The fully revised edition of this successful textbook has been comprehensively rewritten to take account of recent theory and research and to improve the accessibility of the text. The book provides a nontechnical introduction to the range of approaches to understanding mass communication. It offers an integrated treatment of the major components of mass communication - the sender, the message and the audience - and encompasses the various forms of mass communication in contemporary societies including television, radio, newspapers, film, music and new communication technologies. Throughout, Denis McQuail shows how theories of mass communication relate to the understanding of society as a whole.
Denis McQuail (1935-2017) was Emeritus Professor at the School of Communication Research (ASCOR) University of Amsterdam and Visiting Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Southampton. He studied history and sociology at the University of Oxford and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. He is an Honorary Doctor of the University of Gent. He has published widely in the field of media and communication, with particular reference to audience research, media policy and performance, and political communication. His most recent book publication is McQuail′s Media and Mass Communication Theory, 7th edition., SAGE, 2020, co-authored by Mark Deuze.