Desperately Seeking the Audience

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book Desperately Seeking the Audience by Ien Ang, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ien Ang ISBN: 9781134940417
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: June 28, 2006
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Ien Ang
ISBN: 9781134940417
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: June 28, 2006
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

Millions of people all over the world are avid members of the television audience. Yet, despite the central place television occupies in contemporary culture, our understanding of its complex and dynamic role in everyday life remains surprisingly limited. Focusing on the television audience, Ien Ang asks why we understand so little about its nature, and argues that our ignorance arises directly out of the biases inherent in prevailing official knowledge about it. She sets out to deconstruct the assumptions of this official knowledge by exploring the territory where it is mainly produced - the television institutions.
Ang draws on Foucault's theory of power/knowledge to scrutinize television's desperate search for the audience, and to identify differences and similarities in the approaches of American commercial television and European public service television to their audiences. She looks carefully at recent developments in the field of ratings research, in particular the controversial introduction of the `people meter' as an instrument for measuring the television audience. By defining the limits and limitations of these institutional procedures of knowledge production, Ien Ang opens up new avenues for understanding television audiences. Her ethnographic perspective on the television audience gives new insights into our television culture, with the audience seen not as an object to be controlled, but as an active social subject, engaging with television in a variety of cultural and creative ways.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Millions of people all over the world are avid members of the television audience. Yet, despite the central place television occupies in contemporary culture, our understanding of its complex and dynamic role in everyday life remains surprisingly limited. Focusing on the television audience, Ien Ang asks why we understand so little about its nature, and argues that our ignorance arises directly out of the biases inherent in prevailing official knowledge about it. She sets out to deconstruct the assumptions of this official knowledge by exploring the territory where it is mainly produced - the television institutions.
Ang draws on Foucault's theory of power/knowledge to scrutinize television's desperate search for the audience, and to identify differences and similarities in the approaches of American commercial television and European public service television to their audiences. She looks carefully at recent developments in the field of ratings research, in particular the controversial introduction of the `people meter' as an instrument for measuring the television audience. By defining the limits and limitations of these institutional procedures of knowledge production, Ien Ang opens up new avenues for understanding television audiences. Her ethnographic perspective on the television audience gives new insights into our television culture, with the audience seen not as an object to be controlled, but as an active social subject, engaging with television in a variety of cultural and creative ways.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Dasmariñases, Early Governors of the Spanish Philippines by Ien Ang
Cover of the book The Patterns of Symbolic Communication by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Of Literature and Knowledge by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Campaign Journal 2008 by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Religious Platonism by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Defending the Revolution by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Architecture and the Historical Imagination by Ien Ang
Cover of the book The Kabbalah (Routledge Revivals) by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Created from NAFTA: The Structure, Function and Significance of the Treaty's Related Institutions by Ien Ang
Cover of the book William Holman Hunt and Typological Symbolism (Routledge Revivals) by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Man by Ien Ang
Cover of the book American Commercial Banks in Corporate Finance, 1929-1941 by Ien Ang
Cover of the book The Evolving Arab City by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Global Empowerment of Women by Ien Ang
Cover of the book Time and the Literary by Ien Ang
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy