance and inconsistency. Yet despite criticism, consistency theories have inspired an enormous body of research and, until today, many of these results cannot be predicted by other approaches. Apart from their outreach in social psychology, consistency theories have had a tremendous impact on the understanding of selective exposure to communication. In fact, they are still used to explain selective exposure, along with other theories such as → mood management or theories of social identity (→ Social Identity Theory). The impact of consistency theories for communication certainly lies in their scope to predict motivation. Communication scholars are able to define all kinds of subsequent actions of perceived inconsistency (e.g., selective exposure to mass media), cognitions (e.g., evaluation of mass media content or attitude change), and emotions. However, not all of the four theories named above have been equally addressed in communication research. The theory of cognitive dissonance has gained the most attention and it has very often been applied to explain selective exposure to → news and advertisements (→ Advertisement, Visual Characteristics of). However, research on mass media effects has usually been realized in the form of correlational field research. Cotton (1985) and Donsbach (1991) have reviewed research on consistency theories in psychology and communication within recent decades. Accordingly, corresponding work addressed the question of how attitudes, e.g., toward political parties, are related to selective exposure to newspapers. It was hypothesized that subjects with strong or weak beliefs in political parties or candidates only show moderate interest in selective exposure, because they do not experience dissonance. On the contrary, a person with a moderate belief in a certain party or candidate shows strong interest in publications dealing with the subject matter, because he or she experiences cognitive dissonance. Findings produced in → field research of this kind were not always replicated in laboratory research conducted earlier in the domain of social psychology (→ Experiment, Laboratory). Research on cognitive consistency was criticized on the grounds that it lacked appropriate consideration of inter-individual differences and characteristics of media content and format. Also, it was noted that scholars were not able to explain whether cognitive dissonance or some other psychological process was the reason for selective exposure. In addition, communication scholars have very often used cognitive dissonance as a theoretical inspiration rather than taking into account all corresponding research conducted in social psychology before. For instance, Donsbach (1991) holds that this manner of dealing with cognitive dissonance theory in communication hindered its development. Instead of doing rigorous research and appropriately recognizing such work, similar designs have been replicated over and over again. Cotton (1985) suspected that research on cognitive dissonance might decrease or even extinguish, because results are unequivocal and no new, inspiring issues have been raised. Donsbach (1991) argues that only rigorous research and consideration of all results on consistency theories can lead to adequate and groundbreaking progress. Consequently, the future directions that research on consistency theories will take are regarded as obscure. SEE ALSO:
Advertisement, Visual Characteristics of
Attitudes
Cognition
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Experiment, Laboratory
Festinger, Leon
Field Research
Mood Management
News
News Values
Persuasion
Scales

932 Consolidation of Media Markets
Selective

Exposure


Selective

Perception and Selective Retention


Social

Identity

Theory References and Suggested Readings Cotton, J. L. (1985). Cognitive dissonance in selective exposure. In D. Zillmann & J. Bryant (eds.), Selective exposure to communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 11–34. Donsbach, W. (1991). Exposure to political content in newspapers: The impact of cognitive dissonance on readers’ selectivity. European Journal of Communication, 6, 155–186. Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Heider, F. (1946). Attitudes and cognitive organization. Journal of Psychology, 21, 107–112. Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: John Wiley. Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in the social sciences. New York: Harper. Newcomb, T. M. (1953). An approach to the study of communicative acts. Psychological Review, 60, 393–404. Newcomb, T. M. (1961). The acquaintance process. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Newcomb, T. M. (1978). The acquaintance process: Looking mainly backward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1075–1083. Osgood, C. E., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1955). The principle of congruity in the prediction of attitude change. Psychological Review, 62, 42–55. Rosenberg, M. J. (1956). Cognitive structure and attitudinal affect. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 53, 367–372. Rosenberg, M. J. (1960). An analysis of affective–cognitive consistency. In M. J. Rosenberg, C. I. Hovland, W. J. McGuire, R. P. Abelson, & J. W. Brehm (eds.), Attitude organization and change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, pp. 15–64. Tannenbaum, P. H. (1968). The congruity principle: Retrospective reflections and recent research. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg, & P. H. Tannenbaum (eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, pp. 52–72. 0?September Original CONSOLIDATION ??? ?? Articles 2007 OF MEDIA MARKETS

Consolidation of Media Markets Dwayne Winseck Carleton University

Consolidation refers to the expansion of media firms through mergers and acquisitions. Formally, it is distinct from the concentration of media markets, although the terms are often used interchangeably. To some observers, consolidation responds to the growth of new television networks and cable and satellite channels – e.g., MTV, HBO, ESPN, CNN, Fox News, Canal 1, A&E, Al Jazeera – and the splintering of audiences into niche markets (→ Television Networks; Cable Television; Satellite Television; Audience Segmentation; Arab Satellite TV News). Even the grip of the → Hollywood majors – Columbia, → Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros – over US and international film audiences appears to be slipping, with their share of the US market tumbling from 85 percent in 1994 to 66 percent in 2004. Throw into this mix the Internet’s endless websites, downloading services, and innumerable blogs, and the idea of media

Consolidation of Media Markets 933 concentration seems anachronistic. As Benjamin Compaine (2001) states, “the democracy of the marketplace may be flawed but it is . . . getting better, not worse.” Others disagree. Over the course of six editions of The (new) media monopoly, Ben Bagdikian has argued that while thousands of firms exist in the US media business, the number controlling half or more of the broadcasting, newspaper, and film industries has fallen from 23 in 1990 to just five in 2004 (→ Culture Industries). Robert McChesney (2000) concurs, arguing that by 1999 six conglomerates controlled most of the media market within the US, and even globally. In contrast to those who see more channels as an index of greater competition (numerical diversity), these observers focus on source diversity – the number of media owners in a market. EVIDENCE Applying the method of concentration ratios (CR4; → Concentration in Media Systems) to the US, Alan Albarran (2003) found strong evidence of concentration in markets for music (CR4 98 percent; → Music Industry), television networks (CR4 84 percent), film (CR4 78 percent), and cable systems (CR4 61 percent). In terms of national → newspaper ownership, however, the top four owners controlled just under the 50 percent threshold (48 percent), although 98 percent of American cities have only one daily newspaper. A study of media ownership by the Canadian Senate (2004) found similar trends. The top five newspaper groups’ share of circulation grew from 73 percent in 1994 to 79 percent by 2003. In terms of television, the top five groups accounted for just 31 percent of all stations in 1980, but by 2000 that grew to 68 percent. These groups’ share of audiences for all channels in English-speaking Canada also rose from 42 to 50 percent between 1997 and 2002. In a global market consisting of hundreds of firms and worth $258 billion (2005), ten firms account for 81 percent of revenue: Time Warner ($43.7 billion), Disney ($31.9 billion), Bertelsmann ($28.9 billion), News Corp ($25.3 billion), Viacom ($24.1 billion), Comcast ($22.7 billion), NBC/Universal ($14 billion), Pearson ($7.5 billion), Fuji Television Network ($5 billion), and ITV ($3.9 billion). All of these firms are conglomerates, seven are listed on Fortune’s list of the global 500 (2005) and all are based in the US (6), Britain (2), Germany (1) or Japan (1). Each derives the lion’s share of its revenue from domestic markets and from Europe, North America, and Japan; only a fraction of their revenues comes from the rest of the world (→ Media Conglomerates; Time Warner Inc.; Bertelsmann Corporation; News Corporation). EXPLANATIONS Consolidation and concentration can be explained in several ways. Some argue that consolidation has historically occurred in cycles, first between the 1880s and the first decade of the twentieth century, then in the 1920s, 1960s, 1980s, and again from the late 1990s until, roughly, 2004. The current cycle is notable by the sheer size of some of the transactions, as illustrated by the unprecedented, but ill-fated, AOL and Time Warner deal, initially valued at $166 billion in 2000 but which fell to $106 billion a year later. A few deals have been transnational in scope, such as Universal Studios’ purchase by the French

934 Consolidation of Media Markets diversified conglomerate, Vivendi, in 2000 ($35 billion), although the failure of that deal spawned further consolidation when GE/NBC acquired Universal Studios in 2004. One outcome of current trends is the unprecedented common ownership that now exists between the major television networks and Hollywood in the US: Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Network (1985), Disney with ABC (1995), Time Warner and the WB network (1995), CBS and Viacom (1999), and NBC/Universal (2004). Hollywood majors have also countered the mounting impact of independents by taking them over, as exemplified by Disney and Viacom’s acquisition of Miramax and Dreamworks, respectively, in 2005. Policy shifts in Canada have fueled acquisitions across the media by Bell Globe Media, Canwest, and Quebecor between 1998 and 2000. In Britain, the amalgamation of Granada and Carlton in 2003, after disastrous investments in digital terrestrial television brought both to the brink of bankruptcy, furthered concentration in the national television market. These trends also reflect the influence of financial markets on media firms. Media firms have turned to financial markets since the late-1990s more than ever in the past, with over half of all venture capital pouring into the communications media sector in 1999 (Picard 2002, 175). This is significant because financial markets abhor risk and prefer specific types of media firms, notably conglomerates, Internet companies, and those with a deep reservoir of content. While financial forces fueled a wave of consolidation, they also spawned a speculative bubble that triggered the collapse of some firms – WorldCom, Adelphia, Hollinger, Vivendi – and led to others becoming ongoing targets of investigation into corporate malfeasance, such as Time Warner. Nonetheless, an enduring monument to the dot-com bubble remains: the increased proportion of the media business accounted for by conglomerates. Even those who do not usually take a critical stance claim that empire-building and personal hubris are now driving forces behind the consolidation of media markets, alongside traditional concerns with profits (Demers & Merskin 2000). A web of alliances among media firms has also substituted cooperation for the sharp edge of competition. Such alliances typically function as part of broader strategies that aim to counteract the risk of creating content for fickle audiences. The failure rate of media goods is far higher than in other industries, with unsuccessful television series, films, books, and music CDs vastly outnumbering successful ones. Hollywood releases hundreds of films a year, but only a few are box-office winners. However, since the cost of reproducing content is low, firms can achieve economies of scale by delivering content to as many audiences across as many media as possible. Time Warner and Viacom’s decision to close down their rival networks – the WB and UPN, respectively – in 2006, while launching their jointly owned CW network, is an example of this strategy. Time Warner and Comcast also divided several cable systems they had acquired from AT&T in 2003 after it abandoned its push into the cable business, and from Adelphia in 2004 after that firm’s owners pled guilty to pillaging the corporation for personal ends. The two companies also joined Cox Communication and Advance Newhouse to develop a new video-ondemand service, while Comcast combined with the PBS in 2005 to launch a new children’s channel, KidsSprout. Media firms also use deep pockets, alliances, and litigation to shape the evolution of new media. News Corp is particularly noteworthy in this regard, with its purchase of MySpace ($580 billion), gaming and entertainment site IGN.com ($620 million), and the top sports site in the US, Scout Media ($60 million) in 2005. Similarly, ITV acquired Friends

Consolidation of Media Markets 935 Reunited ($200 million) in 2005, while Viacom bought Neopets ($160 million), a children’s website in the US, in 2004, and IFilm.com in 2005. Alliances with cellular telephone companies and computer firms such as Apple and Microsoft have also allowed these firms to stake out a key role in new mobile television, music, and film download services. While the largest deal in the post-bubble era occurred in 2006 when Google took over the videosharing site, YouTube ($1.65 billion), that transaction was preceded by agreements with NBC Universal, SonyBMG, Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corp that served three goals: (1) to implement content identification technology to help these companies maximize control over their content; (2) to share traffic and advertising revenue; and (3) to share access to Google’s technology. DANGERS OF CONSOLIDATION These agreements will not give these firms “perfect control” over their content, but will help to preserve their dominant role in the media economy. They will also allow them to shape the evolution of new technology, undermining claims that new technology is inherently antagonistic to concentrations of power. That the → Internet is not immune from such tendencies can be seen in Google’s dominance of the → search engine market (50 percent), with the Yahoo!, MSN and Time Warner/AOL share accounting for 47 percent, yielding a CR4 of 97 percent – far exceeding the standard of concentration outlined above. This is why Google is such a powerful force in defining the relationship between the “old” and “new” media. The staying power of the global media giants can be seen in the fact that Time Warner, Disney, and NBC possess four of the top ten Internet news sites in the US, while the New York Times, Tribune Newspapers, Knight Ridder, and USA Today account for another four. The fact that other top news sites rely on these sources and a handful of global news agencies for their content further magnifies this influence (→ Online Media). With almost no original news of their own, Yahoo! and Google do little to diversify the range of available news sources. Similar patterns hold globally, where the same firms dominate, with the exception of the BBC and three Chinese sites. The latter rely solely on reports from the state-controlled Chinese media. Many critics argue that the biggest consequence of consolidation lies in the ability of media owners to influence media content and, thus, people’s view of the world. While some claim that this potential has been sharply diminished by the rise of the modern corporation, where ownership is dispersed and control rests in the hands of managers, with media workers relatively free to do as they please within the limits of professional norms and good business practice (Demers & Merskin 2000), four of the top ten global media companies remain owner-controlled: News Corp (Rupert Murdoch), Bertelsmann (heirs to founder Carl Bertelsmann), Viacom (Sumner Redstone), and Comcast (Roberts Family). Moreover, in Australia, Canada, and Latin America, among other places, ownercontrolled media firms remain the norm, suggesting that it is premature to sound the death knell of media moguls who can use their outlets to pursuit political and ideological goals. However, identifying causal links between owners, content, and people’s beliefs is fraught with difficulties, including the anecdotal nature of the evidence and the wellknown limits of media effects research.

936 Consolidation of Media Markets A larger view of the issues considers the consequences of consolidation on the allocation of resources within media firms. While some believe that the deeper pockets of media conglomerates allow them to commit more resources to production, news gathering and so forth, a counterargument is that resources are being diverted from these goals to meet the high cost of financing mergers and acquisitions. The merger between Granada and Carlton television in Britain, for example, led swiftly to the closing of the 24-hour ITV News channel and centralization of news production for all of its other channels in London (→ Television News; Newscast, 24-Hour). In 2006, NBC announced that it would cut 700 people, eliminate news bureaus in favor of a centralized operation in New York to feed NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and its Spanish-language network, Telemundo, and replace high-cost, early prime-time drama with cheaper reality TV and game shows. Overall, the number of network journalists has fallen by over one-third since 1985 in the US, while international news bureaus have been slashed. This trend is especially acute in Canada, where the number of international bureaus operated by Canwest has fallen from nine in the late-1990s to two. The scope of such changes differs between firms, but the trend is clear: integrated news operations that serve multiple channels, budget cuts, fewer journalists, less foreign bureaus, and high-cost drama series replaced by low-budget programs. These trends are bound by audience tastes and the complexity of the media business, but several points remain to be made in any final assessment of the consolidation of media markets (→ Audience). First, audiences now have more channels than ever, but source diversity is shrinking. Second, consolidation has created deep rifts within the media. Media workers report that bottom-line pressures now have a greater impact on their work than in the past, that the influence of owners, managers, and advertisers is increasing and that their trust in executives is falling (Project for Excellence in Journalism 2006). Lastly, the push by conglomerates to expand the scope and duration of copyright laws, aggressive litigation, and use of digital rights management technologies is subtly biasing the architecture of the media in favor of control and closure versus the values of openness and real diversity that are the sine qua non of democratic societies. SEE ALSO:
Arab Satellite TV News
Audience
Audience Segmentation
Bertelsmann Corporation
Cable Television
Concentration in Media Systems
Culture Industries
Disney
Hollywood
Internet
Media Conglomerates
Music Industry
News
News Corporation
Newscast, 24-Hour
Newspaper
Online Media
Satellite Television
Search Engines
Television Networks
Television News
Time Warner Inc. References and Suggested Readings Albarran, A. (2003). US media concentration. In A. Arrese (ed.), Empresa informativa y mercados de la communicacion. Pamplona, Spain: EUNSA, pp. 63–74. Bagdikian, B. (2004). The (new) media monopoly, 6th edn. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Canada (2004). Interim report on the Canadian news media. At www.parl.gc.ca/37/3/parlbus/ commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/01apr04-e.pdf, accessed August 22, 2007. Compaine, B. (2001). The myths of encroaching global media ownership. At www.opendemocracy.net/ media-globalmediaownership/article_87.jsp, accessed August 22, 2007.

Consonance of Media Content 937 Demers, D., & Merskin, D. (2000). Corporate news structure and the managerial revolution. Journal of Media Economics, 13(2), 103–121. McChesney, R. (2000). Rich media, poor democracy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Picard, R. G. (2002). The economics and financing of media companies. New York: Fordham University. Project for Excellence in Journalism (2006). The state of the news media. At www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/ 2006/, accessed August 22, 2007. 0?September Original CONSONANCE ??? ?? Articles 2007 OF MEDIA CONTENT

Consonance of Media Content Romy Fröhlich Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

The mass media are an important, if not the most important, factor in the development of free opinion in democracies. That is to say that the media have a specific democratic responsibility (McQuail 1987, 117–118). It is no wonder that, apart from freedom of speech, free journalism, and a free media system, the diversity of media is seen as being the most important condition for the emergence and progression of democracies (→ Concentration in Media Systems). A heterogeneous media structure is also seen as being an important condition for the development of a diverse and pluralistic media content, representing a balanced diversity of viewpoints on political issues and opinions (→ Plurality). This again is conceived as an important condition in the development of a diverse and pluralistic → public opinion and sound comprehension by citizens of political coherences and procedures in democracies. On the other hand, low competition and too much homogeneity within the media system is seen as a threat to a diverse and pluralistic media content. This notion presumes that ownership concentration has a direct (negative) effect on the content variety of media. However, a pluralistic media structure and competition within the media system alone are no guarantee for the prevention of consonance of media content. This is especially true for nonfictional media content like news. CAUSES OF CONSONANCE Noelle-Neumann and Mathes (1987, 410) define consonance as “uniformity of facts and arguments which do not result from reality but from a choice made by the communicators” (→ Construction of Reality through the News). Consequently, among the numerous and different theories of influences on mass media content (see, for example, Shoemaker & Reese 1991), those approaches that deal with the professional role of journalists are most prominent (Fishman 1980; → Media Production and Content). As journalists employ similar professional skills within the process of news production, they tend to select similar issues or events for publication (→ Gatekeeping; Journalism: Group Dynamics). To put it simply: all journalists write about the same things in the same way. This originates from the fact that, generally speaking, journalists have a similar professional pattern in

938 Consonance of Media Content selecting events for publication. The result is a certain homogeneity (consonance) of news discourse despite there being a pluralistic media system. However, there are striking differences between news cultures of journalists of different types of media and even more between those of different (national) cultures (→ Journalists’ Role Perception; News as Discourse). The reasons for journalists’ similar professional pattern in selecting events and producing news are manifold. The most important ones are: (1) governing professional principles of → news values and interpretation strategies lead to a commonly shared professional understanding of “newsworthiness” (→ News Factors); (2) respective professional routines at different types of media (TV, radio, newspapers, etc.) result in a commonly shared professional understanding of what “fits” to a specific type of media and what does not; (3) the standardization of journalistic education makes sure that those governing professional principles and routines are widely accepted within the journalist corps. In general, they are not questioned and are passed on from generation to generation (→ Journalism Education). (4) Furthermore, as a result of the professional necessity for orientation, media and journalists tend to be geared toward each other. Within this process of professional co-orientation, prestige media like, for example, leading national quality newspapers play the role of an → opinion leader for journalists (→ Quality Press). Both phenomena, co-orientation among journalists and opinion leaders among prestige media, further contribute to the consonance of media content. Other causes of media consonance arise from aspects which are inherent in the media system: (5) as media/journalists rely heavily on the messages and news investigated and edited by news agencies and wires (for example, Associated Press [AP], Reuters, or Deutsche Presse Agentur [DPA]; → News Agencies), they very often use this kind of ready-made news material and adopt it without any changes. Thus, the news material of news agencies and wires are a further component of the emergence of media consonance. Another factor, (6) → public relations (PR), increasingly influences the journalistic process of news production (Baerns 1985; Turk 1986; Turow 1989). PR produces readymade news material and, thus, further enhances the consonance of media content. In particular, communicators from the political and economic spheres of society increasingly aim to control and homogenize their communication output. Through the help of spin doctors and PR consultants, many of whom are former journalists and media people and thus familiar with the needs and requirements of the media, politicians and managers aim to offer journalists perfectly styled news. This leads to a greater control of messages and content through the source of a message (→ Strategic Framing). The less time and fewer personnel at hand in the editorial room, the greater the chance of PR material (like, for example, press releases) being published in the media. This is especially true in times of media economic crises, when editorial rooms are short-staffed and editorial responsibilities are outsourced, meaning the media rely heavily on professional PR material (→ Public Relations: Media Influence). Finally, apart from the classical professional principles of news production mentioned above, Herman and Chomsky (1988) additionally emphasize another possibly important cause for the consonance of media content, in particular of political news: (7) a certain interdependency between the political and economic system on the one hand and the media system on the other (see also Dreier 1982; Gerbner et al. 1982). Those inter-

Consonance of Media Content 939 dependencies undermine the freedom of the press and the development of a free public opinion. They are most evident in totalitarian systems but also exist in democracies, although less obviously. Herman and Chomsky (1988) drew on the analysis of American media coverage of Nicaragua and El Salvador, which was found to be extremely one-sided. While at that time the American media consonantly portrayed the socialist Sandinistas and their regime in Nicaragua negatively, they kept silent in the case of El Salvador, which suffered from the same political misery but was governed by a totalitarian military regime supported by the US government. CONSEQUENCES OF CONSONANCE Media critics such as Chomsky (1989) argue that the consonant news of the American media brought about a factitious and simulated consonant public opinion tamed in the interest of the political and economic elites. The general concept of media consonance is related to the concept of homogeneity of public opinion: it is assumed that the higher the degree of media consonance, the higher the homogeneity of public opinion. As agendasetting theory would suggest, the consonance of the media with regard to a single agenda of issues will in turn be reflected in a similarly consonant public agenda (→ AgendaSetting Effects). It indicates that public opinion is highly influenced by the media agenda represented within media news. The supposed correspondence of media consonance and homogeneity of public opinion figured prominently in Noelle-Neumann’s (1993) development of the theory of the → “spiral of silence,” which among other things presumes that alldominant consonant media content is picked up on by the public as the dominant and/ or the majority’s opinion. In this regard, consonance of media content with a high degree of consonance of issues and opinions consequently is considered to be an obstruction to the development of a pluralistic opinion within a democratic society. The more complex and diverse a modern democratic society is, the more complex and diverse the need for the public (opinion) to be represented in/through the media. In short: media consonance is considered a threat to democracy. This makes consonance of media content a most popular object of research. DISTINGUISHING CONSONANCE AND FOCUSING Although the general concept of content consonance comprises both consistency of issues and topics as well as of opinions and interpretations, Eilders (2002) suggests a terminological differentiation: she describes a correspondence of issues as “focusing” and a correspondence of opinion as “consonance.” This allows more detailed empirical analysis of consonance of media content and a more analytical understanding of the phenomenon (→ Content Analysis, Quantitative). This is important and most relevant, as studies show that focusing (of issues) in the news does not necessarily lead to consonance (of opinions) among the media. Her own content analysis on German quality newspapers and the work of the American researcher Guido Stempel (1985) show that, although the media often concentrate on the same issues and topics, they editorialize or comment on them differently (Eilders 2002). This is due to the respective ideological profiles and editorial positions of newspapers, which generally govern rather the specific framing of an issue than the selection

