One of the world's most influential and prolific media scholars, George
Gerbner played a major role in the development of communication theory
and research. His critical approach to mass communication changed the
way we think about media industries, the messages and images they
produce, and their social and cultural impacts.
Gerbner is most widely known for his decades of work on television
violence, but his research and writing focused on many other vital
aspects of the symbolic cultural environment. This book provides a
broad-based introduction to Gerbner's theories of mass communication,
his long-term research on media content and effects, and the critical
and policy contributions of his work.
Although hundreds of studies have been conducted based on Gerbner's
ideas, this is the first volume to provide a concise and comprehensive
overview of his many contributions to the field.