Introductions and General Works
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- Bouissac, Paul (Ed.) (1998): Encyclopedia of Semiotics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
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- Chandler, Daniel (2001): Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge
[the freeze-dried version of this online text!]
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- Cobley, Paul & Litza Jansz ([1997] 1999): Introducing Semiotics
(originally entitled Semiotics for Beginners). Cambridge: Icon
[part of an engagingly visual series]
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- Coward, Rosalind & John Ellis (1977): Language and Materialism:
Developments in Semiology and the Theory of the Subject. London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul [heavy going]
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- Danesi, Marcel (1994): Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to
Semiotics.
Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press [very readable]
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- Danesi, Marcel (1999): Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things:
An Introduction to Semiotics. London: Macmillan [a wide-ranging elementary introduction]
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- Deely, John (1990): Basics of Semiotics.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press [a philosophical discussion of semiotics,
not really for the beginner]
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- Fiske, John (1982): Introduction to Communication Studies.
London: Routledge (Chapter 3, 'Communication, Meaning and Signs';
Chapter 4, 'Codes'; Chapter 5, 'Signification'; Chapter 6, 'Semiotic
Methods and Applications'); Chapter 8, 'Ideology and Meanings')
[an excellent guide]
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- Guiraud, Pierre (1975): Semiology (trans. George Gross).
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [an accessible introduction]
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- Hodge, Robert & Gunther Kress (1988): Social Semiotics.
Cambridge: Polity
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- Johansen, Jørgen Dines & Svend Erik Larsen (1988): Signs in Use.
London: Routledge
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- Nöth, Winfried (1990): Handbook of Semiotics. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press [very useful reference book]
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- Sless, David (1986): In Search of Semiotics. London: Croom
Helm [quite idiosyncratic]
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Other Semioticians
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- Barthes, Roland (1967). Elements of Semiology (trans. Annette
Lavers & Colin Smith). London: Jonathan Cape
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- Barthes, Roland (1977): Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana
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- Baudrillard, Jean (1988): Selected Writings (Ed. Mark Poster).
Cambridge: Polity Press
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- Blonsky, Marshall (Ed.) (1985): On Signs: A Semiotics Reader.
Oxford: Blackwell [short articles by key semioticians]
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- Eco, Umberto (1976): A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press/London: Macmillan [not for beginners]
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- Eco, Umberto (1981): The Role of the Reader. London: Hutchinson
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- Eco, Umberto (1984): Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press
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- Eco, Umberto (1994): Apocalypse Postponed (Ed. Robert Lumley). London:
BFI/Bloomington: Indiana University Press
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- Greimas, Algirdas (1987): On Meaning: Selected Writings in
Semiotic Theory (trans. Paul J Perron & Frank H Collins). London:
Frances Pinter [not an easy read]
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- Genosko, Gary (1994): Baudrillard and Signs: Signification Ablaze.
London: Routledge
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- Innis, Robert E (Ed.) (1986): Semiotics: An Introductory Anthology.
London: Hutchinson
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- Morris, Charles W (1946): Signs, Language and Behavior. New York:
Prentice-Hall
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- Peirce, Charles S (1966): Selected Writings. New York: Dover
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- Sebeok, Thomas A (Ed.) (1977): A Perfusion of Signs. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press
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- Sebeok, Thomas A (1994): An Introduction to Semiotics. London:
Pinter [an introduction to Thomas Sebeok]
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Structuralism and Poststructuralism
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- Derrida, Jacques (1976): Of Grammatology (trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak).
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press [the translator's introduction is
enlightening]
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- Derrida, Jacques (1978): Writing and Difference (trans. Alan
Bass). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
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- Derrida, Jacques (1987): Positions. London: Athlone Press
[a way into Derrida]
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- Foucault, Michel (1970): The Order of Things. London: Tavistock
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- Foucault, Michel (1974): The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock
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- Genosko, Gary (1994): Baudrillard and Signs: Signification Ablaze.
London: Routledge
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- Halperin, David M (1995): Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. New York:
Oxford University Press
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- Jameson, Fredric (1972): The Prison-House of Language. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press
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- Lacan, Jacques (1977): Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock
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- Lane, Michael (Ed.) (1970): Structuralism: A Reader. London: Jonathan Cape
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- Norris, Christopher (1982): Deconstruction: Theory and Practice.