940 Consonance of Media Content of an issue for publication (→ Framing of the News). However, Eilders even found variation from this rule. Furthermore, Eilders (2002) calls for a systematic consideration of the time dimension when dealing with the concept of media consonance, which means that one can only speak of media consonance if, for example, different newspapers report on the same issues or express the same opinion on an issue at the same time. This is increasingly relevant, as content stability over time is considered to be an important condition for media effects. However, research has not yet developed a commonly shared consensus on what exactly should be understood as high/strong/dangerous or low/weak/safe consonance of media content. Hence, a clear perception of a normative degree of content consonance (in terms of quantity and/or duration/continuance) does not exist. SEE ALSO:
Agenda Building
Agenda-Setting Effects
Concentration in Media Systems
Construction of Reality through the News
Content Analysis, Quantitative
Framing of the News
Gatekeeping
Journalism Education
Journalism: Group Dynamics
Journalists’ Role Perception
Media Production and Content
News Agencies
News as Discourse
News Factors
News Values
Opinion Leader
Plurality
Public Opinion
Public Relations
Public Relations: Media Influence
Quality Press
Spiral of Silence
Strategic Framing
Synchronization of the News References and Suggested Readings Baerns, B. (1985). Öffentlichkeitsarbeit oder Journalismus? Zum Einfluß im Mediensystem [Public relations or journalism? About influence in the media system]. Cologne: Wissenschaft und Politik. Chomsky, N. (1989). Necessary illusions: Thought control in democratic societies. Boston, MA: South End. Donohue, T. R., & Glasser, T. L. (1978). Homogeneity in Connecticut newspaper coverage. Journalism Quarterly, 55, 592–596. Dreier, P. (1982). The position of the press in the US power structure. Social Problems, 29(3), 298–309. Eilders, C. (2002). Conflict and consonance in media opinion: Political positions of five German quality newspapers. European Journal of Communication, 17, 25–64. Fishman, M. (1980). Manufacturing the news. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Gaziano, C. (1989). Chain newspaper homogeneity and presidential endorsements, 1971–1988. Journalism Quarterly, 66, 836–845. Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., & Signorielli, N. (1982). Charting the mainstream: Television’s contribution to political orientations. Journal of Communication, 32, 100–127. Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent. New York: Pantheon. McQuail, D. (1987). Mass communication theory: An introduction, 2nd edn. London: Sage. Noelle-Neumann, E. (1993). The spiral of silence. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Noelle-Neumann, E., & Mathes, R. (1987). The “event as event” and the “event as news”: The significance of “consonance” for media effects research. European Journal of Communication, 2, 391–414. Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1991). Mediating the message: Theories of influences on mass media content. New York: Longman. Stempel, G. H., III. (1985). Gatekeeping: The mix of topics and the selection of stories. Journalism Quarterly, 62, 791–796, 815. Turk, J. V. (1986). Public relations’ influence on the news. Newspaper Research Journal, 7, 15–27. Turow, J. (1989). Public relations and newswork: A neglected relationship. American Behavioral Scientist, 33, 206–212. 0?September Original CONSTRUCTION ??? ?? Articles 2007 OF REALITY THROUGH THE NEWS

Construction of Reality through the News 941

Construction of Reality through the News Don Heider University of Maryland

Between the local newspaper, radio updates, the evening television newscasts and now updates via the → Internet, your PDA or your cell phone, → news seems ubiquitous. But where does news come from? How does what you read and hear and view get to the point of being published or broadcast? Fundamentally, news is a construction, and the nature of that construction is important to how we shape our view of the symbolic and mediated reality of the world (→ Reality and Media Reality; Constructivism). So how are those symbols created and recognized, and what role do the mediators, the news producers, play in shaping how we think about the world around us? COMPLEXITY OF NEWS DECISIONS News gathering may seem a simple process. An event happens, reporters go and gather facts, they write the stories, and we read or hear the stories (→ Objectivity in Reporting). On occasion it may happen just like that. But what remains invisible are the dozens and sometime hundreds of decisions that went on behind the scenes, invisible to news consumers, before that story was covered, reported, written, or edited. Let’s take a seemingly straightforward example. Two men enter a bank, produce weapons, fire shots to frighten patrons and employees, take a large amount of cash, and escape. Is this a news story or not? The answer is: it depends. Each news organization, each news community, each news manager may differ in the determination of what is or is not newsworthy, or in other words, what will and will not be covered and published (→ News Values). There are some fairly simple considerations: was anyone hurt or killed, how many people were affected, was the amount of money taken large, have the suspects been apprehended, and were there unusual circumstances surrounding the robbery? Then there are other factors, which may be determined by the location of the robbery. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, bank robberies may not be a common occurrence, therefore would warrant coverage. In Los Angeles, there may well be too many robberies in a single day to make any one single incident important enough to report. Another set of criteria used may be how much is happening that particular day. In other words, what are the competing events of the day: is it a busy day with much to cover or is it a slow news day? Yet another set of considerations might include the historical context for this story, in other words, is this one in a series of robberies that have occurred? Furthermore, what is the news organization’s policy about reporting crime? Some might put a premium on crime news given its prurient interest among viewers – others may choose not to publish every random crime committed in favor of more substantive news. What about the individuals making the news decisions – have they been the victim of a crime, what is their attitude toward crime stories, what are they trying to accomplish with each day’s news? Also built into this decision-making matrix are factors such as where in the city the robbery took place; was it in an affluent area, was it in a poorer part of town, and what was the racial-ethnic background of the perpetrators?

942 Construction of Reality through the News Race, class, and other sociological facts can easily come into play in the decision-making process. NEWS DECISIONS AS A SOCIAL PROCESS These are just a few of the hundreds if not thousands of considerations that surround decisions about news each day in every news organization. When we pull back for a broader look at any given news event and the coverage that may or may not occur, one thing becomes rather obvious: news is a socially constructed product. This social construction of news results in a certain view of a community and of the world at large. The day’s news is a result of many decisions, policies, and circumstances. It is a social process, part institutional culture, part human dynamics. A number of keen observers have helped with our understanding of the social construction of news. In 1922 → Walter Lippmann described the way in which people construct pictures in their heads based upon the often incomplete reporting on public affairs. In his scathing critique of journalism and public opinion, Lippmann, a journalist himself, was struck by how little the public knew and how easily this knowledge was manipulated. Lippmann recognized the power that he and others had over influencing what stories were covered and how they were covered. He also observed how willing people were at times to believe what they read because of a lack of knowledge. So what influences news workers in all the decisions they make, from choosing what stories to cover, to whom they will interview, to what a headline might say (→ News Factors)? Edward J. Epstein made the case in 1973 that organizational constraints heavily influenced the way in which news was put together. In 1978 sociologist Gaye Tuchman made a strong argument for how news is socially constructed in her study of four news organizations over a ten-year period. She found that embedded routines and categories in the news process determine much of how decisions are made. Herbert Gans published Deciding what’s news in 1979, his study of network news organizations and national news magazines, pointing out in great detail how journalists are strongly influenced by their beliefs, their own social standing, their organizational culture, and their sources. Both of these studies, along with Mark Fishman’s Manufacturing the news (1988, 1st pub. 1980), demonstrated the way in which the structure and routines in news operations play a direct role in influencing news selection and decision-making. NEWS AS MEANING-MAKING A group of later studies represented a shift away from looking at structures and routines to a stronger look at meaning-making in news (→ Meaning). This represents a shift from analyzing structural concerns to analyzing the texts and discourses themselves that are presented in news products (→ Discourse; Text and Intertextuality). Unlike Fishman, Gans, or Tuchman, Herman & Chomsky (1988), for example, offered little evidence from studying news operations or news workers themselves, but instead concentrated on the news products, what journalists produced, to make their case that the political elite control ideas delivered through news media. Taking a less political-economic perspective, James Carey proposed the ritual model of communication, writing about how news can be seen

Construction of Reality through the News 943 as a means by which people survey the world each day to reinforce what they already believe. He wrote, “A ritual view of communication will focus on a different range of problems in examining a newspaper. It will, for example, view reading a newspaper less as sending or gaining information and more as attending a mass, situation in which nothing new is learned but in which a particular view of the world is portrayed and confirmed” (1989, 20). Stuart Hall was influential in thinking and writing about ideology and news, and in particular the way in which media in general and often news media in particular impose an imagined coherence on ideas. He argued against the idea of a neutral ideology of news media (→ Neutrality; Balance; Bias in the News) and showed a number of ways in which meaning was constructed and audiences were able to read or decode these messages. Todd Gitlin (1980) drew on Antonio Gramsci’s hegemony theory, to show how the news media marginalized the left in coverage of the anti-war movement of the 1960s. Moloch & Lester saw value in not looking to news as a source of reality, but instead analyzing news to find the “purposes which underlie the strategies of creating one reality or another” (1974, 111). Later scholars have showed how race, gender, and class influence what news is covered, how it is covered, and how it is presented, as well as what stories are routinely ignored (see Entman 1990; Campbell 1995; Heider 2000, 2004). SEE ALSO:
Balance
Bias in the News
Constructivism
Discourse
Instrumental Actualization
Internet
Lippmann, Walter
Meaning
Neutrality
News
News Factors
News Values
Objectivity in Reporting
Reality and Media Reality
Standards of News
Text and Intertextuality References and Suggested Readings Campbell, C. P. (1995). Race, myth, and the news. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Carey, J. W. (1989). Communication as culture. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman. Entman, R. M. (1990). Modern racism and the images of blacks in local television news. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 7, 332–345. Epstein, E. J. (1973). News from nowhere. New York: Random House. Fishman, M. (1988). Manufacturing the news. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. (Original work published 1980). Gans, H. J. (1979). Deciding what’s news: A study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time. New York: Pantheon. Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Heider, D. (2000). White news: Why local news programs don’t cover people of color. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Heider, D. (ed.) (2004). Class and news. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent. New York: Pantheon. Kaniss, P. C. (1991). Making local news. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lippmann, W. (1922). Public opinion. New York: Free Press. Moloch, H., & Lester, M. (1974). News as purposive behavior: On the strategic use of routine events, accidents, and scandals. American Sociological Review, 39, 101–112. Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1991). Mediating the message: Theories of influences on mass media content. New York: Longman. Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. New York: Free Press. 0?September Original CONSTRUCTIVISM ??? ?? Articles 2007

