Course
Mass Communication Theories
A free, accessible course on mass communication theory from the first models to the digital age, taught through short cards, questions, exams and level-ups.
Unit 1
Foundations: Society, Communication and Models
- 1.What Is Communication?35 minAvailable
- 2.A History of Mass Media40 minAvailable
- 3.What Is a Theory? Paradigms and Classifications40 minAvailable
- 4.Research Methods in Mass Communication40 minAvailable
- 5.Roots of Social Thought45 minAvailable
- 6.Functionalism and Symbolic Interactionism40 minAvailable
- 7.The Chicago School and Communication35 minAvailable
- 8.Mass Society and Mass Culture Theory35 minAvailable
- 9.The Lasswell and Shannon–Weaver Models35 minAvailable
- 10.Process Models: Schramm, Berlo, Westley–MacLean, Newcomb40 minAvailable
- 11.Other Models: Jakobson, Gerbner, Maletzke35 minAvailable
Unit 2
Powerful Effects and Propaganda
- 12.A History of Propaganda40 minAvailable
- 13.Propaganda and Public Opinion: Lippmann and Lasswell40 minAvailable
- 14.The Hypodermic Needle and Magic Bullet Model35 minAvailable
- 15.The Payne Fund Studies and the Invasion from Mars30 minComing soon
- 16.The Yale Program: Persuasion Research35 minComing soon
- 17.Attitudes and Cognitive Consistency35 minComing soon
Unit 3
The Limited-Effects Era
- 18.The Voting Studies and Limited Effects35 minComing soon
- 19.Selective Exposure, Perception and Retention30 minComing soon
- 20.The Two-Step Flow and Opinion Leaders30 minComing soon
- 21.Functions of the Media30 minComing soon
- 22.Gatekeeping30 minComing soon
- 23.News Values30 minComing soon
- 24.Diffusion of Innovations35 minComing soon
- 25.Modernization Theories and the Media30 minComing soon
- 26.Media Dependency Theory30 minComing soon
- 27.Children and Television Research30 minComing soon
Unit 4
Mid-Range Effects: Agenda, Frames, Cultivation, Silence
- 28.Agenda-Setting40 minAvailable
- 29.Priming and Second-Level Agenda-Setting35 minComing soon
- 30.Agenda-Building and Political Communication30 minComing soon
- 31.Framing35 minComing soon
- 32.Cultivation Theory40 minAvailable
- 33.Cultivation: Critiques and Later Findings30 minComing soon
- 34.The Spiral of Silence40 minAvailable
- 35.Testing the Spiral of Silence, Online and Offline30 minComing soon
- 36.The Knowledge Gap Hypothesis30 minComing soon
Unit 5
Audiences and Effects
- 37.Uses and Gratifications35 minComing soon
- 38.Parasocial Interaction30 minComing soon
- 39.Third-Person Effect and Hostile Media Effect30 minComing soon
- 40.Media Violence and Social Learning40 minComing soon
- 41.The Eras of Media Effects Research30 minComing soon
Unit 6
Technology and the Media Environment
- 42.Innis and the Toronto School30 minComing soon
- 43.McLuhan: The Medium Is the Message35 minComing soon
- 44.Media Ecology: Ong, Postman, Meyrowitz35 minComing soon
- 45.Critiques of Technological Determinism30 minComing soon
Unit 7
Critical Approaches
- 46.From Marx to Ideology35 minComing soon
- 47.The Mass Culture and Popular Culture Debates30 minComing soon
- 48.The Frankfurt School I: Horkheimer, Adorno and the Culture Industry40 minComing soon
- 49.The Frankfurt School II: Benjamin and Marcuse30 minComing soon
- 50.Habermas: The Public Sphere and Communicative Action40 minComing soon
- 51.Gramsci and Hegemony35 minComing soon
- 52.Althusser and Ideological State Apparatuses30 minComing soon
- 53.Political Economy of Communication35 minComing soon
- 54.The Audience Commodity: Smythe30 minComing soon
- 55.The Propaganda Model: Herman and Chomsky35 minComing soon
- 56.The Sociology of News and Media Organizations35 minComing soon
- 57.Globalization and Cultural Imperialism35 minComing soon
- 58.Orientalism and Postcolonial Media35 minComing soon
- 59.Feminist Media Theory40 minComing soon
Unit 8
Culture, Language and Meaning
- 60.Saussure and Structuralism35 minComing soon
- 61.Semiotics: Peirce, Barthes and Myth35 minComing soon
- 62.The Ritual View of Communication: Carey30 minComing soon
- 63.Birmingham Cultural Studies35 minComing soon
- 64.Subcultures and Moral Panics30 minComing soon
- 65.Encoding and Decoding: Stuart Hall40 minComing soon
- 66.Audience Reception Studies and Fandom35 minComing soon
- 67.Discourse and Power: Foucault and Critical Discourse Analysis40 minComing soon
- 68.Postmodernism, Simulacra and Hyperreality35 minComing soon
- 69.The Social Construction of Reality30 minComing soon
Unit 9
Normative Theories and Media Systems
- 70.A History of the Idea of Press Freedom30 minComing soon
- 71.Four Theories of the Press30 minComing soon
- 72.Social Responsibility Theory30 minComing soon
- 73.Public Service Media30 minComing soon
- 74.Media Ethics30 minComing soon
- 75.Comparing Media Systems: Hallin and Mancini30 minComing soon
- 76.Media in Turkey: History and System40 minComing soon
Unit 10
The Digital Age and New Media
- 77.Computer-Mediated Communication Theories35 minComing soon
- 78.The Network Society35 minComing soon
- 79.Participatory Culture and Convergence30 minComing soon
- 80.Networked Publics and Social Network Sites30 minComing soon
- 81.Connective Action and Digital Activism35 minComing soon
- 82.The Digital Public Sphere30 minComing soon
- 83.Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers35 minComing soon
- 84.Disinformation and Misinformation40 minComing soon
- 85.The Platform Society35 minComing soon
- 86.Surveillance Capitalism30 minComing soon
- 87.Algorithmic Media30 minComing soon
- 88.Mediatization and Media Logic35 minComing soon
- 89.The Digital Divide and Media Literacy30 minComing soon
- 90.Artificial Intelligence and Communication30 minComing soon
Unit 11
Synthesis and Exam Preparation
- 91.The Map of Theories30 minComing soon
- 92.Exam Strategies and Commonly Confused Concepts30 minComing soon
- 93.Case Workshop: Which Theory Explains It?40 minComing soon