Reception Theory

• The main idea of reception theory is that not one media text has one single meaning
• Reception analysis suggests that individual members of an audience themselves help to create the meaning of text.

We decode text in an individual way which may be the result of our own context.

The way we see things and can be changed by and with, age, race, social class, etc.

• "The meaning of text is not inherent within the text itself ,but its created within the relationship between the text and reader.

Producers can potition an audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means.

Hegemony

• works to supress the force of opposition by actively speaking out support from different parts of society.

Users and Gratification Theory ( Katz and Bulmer- 1974)

• Audiences are made of indivduals who actively consume different texts for different reasons and in different ways.
• Bulmer and Katz suggest reasings why people seek and consume texts.

Personal Identify

• Figuring models of behaviour
• identifying with media models
• Gaining insights into ones self
• Finding reinforcement for personal values/beliefs

Integration and social interaction

• having a substitute for real life companionship
• Helping to carry out social rules
• Enabling one to connect friends/family/society
• Finding a basic conversation and social interaction
• Identifying others and gaining a scene of belonging
• Gaining an insight into circumstances of others, social empathy  

 When analysing we look at:

• Media language employed
• Identifying institution and context and ideology
• representation of text ,in text
• narrative structure and the genre of a text.

• analysing media text is easier once the audience is identified as you can look at particular features of a text and the strategies deployed to which will appeal to the audience.

When defining an audience what do we look for?

• What assumptions are made about the audience which are revealed through positioning and scheduling?

Demographic profiling- Age, gender, class, geographical area, economic status, religion etc.

The psychographic profile includes, mainstreamers, aspirers , succeeders ,reformers , and individuals.