944 Constructivism

Constructivism Thomas R. Lindlof University of Kentucky

Constructivism refers to the philosophical perspective that human beings actively participate in creating their psychological selves and social worlds. Translated to the social sciences, where it is often known as “social constructivism” or “constructionism,” Constructivism is commonly considered to be a paradigm of its own (→ Paradigm), with epistemological tenets and methods of inquiry that contrast sharply with those of objectivist science (→ Communication Theory and Philosophy). KEY TENETS OF CONSTRUCTIVISM Many varieties of Constructivism have been developed in the social sciences and humanities, most of them adhering to the tenet that reality is actively constructed – that is, created, maintained, and transformed – by human actors, not passively assimilated from the environment. As a corollary to this tenet, most forms of Constructivism reject the idea that meaning is materially fixed in time or place (→ Meaning). Instead, meaning is considered to be prolific, ever-changing, and subject to negotiation. Humans are conceived as cognizing subjects who construe the world according to their purposes, stocks of knowledge, and semiotic resources. This meaning-making activity establishes the “factual” nature of the world (in the form of institutions, policies, laws, rules, objects, technologies, and so forth) at the same time that it justifies belief in those facts. Whenever constructivists speak of a “social construction,” they are normally referring to this reification of experience: the object or event that seems natural or inevitable, but is actually the outcome of a historical process of negotiation (or management) of meanings by human agents. However, social constructions can also be the subject of dispute due to the competing value claims or meanings that people may attribute to them. Another key tenet of Constructivism concerns the role of science itself. Most forms of Constructivism reject the independence thesis of objectivist science, which holds that any truth statement must answer to a world that exists independently of human consciousness and interests (→ Objectivity in Science). Constructivists contend that science does not literally discover a single, uniform reality “out there.” Rather, different kinds of scientific discourse, which embed different modes of perceptual encoding and interpretation, have the effect of bringing different versions of reality into being. Thus, there is a strong relativistic theme in constructivist thought and research. Finally, again in contradistinction to objectivist science, the methods of constructivist inquiry tend to be explicitly reflexive. If everything we know is at least partly of our own making, then constructivist scholars can choose to – and often must – reflect on the situated practices and reality assumptions that help shape knowledge about social, psychological, and aesthetic phenomena. Indeed, there is a significant constructivist presence in science and technology studies, focusing on how knowledge claims are constituted in the activities of scientists, laboratory work, discourse, and artifacts (Van Den Belt 2003). Qualitative strategies such as ethnography (→ Ethnography of Communication) and

Constructivism 945 → discourse analysis are among those best-suited for carrying out reflexive research projects (→ Qualitative Methodology). DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTRUCTIVISM Early proponents of the view that truth (or reality) is made, not found, include George Berkeley and Giambatista Vico. But a key figure in developing the logic for Constructivism was the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. In his “transcendental analytic” in The critique of pure reason (1781), Kant argued that sensory impressions contribute to a person’s knowledge of the world insofar as they can be perceived and organized through “categories.” In other words, humans have no direct access to external reality, but instead rely on a priori concepts (categories) to apprehend its features. Numerous questions arose from this formulation, not least of which is the role of experience in defining and shaping the content of these concepts. However, the Kantian idea that concepts mediate our contact with the world had a significant impact on the early development of psychology and the social sciences. Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenological philosophy (→ Phenomenology), is often credited with articulating the nature of conscious experience in everyday life. Two of his arguments hold special importance for Constructivism. First, Husserl argued that human consciousness is rooted in intentional acts. That is, the material status of things is of no real consequence. Rather, it is our psychic relationships with an object – the intentions we have for acting toward it – that constitute the relevant ontological data. Second, Husserl called attention to the profoundly taken-for-granted quality of the lifeworld of everyday existence. This “natural attitude” – or commonsense orientation – consists of layers upon layers of meaning that are seldom questioned in the daily course of living. A proper investigation of the structure of consciousness, according to transcendental phenomenology (Husserl 1970, 1st pub. 1936), involves a series of analytic moves that “bracket” (or suspend) the components of the natural attitude. Only by systematic efforts such as these can an analyst truly understand not just what a thing is, but how a thing appears real. While Husserl was interested in the universality of individual consciousness, it was Alfred Schütz who brought phenomenology into social science. In The phenomenology of the social world (1932) and other works, Schütz focused on the problem of how the natural attitude arises as a social phenomenon and how it takes different forms in society (Natanson 1968). The contributions of his decades-long work, as they pertain to Constructivism, are essentially threefold. One of these has to do with the definition of meaning. Building upon Weber’s study of human action and verstehen (→ Verstehen vs Erklären), Schütz conceptualized meaning as a way of regarding the stream of action, either by reflecting upon an already-completed act, or by projecting an action about to begin. In this way, meaning and social action mutually inform each other and together produce a moment-by-moment sense of goal-direction in the ego. Schütz also posited intersubjectivity as the process by which the constructs of everyday experience emerge. That is, understandings of reality stem mainly from the reciprocal, face-to-face relations we have with contemporaries; however, relationships with predecessors (those who lived before us) and successors (those who live on after we die) also play significant parts in shaping

946 Constructivism our sense of social reality and where we are positioned biographically. Finally, Schütz sought to explain how we can navigate a complex social world in which we are largely ignorant of other individuals’ motives, goals, and subjective meanings. He theorized that typifications – or, constructed generalizations about roles, motives, actions, and institutions – are among the principal “stocks of knowledge” used to interpret the scenes around us. Some of these typified schemes are employed very broadly (e.g., the routine actions of selling and buying), while others are more context-specific (e.g., a politician’s understandings of voters’ interests). By using typifications, it is possible to act in socially intelligible ways in public without possessing expert knowledge of every content domain or being intimately familiar with every person we encounter. Our sense of an objective reality of mundane life is heightened by the fact that typified schemes are so successful in getting us through the day – and are so seldom questioned by others or ourselves. The ideas developed by Husserl, and Schütz in particular, inspired further explorations into the constructed nature of everyday life. Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s The social construction of reality became a classic text in the sociology of knowledge. It is largely due to this work that the term “social construction” came into wide usage. The central question for sociological theory, Berger and Luckmann argued, is how subjective experiences become “objectified” as a world of things (Berger & Luckmann 1966, 18). Their tentative answer, drawing upon Schütz as well as Karl Marx’s social determinism and Émile Durkheim’s functionalism, is that society’s “reality-maintaining procedures” enable individuals to learn and “internalize” certain identities and role performances, as well as the stocks of knowledge that support them. Considering reality construction at a micro-social level is ethnomethodology (→ Ethnomethodology). In his Studies in ethnomethodology, Harold Garfinkel (1967) proposed a theory of how interlocutors are able to make orderly sense of their world from the resources they have at hand. The basis of any culture’s most trusted, self-evident notions of reality, from this point of view, is nothing more nor less than the artful “methods” that competent members use to coordinate meaning. For example, an ethnomethodologist would approach the study of family not by explicating the concept itself, but by a meticulous analysis of the contexts and social practices in which “family” is referenced, i.e., studying how family “is done.” By the mid-twentieth century, constructivists had largely accepted, and begun to explore the ramifications of, the idea that language and other symbol systems are critical to the process of reality construction. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later work, Philosophical investigations (1953), was influential in constructivist circles, especially for his claim that “language games” animate the “forms of life” of human existence. Symbolic interactionism (→ Symbolic Interaction), following from its intellectual forebear, → pragmatism, put language and other significant symbols at the center of its explanations of social interaction. The semiotics of Charles S. Peirce (→ Semiotics), the mind-self-society formulation of George Herbert Mead, and the social dramaturgy of Erving Goffman, among others, laid the groundwork for studying communicative action in social life. Arguably, symbolic interactionism is the theory most closely aligned with the spirit of Constructivism, an affinity suggested in W. I. Thomas’s famous dictum: “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” Much of the methodology for doing constructivistinformed research, including participant observation (→ Observation), depth interviewing

Constructivism 947 (→ Interview, Qualitative), and → grounded theory, was also developed by symbolic interactionists. At the end of the twentieth century, Constructivism and its allied research programs had established niches in all of the social science disciplines. The humanities also embraced the social phenomenology implicit in the emerging theories of texts, readers, and processes of semiosis. Constructivism itself was infused with a new sense of vitality and relevance as the “crisis of representation” bubbled up from cultural anthropology, and philosopher-critics like Richard Rorty and Michel Foucault articulated new views of cultural relativism and radical contingency. And, by hybridizing with such intellectual movements as feminist epistemology (→ Feminist and Gender Studies), → gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual studies, race theory, postmodernism (→ Postmodernism and Communication), and → postcolonial theory, the concepts and methods Constructivism uses for studying the production of meaning are increasingly harnessed to issues of identity, political voice, and empowerment in multicultural worlds. CONSTRUCTIVISM AND COMMUNICATION The field of communication was not immune to Constructivism’s advancement in the academy. If anything, communication is commonly recognized as the chief means by which the social world is created, understood, and reproduced across time and space. As Anderson observes in Communication theory, “the constructed nature of reality and knowledge” now underpins a number of theories in the field of communication (1996, 36). In mass communication, all of the components of the media circuit – production, content, and reception – are potent sites of meaning production (→ Information Processing; Media Production and Content; Media and Perceptions of Reality). Whereas early studies of media production focused on the decision-making for filtering events (→ Gatekeeping) or presenting the news, constructivist studies look at how organizational routines and workers’ practices actually create – or “manufacture” – the news product (→ News Routines). Gaye Tuchman’s Making news (1978) is an early and important exemplar of this kind of research. Also, some authors see the → news value of → news factors, i.e., as a tool for journalists to apply in order to construct social reality (Schulz 1976). Recent studies stress the interdependency of media with other institutional entities in the co-construction of media products. Another stream of media research concerns the construction of social representations. Traditionally, content was given essentialist meanings, such as news, entertainment, advertising, pornography (→ Entertainment Content and Reality Perception; Construction of Reality through the News). Constructivists, however, regard media content as texts (→ Text and Intertextuality) laden with hegemonic, ambiguous, or contested signifiers, which can be activated in various ways depending on the reception context. News is often conceptualized as a discourse that organizes story elements in such a way as to suggest the existence of a social problem, or to “frame” conflicts in moralistic or ideological terms (→ Framing of the News; Framing Effects). For example, Yar (2005) analyzed the published claims of a global movie “piracy” problem. The author concluded that the media industries promoted the social construction of widespread copyright violation in order to exaggerate the dimensions of the problem and encourage intensified policing.