London: Methuen
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- Rajnath (Ed.) (1989): Deconstruction: A Critique. London: Macmillan
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- Sturrock, John (1979) (Ed.): Structuralism and Since: From Lévi-Strauss to Derrida.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
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- Sturrock, John (1986): Structuralism. London: Paladin
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Cultural Semiotics
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- Barthes, Roland ([1957] 1987): Mythologies. New York: Hill &
Wang [a classic text]
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- Barthes, Roland (1985): The Fashion System (trans. Matthew Ward
& Richard Howard). London: Jonathan Cape [not for the beginner]
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- Danesi, Marcel (1998): Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things: An
Introduction to Semiotics (Semaphores and Signs). London: St. Martin's Press
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- Leach, Edmund (1970): Lévi-Strauss (Fontana Modern Masters). London: Fontana
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- Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1972): Structural Anthropology. Harmondsworth: Penguin
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- Lotman, Yuri (1990): Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture (trans.
Ann Shukman). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
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- O'Sullivan, Tim, John Hartley, Danny Saunders, Martin Montgomery &
John Fiske (1994): Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies.
London: Routledge
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- Solomon, Jack (1988): The Signs of Our Time: The Secret Meanings of
Everyday Life. New York: Harper & Row [primarily for US audience; very
readable]
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- Strinati, Dominic (1995): An Introduction to Theories of Popular
Culture. London: Routledge
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- Thwaites, Tony, Lloyd Davies & Warwick Mules (2002): Introducing Cultural and Media Studies:
A Semiotic Approach
London: Palgrave
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- Turner, Graeme (1992): British Cultural Studies: An Introduction.
New York: Routledge
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Language and Literature
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- Barthes, Roland (1974): S/Z. London: Cape [an influential
classic, but not an easy read]
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- Culler, Jonathan (1975): Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism,
Linguistics and the Study of Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
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- Culler, Jonathan (1981): The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature,
Deconstruction. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
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- Eagleton, Terry (1983): Literary Theory. Oxford: Blackwell [very readable]
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- Hawkes, Terence (1977): Structuralism and Semiotics. London:
Routledge
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- Lodge, David (1981): Working with Structuralism: Essays and Reviews on Nineteenth- and
Twentieth-Century Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
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- Lodge, David (1996): The Modes of Modern Writing: Metaphor, Metonymy and the
Typology of Modern Literature. London: Arnold
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- Scholes, Robert (1983): Semiotics and Interpretation.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
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- Silverman, Kaja (1983): The Subject of Semiotics. New York:
Oxford University Press
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Visual Media
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- Barry, Ann Marie Seward (1997): Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image and
Manipulation in Visual Communication. New York: State University of New York
Press
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- Burgin, Victor (Ed.) (1982): Thinking Photography. London:
Macmillan
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- Davis, Howard & Paul Walton (Eds.) (1983): Language, Image, Media.
Oxford: Basil Blackwell [including Don Slater: 'Marketing Mass Photography',
pp. 245-263]
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- Floch, Jean-Marie (2000): Visual Identities (trans. Pierre Van Osselaer &
Alec McHoul). London: Continuum
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- Gombrich, Ernst H (1977): Art and Illusion: A Study in the
Psychology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon
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- Gombrich, Ernst H (1982): The Image and the Eye:
Further Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon
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- Goodman, Nelson (1968): Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory
of Symbols. London: Oxford University Press
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- Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen (1996): Reading Images: The
Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge
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- Messaris, Paul (1994): Visual 'Literacy': Image, Mind and Reality.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press
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- Tagg, John (1988): The Burden of Representation: Essays on
Photographies and Histories. Basingstoke: Macmillan [recommended]
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Mass Communication
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- Bignell, Jonathan (1997): Media Semiotics: An Introduction.
Manchester: Manchester University Press [a very readable British
introduction]
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- Burgelin, Olivier (1968): 'Structural Analysis and Mass Communication'.
In Denis McQuail (Ed.) (1972): Sociology of Mass Communications.
Harmondsworth: Penguin
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- Danesi, Marcel (2002): Understanding Media Semiotics
London: Arnold
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- Hall, Stuart ([1973] 1980): 'Encoding/decoding'. In
Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies
(Ed.): Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies,
1972-79. London: Hutchinson, p. 128-38 [important paper, particularly useful on
denotation/connotation, though not initially an easy read]
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- Jensen, Klaus Bruhn (1995): The Social Semiotics of Mass Communication.
