Critical Review of “The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences”



Critical Review of “The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences”

Introduction

This assignment is based on article analysis. The aforementioned article is written by Sonia Livingstone. It was published in 2006 in Sage publication Inc. The author of the article is a professor by profession and works at the department of media and communication at London school of economics and political science. The author most commonly writes about topics like media audiences, children, youngsters and Internet. She has written many books on the similar topics as well.

The article covers the background of personal influence from older publications and shed light on the detailed discussion and analysis about the mass media audiences of the 20th century. The author has adapted narrative style of writing to explain the approaches of cultural studies. The author has mentioned in the study that this approach is quite useful in many ways to explain the new means of media as well in recent times. The research on audience has always been critical to various schools of communication. These researches are usually opposed by individual's views regarding society. Author has discussed the previous works of Katz and Lazarsfeld in order to establish a productive dialogue. The primary keywords repeated throughout the article are personal influence, Katz, audience, individual, society, news media etc (Livingstone, 2006).

Critical Review of Article

The article shows that the works on theory of communication and media were at its peak in 1980s that also helped in forming a stage for audience reception studies. These studies have reflected light upon two sources of study, which are British cultural studies and gradual process of conversion from traditional cultural styles to more critical and administrative ways of determining the response of audience to new means of media. The author has included rich background information relevant to the main agenda of research. The author has significantly shed light on the fact that the initial base has an integral role to play in forming a productive and creative style of communication and its affect on individual and society. The focus of these two major eras has been shifted from mass ideology to social and cultural contexts of communications. It is an effective way to approach an agenda that has a vast background and rich information. It is necessary to explain the logic behind transition and need for change with respect to agenda of research (Livingstone, 2006).

Author has highlighted certain limitation or misleading facts about the research topic. These include emphasis on people as audience as it polarizes a debate and does not practically work due to transition. Since, the era of mass media is over and individuals are exposed to new means of media such as news paper, Internet, television etc, it has led to the division of individuals on the basis of specific traits. It is necessary to comprehend the globalized the image and perspectives of media and communication that has reformed ...