948 Constructivism Research of media audiences has also been strongly influenced by Constructivism (→ Audience; Audience Research). In the 1980s, television and other media began to be studied as resources in the interpretive activity of families, peer groups, sub-cultures, and other social formations. Thus, people form their own meanings of content, irrespective of why it is produced or what the content seems to represent by some objective standard. This does not mean that meaning is a product of “free will” or the solitary individual; meaning, whether in audiences and other situations, always arises from the individual’s experience in social collectives. In social action studies, for example, media content acquires meaning only as it is joined in a line of social action within a specific context (see Schoening & Anderson 1995 for the underlying theory; → Media Content in Interpersonal Communication). In studies of interpretive communities, meanings of media texts gain coherence within groups of people who share pools of knowledge and interpretive strategies (Jensen 1991). However, the degree of local control that audience members exercise in making meanings (versus sources of influence from outside the social formation) remains the subject of lively debate. Similarly, social constructionist studies of how people perceive and use communication technology challenge the formerly prevailing view of technological determinism. For example, the social influence model attempts to explain how group interactions affect the meanings attributed to technology (Campbell & Russo 2003). This focus on the formation of users’ perceptions – including perceptions of how technology supports lifestyles and social needs – offers a clear alternative to the assumption that technical features are the driving force behind consumer behavior. In addition, the social construction of online identity and socio-cultural community has become a vibrant area of research in the rapidly maturing field of Internet and other computer-mediated communication studies (for overview, see Lievrouw & Livingstone 2006). In interpersonal communication, Constructivism is most readily associated with the theory and research program of the same name (→ Interpersonal Communication). Originally developed by Jesse Delia and his colleagues (see Delia et al. 1982), this “constructivism” is a derivation of the term “construct,” which in turn refers to the mental constructs (or schemas) hypothesized to store and organize information representing the characteristics, qualities, intentions, or emotional states of other persons. The theory posits that the more abstract, differentiated, and integrated this system of personal constructs, the better able a person is to manage the production of meaning in face-toface interaction. Some of the ways in which a person with high cognitive complexity exhibits greater competence are by generating listener-adapted messages and engaging in emotionally supportive communication. Although the theory is rooted to some degree in symbolic interactionism, its epistemology builds primarily on a structural-developmental worldview (especially the theories of George A. Kelly, Heinz Werner, and Jean Piaget). As such, “constructivism” is concerned with the measurement of stable features of the construct system at the individual level of analysis, and thus generally allies itself with the assumptions and practices of objectivist science (Anderson 1996, 207–208). Social constructionist approaches have long been employed for studying close relationships, organizational and small group cultures, intercultural communication, and the performance of community. In all of these scenes, researchers typically attend closely to the ways in which language is used to reproduce or transform cultural conditions like

Constructivism 949 solidarity, schism, and empowerment. The dialogical construction of self or identity is a salient theme in much of this scholarship. Increasingly, communication scholars are forging meaningful, even intimate, relationships with the people they study. They are also inventing novel ways of using narrative to “re-construct” these relationships. This trespassing of boundaries between the self and other, and between → fiction, introspection, and analysis, has led to a profusion of experiments in writing constructivist accounts (e.g., Clair 2003). Although it is too soon to say what future directions these new styles of scholarship will take, or whether the knowledge they contribute will have lasting value, it seems clear that they offer some of the most vivid demonstrations yet of the possibilities inherent in the constructivist paradigm. The constructivist approach has been criticized mainly for denying the objective reality of the world. In the view of scientific realists, a “ready-made” world of objects and processes exists independently of the sense-making activity of human beings. People may entertain multiple, open-ended meanings, but the ontology of physical and social worlds is already settled and thus predetermines which meanings count as the “correct” ones. For example, we may describe an object such as a rose in a variety of ways, depending on our interests. But the names we create do not literally construct the object. Nor is every name an equally valid description of an exemplar of the category “rose.” In other words, our freedom to improvise “meaning” ends at the point of reference to objective reality. This argument, according to the realist perspective, undermines the relativistic foundation of constructivist thought (see Devitt 1991). SEE ALSO:
Audience
Audience Research
Communication Theory and Philosophy
Construction of Reality through the News
Discourse Analysis
Entertainment Content and Reality Perception
Ethnography of Communication
Ethnomethodology
Feminist and Gender Studies
Fiction
Framing Effects
Framing of the News
Gatekeeping
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Media Studies
Grounded Theory
Hermeneutics
Information Processing
Interpersonal Communication
Interview, Qualitative
Meaning
Media Content in Interpersonal Communication
Media and Perceptions of Reality
Media Production and Content
News Factors
News Routines
News Values
Objectivity in Science
Observation
Paradigm
Phenomenology
Postcolonial Theory
Postmodernism and Communication
Pragmatism
Qualitative Methodology
Semiotics
Symbolic Interaction
Text and Intertextuality
Verstehen vs Erklären

References and Suggested Readings Anderson, J. A. (1996). Communication theory: Epistemological foundations. New York: Guilford. Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Campbell, S. W., & Russo, T. C. (2003). The social construction of mobile telephony: An application of the social influence model to perceptions and uses of mobile phones within personal communication networks. Communication Monographs, 70, 317–334. Clair, R. P. (ed.) (2003). Expressions of ethnography: Novel approaches to qualitative methods. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

950 Constructivism and Interpersonal Processes Delia, J. G., O’Keefe, B. J., & O’Keefe, D. J. (1982). The constructivist approach to communication. In F. E. X. Dance (ed.), Human communication theory: Comparative essays. New York: Harper and Row, pp. 147–191. Devitt, M. (1991). Realism and truth, 2nd edn. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gergen, K. J. (1999). An invitation to social construction. London: Sage. Husserl, E. (1970). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1936). Jensen, K. B. (1991). When is meaning? Communication theory, pragmatism, and mass media reception. In J. A. Anderson (ed.), Communication yearbook 14. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 3–32. Lievrouw, L. & Livingstone, S. (eds.) (2006). Handbook of new media: Social shaping and social consequences. Revised student edition. London: Sage. Natanson, M. (1968). Alfred Schütz on social reality and social science. Social Research, 35, 217–244. Schoening, G. T. & Anderson, J. A. (1995). Social action media studies: Foundational arguments and common premises. Communication Theory, 5, 93–116. Schulz, W. (1976). Die Konstruktion von Realität in den Nachrichtenmedien [The construction of reality through the news media]. Freiburg and Munich: Alber. Schwandt, T. A. (2000). Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry: Interpretivism, hermeneutics, and social constructionism. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 189–214. Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. New York: Free Press. Van Den Belt, H. (2003). How to engage with experimental practices? Moderate versus radical constructivism. Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 34, 201–219. Yar, M. (2005). The global “epidemic” of movie “piracy”: Crime-wave or social construction? Media, Culture and Society, 27, 677–696. 0?September Original Constructivism ??? ?? Articles 2007 and Interpersonal Processes

Constructivism and Interpersonal Processes Brant R. Burleson Purdue University

Graham D. Bodie Purdue University

As Phillips (2000) observes, the term → constructivism is associated with numerous doctrines and positions in the social sciences, but in the communication discipline constructivism is most associated with a theory of individual differences in communication skills developed by Jesse Delia and his colleagues at the University of Illinois in the 1970s. Although constructivism originally focused on individual differences in interpersonal competence, it has been applied to numerous communication events and behaviors. It has served as the foundation for theoretical and empirical analyses of relationship development and maintenance, cultural influences on communication, language acquisition and communicative development, socialization processes, and communication instruction. It has also been applied to numerous communication events and processes in business, families, education, health-care, mass media, and politics (for reviews, see Delia 1987; Applegate 1990; Gastil 1995; Coopman 1997; Burleson & Caplan 1998; Burleson 2007).

Constructivism and Interpersonal Processes 951

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT Constructivism was initially developed to understand how people’s interpretations of the social world shaped their communicative behavior. Early versions of the theory were influenced by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) and the American philosopher George Herbert Mead (1863–1931), both of whom believed that effective communication depended on the ability to “take” (or imaginatively construct) the perspective of others. Thus, early constructivist work focused on how individual differences in social perception related to the use of effective forms of communication. As it developed, constructivism focused on the explanation of functional communication competence, the ability to generate and process messages that enable people to accomplish their social goals efficiently and effectively (→ Interpersonal Communication Competence and Social Skills). Four processes involved in functional communication receive attention within constructivism: (1) → message production, the process of generating verbal and nonverbal behaviors intended to obtain desired responses from others; (2) message processing, the activity of interpreting the communicative behavior of others in the effort to understand the meaning of that behavior (→ Comprehension; Listening); (3) interaction coordination, the process of synchronizing message production and processing activities (along with other behaviors) in social episodes so as to achieve smooth and coherent interchanges (→ Social Interaction Structure); and (4) social perception, the process of identifying and making sense of entities and events in the social world, including experiences of ourselves, others, and social relationships, situations, and institutions (→ Social Perception). THEORETICAL DETAILS Constructivism addresses four issues for each aspect of functional competence: (1) the nature and forms of specific functional competencies (i.e., what counts as skillful behavior in each process); (2) the determinants of skillful behavior for specific functional competencies (i.e., models of competence, including abilities and motivations required for skilled communication practice); (3) the antecedents of skilled communication (i.e., the biological predispositions, socialization experiences, and educational efforts that cultivate communication skills); and (4) the consequences of individual differences in specific functional competencies (i.e., the effects of skilled communication for multiple outcomes in varied domains of life). Although social perception is not a communication process per se, constructivism maintains that it plays a central role in virtually all communicative conduct since making sense about the self, others, and social situations is critical to effective communication. Social perception proceeds through several processes, including identifying affect, making attributions, forming impressions, integrating information, and taking the other’s perspective (Moskowitz 2005). Each process can be performed more or less well; thus, social perception is a skill (or a set of skills) on which individuals differ. According to constructivism, all social perception processes occur through the cognitive structures that Kelly (1955) termed “interpersonal constructs” – cognitive schemes that apply to the thoughts, behaviors, and qualities of others. Individuals’ systems of interpersonal constructs are more or less differentiated (numerically large), abstract (have elements referring to

952 Constructivism and Interpersonal Processes concrete qualities such as appearance or abstract qualities such as traits), and integrated (organized, connected, and accessible). People with more differentiated, abstract, and integrated systems of interpersonal constructs have higher levels of interpersonal cognitive complexity. Consistent with the constructivist view that all social perception processes proceed through the application of interpersonal constructs (→ Individual Differences and Information Processing), extensive research has found that interpersonal cognitive complexity predicts several social perception skills and performance on numerous social information processing tasks (Burleson & Caplan 1998). Constructivism gives extensive attention to the role of social perception in message production. Message production is a complex process composed of many different skills; constructivism has focused on the particular skill of producing highly person-centered messages, which take into account and adapt to the subjective, emotional, and relational aspects of communicative contexts. As a general quality of messages, person-centeredness assumes a somewhat different form depending on the primary communicative goal pursued: highly person-centered persuasive messages exhibit greater concern with the goals and desires of the persuasive target; highly person-centered regulative messages seek to induce the other’s understanding of and compliance with behavioral rules by getting the other to reflect upon and reason through the consequences of his or her problematic behavior; and highly person-centered comforting messages acknowledge, elaborate, and legitimize the feelings of distressed others and encourage them to express and explore their feelings. Highly person-centered messages are more likely than less person-centered messages to attain desired primary goals (e.g., persuading, regulating, comforting) and secondary goals (e.g., self-presentation, relationship maintenance), especially in demanding communicative contexts (→ Goals, Cognitive Aspects of; Goals, Social Aspects of); further, the regular use of person-centered messages is associated with long-term outcomes such as personal acceptance and professional success (Burleson 2007). Constructivism maintains that the competence to produce highly person-centered messages is a function of both relevant abilities and motivations. In particular, advanced social perception skills are seen as a critical determinant of person-centered message use since they facilitate identification of and adaptation to characteristics of message recipients and social situations, generation and pursuit of multiple social goals in interactions, and deeper insights about the dynamics of human thought, feeling, and behavior. Extensive research has found substantial associations between interpersonal cognitive complexity (and other assessments of social perception skill) and the use of personcentered messages in a variety of social settings (see reviews by Coopman 1997; Burleson & Caplan 1998). Another factor that contributes to the use of person-centered messages is the availability of procedural memories or plan elements that contribute to message construction; persons with more plan elements available are more likely to use highly person-centered messages (→ Memory; Memory, Message). In addition, because producing person-centered messages often involves considerable effort, their use is dependent on several types of motivation, including “goal motivation” (the desire to achieve a particular outcome), “effectance motivation” (the producer’s belief that he or she is capable of achieving the goal), and “normative motivation” (the producer’s belief that it is socially appropriate for him or her to use particular messages with the recipient). These motivations are influenced by a

Constructivism and Interpersonal Processes 953 variety of personality traits (e.g., emotional empathy, locus of control orientation) and aspects of the communicative situation (e.g., the source–recipient relationship). APPLICATIONS To date, constructivism has provided less detailed analyses of message processing and interaction coordination than it has of social perception and message production. Sketches of message processing (Burleson 2007) and interaction coordination (Burleson & Caplan 1998) explain individual differences associated with these processes in terms of underlying differences in social perception skills. Constructivism gives considerable attention to the antecedents of communication skills and their development, especially the influence of parents and peers during the course of primary socialization (Burleson et al. 1995). Two caregiver practices that contribute to social perception and message production skills are (1) using language that explicitly mentions internal states (feelings, intentions), and (2) using person-centered messages when nurturing and disciplining the child. Frequent interaction with peers, especially those with good communication skills, may also contribute to developing the interpersonal constructs, procedural memories, and motivations that underlie skillful communication. Constructivism assumes that humans actively interpret the world, construct meaningful understandings of it, and act in the world on the basis of their interpretations. Given these assumptions, constructivist research frequently employs free-response research methodologies (Delia et al. 1982). These include Crockett’s (1965) Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) for measuring interpersonal cognitive complexity. This task has participants write impressions of people known to them; these impressions are subsequently scored for qualities such as construct differentiation and abstractness by expert coders. Skill at producing person-centered messages is typically assessed by having participants generate messages in response to hypothetical or actual situations (rather than select messages from researcher-supplied lists of strategies); the generated messages are then coded or rated by experts for degree of person-centeredness and other qualities. These free-response methods are not only natural tasks for research participants, but they also preserve participants’ spontaneous structuring of the social world and provide what are regarded as highly valid assessments of relevant theoretical constructs. Constructivist research also makes use of standard social science methods such as closed-ended questionnaires, rating scales, forced-choice response formats, and researcher-supplied items. Constructivism has demonstrated value as a communication theory. It is general, flexible, and broad, having been applied to different skills exhibited by different types of people in different situations. It is testable, and has produced one of the largest bodies of empirical findings in the communication discipline, with corroborations of its predictions suggesting the accuracy of the theory. It is heuristic, having generated novel analyses of numerous communicative phenomena, and it has been fruitfully synthesized with other theories. It also has noteworthy limitations; constructivism has narrowly focused on the contribution of social perception to the use of person-centered messages and has not given sufficient attention to the processes through which messages are generated and received. In addition, some concepts in the theory need further specification, and greater effort should be made to apply the theory to skill enhancement.

954 Consumer Culture SEE ALSO:
Comprehension
Constructivism
Goals, Cognitive Aspects of
Goals, Social Aspects of
Individual Differences and Information Processing
Information Processing
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication Competence and Social Skills
Listening
Memory
Memory, Message
Message Production
Social Interaction Structure
Social Perception References and Suggested Readings Applegate, J. L. (1990). Constructs and communication: A pragmatic integration. In G. Neimeyer & R. Neimeyer (eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology, vol. 1. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 203–230. Burleson, B. R. (2007). Constructivism: A general theory of communication skill. In B. B. Whaley & W. Samter (eds.), Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and exemplars. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 105–128. Burleson, B. R., & Caplan, S. E. (1998). Cognitive complexity. In J. C. McCroskey, J. A. Daly, M. M. Martin, & M. J. Beatty (eds.), Communication and personality: Trait perspectives. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 230–286. Burleson, B. R., Delia, J. G., & Applegate, J. L. (1995). The socialization of person-centered communication: Parental contributions to the social-cognitive and communication skills of their children. In M. A. Fitzpatrick & A. L. Vangelisti (eds.), Explaining family interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 34–76. Coopman, S. Z. (1997). Personal constructs and communication in interpersonal and organizational contexts. In G. Neimeyer & R. Neimeyer (eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology, vol. 4. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 101–147. Crockett, W. H. (1965). Cognitive complexity and impression formation. In B. A. Maher (ed.), Progress in experimental personality research, vol. 2. New York: Academic Press, pp. 47–90. Delia, J. G. (1987). Interpersonal cognition, message goals, and organization of communication: Recent constructivist research. In D. L. Kincaid (ed.), Communication theory: Eastern and western perspectives. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 255–273. Delia, J. G., O’Keefe, B. J., & O’Keefe, D. J. (1982). The constructivist approach to communication. In F. E. X. Dance (ed.), Human communication theory: Comparative essays. New York: Harper and Row, pp. 147–191. Gastil, J. (1995). An appraisal and revision of the constructivist research program. In B. R. Burleson (ed.), Communication yearbook 18. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 83–104. Kelly, G. A. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. New York: W. W. Norton. Moskowitz, G. B. (2005). Social cognition: Understanding self and others. New York: Guilford. Phillips, D. C. (2000). Constructivism and its many faces: The good, the bad, and the ugly. In D. C. Phillips (ed.), The expanded social scientist’s bestiary: A guide to fabled threats to, and defenses of, naturalistic social science. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 1–17. 0?September Original CONSUMER ??? ?? Articles 2007 CULTURE

Consumer Culture Matthew P. McAllister Pennsylvania State University

Consumer culture, the creation and cultivation of self- and social meaning from the marketing, purchase, and display of commodified goods, is a central characteristic of

Consumer Culture 955 modern and postmodern society. Although related to other forms of culture, such as commercial culture, material culture, and popular culture, it is a theoretically distinct realm that includes the symbolic qualities attributed to mass-produced goods, brand logos, product packaging, advertising campaigns, retail spaces, shopping activities, and consumption-centered media content. How these symbolic goods and activities relate to modern life, the self and social groups – and their destructive and/or emancipatory implications – have comprised much scholarship and debate in the humanities and social sciences. DEVELOPMENT OF CONSUMER CULTURE There is no exact starting date for the creation of modern consumer culture. Although tied to the beginnings of industrialization, it could also be said to have existed in some forms as long as rudimentary capitalism existed. More specifically, British royalty emphasized and displayed the need to be fashionable in the 1500s. Colonialism exoticized spices and other goods from colonized lands. In the nineteenth century, popular events such as the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and other World Fairs displayed and promoted industrialized goods. Also at this time, in industrialized countries, mass manufacturing forced companies to market themselves outside of the companies’ home communities, developing the idea of → branding as a sales and promotional technique to generate symbolic trustworthiness. The expansion of nationally distributed mass media, especially the national → magazine, facilitated the use of → advertising to create universally known → brands and symbolic linkages to these brands. Advertising was especially key in the development of consumer culture in that it inculcated people as consumers, teaching them not only the difference between brands, but also what the idea of a brand is and its legitimization as something to be trusted even more than one’s own skills or the local merchant (→ Advertising, History of). Such legitimization was especially important in the establishment of consumer culture, given that earlier generations made many of their own goods or bought locally produced bulk goods. Mail-order catalogs offered images of manufactured commodities, especially to rural and isolated households. The separation of work from other sectors of life cultivated leisure as an element of life, as did the rise of a middle class with disposable incomes. The creation of branded retail spaces that displayed goods rather than merely distributing goods also elevated modern consumerism, and encouraged shopping as a pleasurable activity. Finally, such meaning creation occurred in a context of great social change, in which traditional symbolic realms (religion, the family, local community) became unsettled, and universally understood commercial symbols offered meaning stability. From its beginnings, consumer culture intersected with class, gender, and race. Although many mass-produced goods were available to the middle and upper classes, working-class people often labored long hours to produce or display goods they could not afford (a trend accentuated in modern globalization). Consumer culture was also strongly gendered. Shopping areas and non-spouse approved credit could create women-centered activities and spaces in the public domain. However, many image-oriented and emotionally laden brand strategies were designed to appeal to the prejudicial market construction of the

956 Consumer Culture purported irrational female consumer (Paterson 2006). Despite claims that the new consumer culture could be democratic and inclusive of everyone (with money, that is), people of color still often found that they were excluded from such participation, even with money to spend. The use of terrible stereotyping in early advertising – often more subtle but nevertheless present even today – also highlighted the social divisions still central in consumer culture. Critical historians such as Stuart Ewen (1976) view the development of consumer culture, and advertising’s role in this development, as profoundly hegemonic, both solving mass capitalism’s problem of overproduction by encouraging participation in capitalism while also placating workers (via the promise of valorized, branded goods) who found themselves alienated from the corporate, mass-manufacturing workplace. Other historians, such as Gary Cross (2000), although recognizing the negative elements in early consumer culture, nevertheless argue that this development helped ease individuals through the great social changes of the early twentieth century in a way that minimized social and psychological trauma. Later developments further refined and accentuated consumer culture. Credit and installment plans and discounted “bargain basements” allowed the middle class to have access to upper-class-coded goods. Electronic media such as radio and television not only could display commodities via sound and video channels, but also economically were even more dependent upon, and thus beholden to, advertising revenue than print media such as newspapers and magazines (→ Commercialization of the Media). Lawrence R. Samuel (2002) contends that the display and celebration of products in early television advertising rejuvenated US consumerism after years of thrift cultivated by the Depression and World War II (→ Commodification of the Media). New retail spaces such as malls systematized and aestheticized the shopping experience. Corporate and postindustrial capitalism increased advertising and marketing budgets while refining target marketing. Globalization encouraged an emphasis on universally recognized and understood symbols and an even sharper distinction between sites of production (often exploitative) and consumption (→ Globalization of the Media). Marketing research gradually became more sophisticated, focusing on demographics, psychographics, and lifestyles to facilitate, or even manipulate, purchasing. By the late 1990s, marketing firms used ethnographic and other naturalistic techniques to complement more quantitative methods. MEDIA AND YOUTH IN CONSUMER CULTURE The media continue to play a key role in consumer culture. Media, of course, carry advertisements, the most explicit voice for consumerist messages. The level of advertising in society has steadily risen with the increase in both the number of media outlets and media organizations’ expectations for advertising revenue. In addition, media promote the consumption of media products, such as commercials and publicity for DVDs and pay-per options on television, an emphasized factor in the era of large-corporate media synergy. To offer a selling-friendly symbolic climate for advertisers, many elements of media content – from lifestyle magazines to self-improvement television programs – are commodity- and consumption-oriented even in their nonadvertising messages

Consumer Culture 957 (→ Commercialization: Impact on Media Content). Direct purchasing opportunities are increasingly integrated in media use, with the development of home-shopping options on television and the ease of online shopping and purchasing via the Internet and other interactive media. The convergence of audiovisual media content with mobile delivery systems such as mobile phones broadens the reach of consumption-oriented messages and activities. Much scholarly attention has been devoted to how young people are inculcated into consumer culture, including the heavy commercialization of youth culture. Works such as Juliet B. Schor’s Born to buy (2005) and Alissa Quart’s Branded (2003) focus on the continued targeting of youth by commercial interests (→ Youth Culture). CRITICISMS AND DEFENSES Scholars reacted early to the social implications of these trends, establishing arguments critical of consumer culture as well as counterpoints from scholars who see positive developments in modern consumerism. Commodity fetishism – defined broadly as the separation of a commodity from its production context and the subsequent consumption-oriented celebration of such commodities – was a term coined by Karl Marx and subsequently adopted and developed by other scholars writing about consumer culture, including Judith Williamson, Sut Jhally, and Robert Goldman (→ Fetishization). Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the leisure class (1899) introduced and critiqued what he labeled as conspicuous consumption, in which the display of symbolic commodities by the nouveau riche was used to distinguish themselves from other classes, ultimately encouraging class envy and excessive debt. This criticism was updated in more recent times by such scholars as Juliet B. Schor (1999). Consumption as a way to reify social difference also finds resonance with the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that it is often used to display different forms of capital and enact social distinctions between groups. The notions of consumer distinction and envy as enacted in a highly segmented, market-researched, and interactive consumer culture is explored by Joseph Turow (2006; → Consumers in Media Markets). Scholars associated with the Frankfurt School also have been influential critics. Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer argued that mass-produced and marketed goods foster standardization and homogenization, smothering creativity and cheating/ deceiving citizens. Similar points were made in Herbert Marcuse’s book, One-dimensional man (1964), which claimed that advertising and consumer culture inculcate false needs in people and thus degrade critical awareness (→ Critical Theory). Standardization in modern consumer culture is an element explored by sociologist George Ritzer in his argument on the “McDonaldization” of society. Although not from the Frankfurt tradition but influenced by it, Guy Debord, in Society of the spectacle (1967/2004), argued that the commodity-based spectacle – as exemplified by high-profile media events and advertising campaigns – is a defining characteristic of modern life that deflects attention from larger capitalist inequities and indignities (→ Spectacle). Recent criticisms of consumer culture have similarly focused on the anxiety, low selfesteem, materialism, and vulnerability to advertising claims about self-image sparked by