London: Sage
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- Nöth, Winfried (Ed.) (1990): Semiotics of the Media: State of the Art,
Projects and Perspectives. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter [expensive!]
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- Tolson, Andrew (1996): Mediations: Text and Discourse in Media Studies. London:
Arnold
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Advertising
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- Cook, Guy (1992): The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge
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- Davis, Howard & Paul Walton (Eds.) (1983a): Language, Image, Media.
Oxford: Basil Blackwell
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- Dyer, Gillian (1982): Advertising as Communication. London:
Routledge
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- Langholz Leymore, Varda (1975): Hidden Myth: Structure and Symbolism
in Advertising. New York: Basic Books
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- Leiss, William, Stephen Kline & Sut Jhally (1990): Social Communication in
Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (2nd Edn.).
London: Routledge [Includes an excellent guide to the history of magazine
advertising codes]
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- Millum, Trevor (1975): Images of Woman: Advertising in Women's
Magazines. London: Chatto & Windus
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- Myers, Kathy (1983): 'Understanding Advertisers'. In Davis & Walton
(Eds.), op. cit., pp. 205-223
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- Stern, Barbara B (Ed) (1998): Representing Consumers: Voices, Views and Visions.
London: Routledge
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- Umiker-Sebeok, Jean (Ed.) (1987): Marketing and Semiotics.
Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruyter
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- Williamson, Judith (1978): Decoding Advertisements. London: Marion Boyars
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Cinema
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- Altman, Rick (Ed.) (1992): Sound Theory, Sound Practice. New York: Routledge
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- de Lauretis, Teresa (1984): Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema.
London: Macmillan [heavy going]
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- Eaton, Mick (Ed.) (1981): Cinema and Semiotics (Screen Reader
2). London: Society for Education in Film and Television
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- Lapsley, Robert & Michael Westlake (1988): Film Theory: An
Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press (Chapter 2,
'Semiotics') [excellent]
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- Metz, Christian (1974): Film Language: A Semiotics of the
Cinema (trans. Michael Taylor). New York: Oxford University Press
[a classic, though much criticised]
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- Monaco, James (1981): How to Read a Film. New York: Oxford
University Press (Part III, 'The Language of Film: Signs and Syntax')
[very useful]
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- Nichols, Bill (1981): Ideology and the Image: Social Representation
in the Cinema and Other Media. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
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- Stam, Robert (2000): Film Theory. Oxford: Blackwell
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- Stam, Robert, Robert Burgoyne & Sandy Flitterman-Lewis (1992):
New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics: Structuralism, Post-Structuralism
and Beyond. London: Routledge
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- Tudor, Andrew (1974): Image and Influence: Studies in the Sociology
of Film. London: George Allen & Unwin
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- Willemen, Paul (1994): Looks and Frictions: Essays in Cultural
Studies and Film Theory. London: BFI/Bloomington: Indiana University
Press
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- Wollen, Peter (1969): Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. London:
Secker & Warburg/BFI
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Television
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- Allen, Robert C. (Ed.) (1992): Channels of Discourse, Reassembled.
London: Routledge [several useful and relevant papers, including Ellen Seiter:
'Semiotics, structuralism and television']
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- Berger, Arthur Asa (1982): Media Analysis Techniques.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage (Chapter 1, 'Semiological Analysis'; also available in
Oliver Boyd-Barrett & Peter Braham (Eds.) (1987): Media, Knowledge
and Power. London: Croom Helm) [a simple introduction relating semiotics to
television]
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- Fiske, John (1987): Television Culture. London: Routledge
[very useful]
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- Fiske, John & John Hartley (1978): Reading Television. London:
Methuen [very useful, despite the date, but see Woollacott 1982,
op. cit.]
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- Hodge, Robert & David Tripp (1986): Children and Television: A
Semiotic Approach. Cambridge: Polity Press [not easy, but a classic
study]
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- Lewis, Justin (1991): The Ideological Octopus: An Exploration of
Television and its Audience. New York: Routledge (Chapter 2, 'Rethinking
Television')
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- Woollacott, Janet (1982): 'Messages and Meanings'. In
Michael Gurevitch, Tony Bennett, James Curran & Janet Woollacott (Eds.): Culture,
Society and the Media. London: Routledge [not easy; includes critique of
Fiske & Hartley]
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