958 Consumer Culture heavy emergence in consumer culture. The environmental destruction and waste that overconsumption promotes have also been a concern of many scholars, especially Sut Jhally (2006). Other arguments emphasize the emancipatory elements of consumer culture. Consumer culture offers symbolic materials that may be used to create unique cultural identities and cohesion, for instance. Market niches may recognize social groups marginalized by other sectors of society. How consumers may play with consumption activities and resist meanings imposed from above has been advocated by such scholars as Michel De Certeau, John Fiske, and Henry Jenkins (→ Cultural Studies). James B. Twitchell argues for the positive social benefits of both advertising and materialism (see, for example, 1999). Activism against consumer culture offers a counter-voice, even if it seems to be a whisper compared to corporate-amplified consumption messages. Groups that have organized against the excesses of consumer culture include, in the US, Consumers’ Research Inc. (founded in the 1920s) and, in Canada, Adbusters. Movements such as various forms of counterculture in the 1960s and environmentalism also offer critiques against consumerism. However, many critics have noted consumer culture’s ability to co-opt and depoliticize such critical elements, including Goldman’s notion of → commodity feminism. SEE ALSO:
Advertising
Advertising, History of
Branding
Brands
Commercialization: Impact on Media Content
Commercialization of the Media
Commodification of the Media
Commodity Feminism
Consumers in Media Markets
Critical Theory
Cultural Studies
Fetishization
Globalization of the Media
Magazine
Spectacle
Youth Culture

References and Suggested Readings Andersen, R. (1995). Consumer culture and TV programming. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Budd, M., Craig, S., & Steinman, C. (1999). Consuming environments: Television and commercial culture. New York: Routledge. Cross, G. (2000). An all-consuming century: Why commercialism won in modern America. New York: Columbia University Press. Debord, G. (2004). Society of the spectacle (trans. K. Knabb). London: Rebel Press. (Original work published 1967). Ewen, S. (1976). Captains of consciousness: Advertising and the social roots of consumer culture. New York: McGraw-Hill. Goldman, R. (1992). Reading ads socially. New York: Routledge. Heath, J., & Potter, A. (2004). Nation of rebels: Why counterculture became consumer culture. New York: HarperBusiness. Jhally, S. (2006). The spectacle of accumulation: Essays in culture, media and politics. New York: Peter Lang. Klein, N. (1999). No logo: Taking aim at the brand bullies. New York: Picador. Leiss, W., Kline, S., Jhally, S., & Botterill, J. (2005). Social communication in advertising: Consumption in the mediated marketplace, 3rd edn. New York: Routledge. Marcuse, H. (1964). One-dimensional man: Studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Paterson, M. (2006). Consumption and everyday life. London: Routledge. Quart, A. (2003). Branded: The buying and selling of teenagers. New York: Arrow.

Consumer Informatics 959 Samuel, L. R. (2002). Brought to you by: Postwar television advertising and the American dream. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Schor, J. B. (1999). The overspent American: Why we want what we don’t need. New York: HarperPerennial. Schor, J. B. (2005). Born to buy: The commercialized child and the new consumer culture. New York: Simon and Schuster. Stole, I. L. (2006). Advertising on trial: Consumer activitism and corporate public relations in the 1930s. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Turow, J. (2006). Niche envy: Marketing discrimination in the digital age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Twitchell, J. B. (1999). Lead us into temptation: The triumph of American materialism. New York: Columbia University Press. Veblen, T. (1899). The theory of the leisure class. London: Allen and Unwin. Zukin, S. (2004). Point of purchase: How shopping changed American culture. New York: Routledge. 0?August Original CONSUMER ??? ?? 2007 Articles INFORMATICS

Consumer Informatics Bradford W. Hesse US National Cancer Institute

In its broadest sense, consumer informatics can refer to that branch of the field of communications dedicated to understanding and improving the use of online information resources by the → public. Online information resources have been made available to consumers in a variety of different market sectors, from airline ticketing and travel to the online distribution of goods and services. In these instances, the online interactions replace interpersonal encounters as the basis for generating value to a sponsoring organization’s bottom line. Communication researchers are often brought in to be sure the structure of the communication is made as user friendly and satisfactory as possible; unsatisfactory structures will drive away customers (→ Computer–User Interaction; E-Commerce). In a more specific sense, the study of consumer informatics has gained its greatest currency in the area of medicine and healthcare (→ Health Communication). The French term informatique was coined in the early 1960s to describe the potential benefits, especially in science, of sharing data and tools electronically by mounting them online in a remotely accessible, networked fashion. Not long after the term was introduced, scientists and engineers began exploiting the communication capabilities of informatics technologies to support electronic mail, discussion groups, document sharing, and other types of collaborative information activities online (→ Information and Communication Technology, Development of). It was not long before the benefits of networked computer environments as communication media were felt by these professionals. Networked professionals used the connective features of the online technologies to overcome barriers of geographic distance and social isolation (Hesse et al. 1993). In the 1970s and 1980s, the term “informatics” became commonplace in medical environments, where demands for information were high. Departments of medical informatics emerged in hospitals throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. Interdisciplinary teams of computer scientists and biomedical researchers began exploring ways of using informatics

960 Consumer Informatics technologies to overcome barriers in delivering medical expertise to underserved areas, an activity referred to as “telemedicine.” Digital library projects became popular as a way of making the breadth of medical literature available to physicians. Up until the early 1990s, the benefits of informatics technologies were primarily available to professionals working in science, medicine, engineering, or education. During the last decade of the twentieth century, two events co-occurred that would change that. The first was a proposal from scientist Tim Berners-Lee, at the CERN High Energy Physics Laboratory in Switzerland, to create an interconnected computer environment making it simple for users to share information online in graphical ways. He called his concept the “world wide web.” The second was a movement by the US Congress that would open the benefits of the world wide web to the general public (→ Internet; Internet, Technology of). These two events, occurring at a time when ownership of personal computers was becoming commonplace, opened up the advantages of an online transaction environment to consumers. Repercussions would soon be felt through all aspects of the global economy and in communication. Entire market sectors would restructure to take advantage of global access to consumers, eliminating the need for intermediaries, and accelerating the effects of competition on price and access (Friedman 2005). The communication environment would become increasingly more interactive, decentralized, personalized, and information-rich (Viswanath 2005). As the US Congress opened access to the Internet in the 1990s and the world wide web caught on as an understandable access point for consumers, medical informatics specialists began exploring methods of using information technologies to meet the needs of healthcare consumers. The term consumer health informatics was coined by researchers in Canada to distinguish the emerging field from its roots in the more clinically based medical informatics (Eysenbach 2000). The expansion of research activities into the area of consumer health informatics was also catalyzed by a general rise of consumerism among recipients of healthcare. Many observers have noted that previous generations of patients behaved with general passivity in response to their healthcare. Newer generations, accustomed to finding what they wanted through online computer access, appeared to be taking a more assertive role in their health decision-making. Designed appropriately, consumer informatics tools could help empower these patients by giving them the support they need to be proactive in their own health maintenance over their life-spans (Nelson & Ball 2004). With this background, Eysenbach and Jadad (2001) suggested that the field of consumer health informatics should be considered as a whole new discipline in online communications research. Its goals should encompass analyzing, formalizing, and modeling consumer preferences and information needs; developing systems to integrate those needs into the broader biomedical research and delivery enterprise; investigating the effectiveness and efficiency of consumer informatics applications to improve health outcomes while stemming the tide of escalating healthcare costs; and studying the effects of consumer informatics systems on public health, the patient–provider relationship, and personal quality of life (Eysenbach & Jadad 2001). The need for protecting public health through a scientifically garnered evidence base is as high in the case of consumer informatics as it is for general medicine. For example,

Consumers in Media Markets 961 the unequal diffusion of consumer informatics technologies may actually worsen concerns over health disparities by creating a → digital divide in health-related knowledge (Viswanath et al. 2006). Likewise, diffusing a consumer health information system without the benefit of a “socio-technical” evidence base may cost millions of dollars in unnecessary expenditures or, worse, may put the public at risk from unsafe clinical practice (Coiera 2004). As in other areas of medicine, a solid evidence base is needed to guide the development of consumer informatics technologies in productive and safe ways (Hesse & Shneiderman 2007). SEE ALSO:
Computer–User Interaction
Digital Divide
E-Commerce
Health Communication
Health Communication and the Internet
Information and Communication Technology, Development of
Internet
Internet, Technology of
Public References and Suggested Readings Coiera, E. (2004). Four rules for the reinvention of health care. British Medical Journal, 328(7449), 1197–1199. Eysenbach, G. (2000). Consumer health informatics. British Medical Journal, 320(7251), 1713– 1716. Eysenbach, G., & Jadad, A. R. (2001). Consumer health informatics in the Internet age. In A. Edwards & G. Elwyn (eds.), Evidence-based patient choice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 289–307. Friedman, T. L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century, 1st edn. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hesse, B. W., & Shneiderman, B. (2007). eHealth Research from the user’s perspective. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32(5 suppl.), S97–S103. Hesse, B. W., Sproull, L., Kiesler, S. B., & Walsh, J. P. (1993). Returns to science: computer networks in oceanography. Communications of the ACM, 36(8), 90–101. Nelson, R., & Ball, M. J. (2004). Consumer informatics: Applications and strategies in cyber health care. New York: Springer. Viswanath, K. (2005). Science and society: The communications revolution and cancer control. Nature Reviews Cancer, 5(10), 828–835. Viswanath, K., Breen, N., Meissner, H., et al. (2006). Cancer knowledge and disparities in the information age. Journal of Health Communication, 11(suppl. 1), 1–17. Original Article xxx ACADEMY AWARDS

Consumers in Media Markets Philip M. Napoli Fordham University

Communication researchers have devoted a substantial amount of attention to understanding consumers in media markets. The processes by which audiences select between the various content options available, as well as the mechanisms by which media organizations seek to understand, anticipate, and respond to these choices have traditionally resided at

962 Consumers in Media Markets the core of research focusing on media consumers. The study of media consumers fits within the somewhat broader framework of → audience research and is distinguished by its attention primarily to the economic dimensions of media consumption and the processes by which audiences select media products – as is reflected in the use of the term “consumers” (→ Media Economics; Exposure to Communication Content). It is important to emphasize that to speak of media consumers reflects the adoption of a certain perspective on the interaction between media organizations and individuals; one that is, by connotation, primarily commercial or economic in nature. This is, of course, just one of a number of possible lenses through which scholars can examine the complex interactions between media audiences and media content providers. Perspectives that emphasize the cultural or political dimensions of the interaction between content providers and audiences, for example, address vitally important issues that are somewhat outside the bounds of the narrow conceptualization of the audience as consumers (→ Cultural Studies; Uses and Gratifications). Media content providers, of course, perceive of their audiences primarily through a consumer-oriented lens. Therefore to develop an understanding of this perception – as well as of its broader implications – is also an important element of research examining consumers in media markets, which helps to generate insight into the behavior of media institutions (Napoli 2003; → Audience Commodity). ATTENTION AND MONEY AS LIMITED RESOURCES Studying the behavior of media consumers requires a focus on the allocation of two scarce resources: attention and money. The time spent consuming media has continued to expand according to many measures – most likely due to increased multitasking on the part of consumers (in terms of both consuming media while engaging in other activities and consuming multiple media simultaneously). Nonetheless, the attention of media consumers itself remains a scarce resource (Lanham 2006), particularly in an increasingly fragmented and cluttered media environment, in which available content options are growing exponentially, all of which compete aggressively for consumer attention. Similarly, there is a limit to what consumers can spend on media. Some research has even suggested that the proportion of income that consumers spend on media has remained relatively constant over time, despite the continued introduction of new technologies and content options into the media system (McCombs 1972). Although the validity of this assertion has been questioned, it remains nonetheless important to consider the limitations in consumers’ financial resources that can impact media consumption and consequently create an environment in which different media technologies and content options compete for a pool of resources that is, in all likelihood, not increasing at a rate that is commensurate with the rate at which the media system as a whole is expanding (see Dimmick 2002). KEY LINES OF RESEARCH Early efforts to understand media audience as consumers can be traced (as can many elements of communications and market research) to → Paul Lazarsfeld. Work such as

Consumers in Media Markets 963 his 1946 study, The people look at radio, helped to establish a tradition of examining the interaction between audience member and content provider primarily through a consumersoriented lens. Work such as this was often funded at least in part by various sectors of the media industries, which also helps to explain its focus on media audiences primarily as consumers (see also Steiner 1963). While early research on media consumers examined issues such as consumer satisfaction with various media products, over time the study of media consumers has come increasingly to focus on understanding how consumers choose to expose themselves to various media products. This focus on exposure can be seen, for example, in the well-known “program choice” literature (see Owen & Wildman 1992). This body of primarily theoretical work has sought to develop predictive models of consumer content selection and media organization content provision under various circumstances of consumer preferences, channel capacity, and competitive conditions (→ Selective Exposure). The program choice literature was developed primarily in response to media policymakers’ needs (→ Media Policy), as an approach for determining the benefits (in terms of format/genre diversity) of competitive versus monopolistic or oligopolistic conditions in the programming market. However, this line of research is also notable for its early efforts at developing theoretical approaches to the process by which consumers select individual media products, even if many of these theoretical models (including the more recent ones) have tended to oversimplify the dynamics of media consumption (Napoli 2003). Empirical work inspired to some extent by the program choice literature has delved into a wide range of factors that impact consumers’ choices in regards to individual media products. This work has considered both audience factors (i.e., the characteristics of the media consumers, such as tastes, preferences, and awareness of various content options) and media factors (i.e., the quantity of content options, the range of media consumption technologies available) in an effort to account for both the structural-level and individuallevel factors that impact consumers’ choices in the media marketplace (Webster & Phalen 1997). Work in this vein has addressed questions such as the extent to which media consumers’ individual → genre or format preferences drive their media consumption; how content selection is impacted by changes in the technological environment (such as increased channel options or increased technological choices); and, more broadly, the extent to which media consumers exhibit passive versus active tendencies in their media consumption (and how such tendencies may vary across different media types and across different demographic categories). The primary objective of research in this vein is, of course, to identify consistent and predictable patterns in consumer choice that can both have applied utility and yield theoretical insights into the dynamics of cultural consumption. For instance, audience researchers have frequently found evidence of a double jeopardy effect which characterizes media consumption (Webster & Phalen 1997). Specifically, research has shown that, despite popular perception, the common notion of the “small but loyal audience” is largely a fallacy. Rather large audiences tend to be made up of higher proportions of loyal audience members (i.e., frequent consumers) than smaller audiences. Consequently, content that attracts small audiences is doubly endangered – by both the small size of the audience and the fact that these audience members are not likely to be frequent consumers of the content.

964 Consumers in Media Markets Another macro-level trend among media consumers that has received a substantial amount of attention from researchers involves the “one-way flows” of media products. Research on one-way flows has illustrated enduring patterns in media consumer behavior involving (as the name suggests) the tendency for the consumption of media products to flow from large markets to small markets (both nationally and internationally), but seldom vice versa. Such patterns reflect an important tendency among media consumers to gravitate toward content produced for larger markets, due in large part to the higher production budgets associated with it (Owen & Wildman 1992). Indeed, both the double jeopardy effect and one-way flows reflect the significant extent to which consumer behavior is affected by the underlying production budgets of the available content. To the extent that audiences tend to gravitate to higher-budget over lower-budget content, so arise the difficulties associated with niche content reflected in the double jeopardy effect, and the tendency of one-way flows from large markets to small markets. THE NEW MEDIA ENVIRONMENT AND THE PREDICTABILITY OF MEDIA CONSUMERS Research on the behavior of media consumers does, however, face an increasingly difficult task in terms of identifying consumer behavioral patterns in media environments that are becoming increasingly fragmented, increasingly complex, and, consequently, increasingly unpredictable. The much greater channel capacity of many media technologies, the rise of alternative distribution technologies, and the increased interactivity of the new media environment (→ Interactivity, Concept of) all contribute to a media landscape that is vastly different from the one in which early researchers could, for example, in the television context demonstrate with great consistency predictable patterns of “audience flow” from one program to the next. One important pattern that has emerged, however, is that the tremendous fragmentation of the media environment has not been accompanied by a comparable fragmentation of media audiences. Rather, audiences exhibit a consistent tendency to cluster around relatively few content options, even when their available choices expand dramatically (see Hindman 2007; Neuman 1991). As this clustering tendency helps to illustrate, at the broader level of media consumer behavior we see fairly predictable patterns across the aggregate of content options. In contrast, however, perhaps one of the most enduring themes of the literature on media consumers is the tremendous uncertainty that inevitably revolves around the process by which consumers select individual content options. From the “nobody knows anything” mantra that long has permeated the film industry, and research into motion picture audiences (e.g., DeVany 2004), to the “all hits are flukes” perspective reflected in research on the production and consumption of television (see Bielby & Bielby 1994), media consumers have been, and continue to be, very difficult to predict. For these reasons, media usage often has been conceptualized as a two-stage process. The first stage – the decision to consume a particular medium – is reasonably predictable and exhibits fairly stable behavioral patterns. The second stage – the selection of the individual content option – is, in contrast, highly unpredictable.

Consumers in Media Markets 965

MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS AND MEDIA CONSUMERS To the extent that an understanding of media audiences as consumers is typically a perspective characteristic of the media organizations providing consumers with content, research on media consumers has also frequently addressed the related subject of how these organizations perceive their consumers (Turow 1997), as well as the subject of how these organizations cope with the many distinctive and unpredictable characteristics of media consumer behavior (Napoli 2003). For instance, the process by which media consumer behavior is translated into tangible information to guide decision-making and to facilitate transactions between content providers and advertisers has received an increasing amount of attention (Anand & Peterson 2000; Ang 1991), particularly in light of the increased difficulties that the increasingly fragmented and complex media environment pose for the organizations charged with effectively measuring consumer behavior (Napoli 2003; → Advertising, Economics of). A particular point of focus of this research has been on how technological or methodological shifts in the systems for measuring the behavior of media consumers can alter how media organizations perceive the composition and behavioral characteristics of their consumers and the competitive dynamics of their markets. It is also important to note that a tremendous amount of scholarly criticism has been leveled against commercial audience measurement systems and their usage (→ Nielsen Ratings; PeopleMeter), in light of their substantial methodological shortcomings and the associated questions about whether any legitimate representation of true media consumer behavior is (or even can be) captured by these systems (e.g., Ang 1991; Meehan 1984). Along related lines, a substantial body of literature has developed that explores the mechanisms by which media organizations (both content providers and advertisers) place value on different categories of media consumers, and on the information sources that feed into the formulation of these valuations (Turow 1997). To the extent that the value of media consumers is, within the context of advertising supported media, tied to their behavior as consumers of other products and services, understanding how the media and advertising industries effectively link these two areas of consumption is central to understanding the interaction between media consumer and content provider. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN THE STUDY OF MEDIA CONSUMERS The study of media consumers today faces its greatest challenges in terms of effectively accounting for the ever growing array of media choices that are available, and in terms of effectively accounting for the various ways in which the interaction between content provider and consumer is changing. In a highly fragmented media environment, questions regarding the mechanisms by which media consumers become aware of the content options available to them become increasingly important – particularly in terms of developing an understanding of how consumers utilize the wide range of new search and navigation tools available to them in the new media environment. Similarly important are broader questions regarding the political, economic, and cultural implications associated with the increased fragmentation of media consumers

966 Consumers in Media Markets (Sunstein 2001; Turow 1997). And, in a technological environment in which consumers have increasing control over when, where, and how media content is consumed, researchers inevitably must devote greater attention to these micro-level dynamics of consumption that provide for increasing variation in the consumption process across individual media consumers. And finally, research is only now beginning to address the wide range of questions arising from a contemporary media environment (particularly in the online realm) where the line between producer and consumer of media content is becoming increasingly blurred. SEE ALSO:
Advertising, Economics of
Audience
Audience Commodity
Audience Research
Cultural Studies
Exposure to Communication Content
Genre
Interactivity, Concept of
Lazarsfeld, Paul F.
Media Economics
Media Policy
Nielsen Ratings
People-Meter
Selective Exposure
Uses and Gratifications References and Suggested Readings Anand, N., & Peterson, R. (2000). When market information constitutes fields: Sensemaking in the commercial music field. Organization Science, 11, 270–284. Ang, I. (1991). Desperately seeking the audience. New York: Routledge. Bielby, W. T., & Bielby, D. D. (1994). “All hits are flukes”: Institutionalized decision-making and the rhetoric of network prime-time program development. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 1287–1313. DeVany, A. (2004). Hollywood economics: How extreme uncertainty shapes the film industry. New York: Routledge. Dimmick, J. W. (2002). Market competition and coexistence: The theory of the niche. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Hindman, M. (2007). A mile wide and an inch deep: Measuring media diversity online and offline. In P. M. Napoli (ed.), Media diversity and localism: Meaning and metrics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 327–347. Lanham, R. (2006). The economics of attention: Style and substance in the age of information. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lazarsfeld, P. (1946). The people look at radio. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. McCombs, M. (1972). Mass media in the marketplace. Journalism Monographs 24. McPhee, W. N. (1963). Formal theories of mass behavior. New York: Free Press. McQuail, D. (1969). Uncertainty about the audience and the organization of mass communication. In Sociological Review Monograph 13: The Sociology of Mass Media Communicators, pp. 75–84. Meehan, E. R. (1984). Ratings and the institutional approach: A third answer to the commodity question. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1, 216–225. Napoli, P. M. (2003). Audience economics: Media institutions and the audience marketplace. New York: Columbia University Press. Neuman, W. R. (1991). The future of the mass audience. New York: Cambridge University Press. Owen, B. M., & Wildman, S. S. (1992). Video economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Steiner, G. A. (1963). The people look at television: A study of audience attitudes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Sunstein, C. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Turow, J. (1997). Breaking up America: Advertisers and the new media world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Webster, J. G., & Phalen, P. F. (1997). The mass audience: Rediscovering the dominant model. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 0?September Original CONTENT ??? ?? Articles 2007 ANALYSIS, QUALITATIVE