Active Audience

Theory with

Postmodernism

and PluralismBy Molly Oven

Active Audience

The view that the audiences are not

merely passive receptacles for

imposed meanings but rather

individual audience members who

are actively involved, both

cognitively and emotionally, in

making sense of texts.

This active involvement has several

interrelated dimensions: perception,

comprehension, interpretation,

evaluation, and response.

http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001/acref-9780199568758-e-0013

Postmodernism An approach to contemporary theory and culture which argues that

established ways of describing social existence ignore the fractured

and contradictory nature of contemporary life.

Although there is some doubt about the worth of postmodernity as a

description of the present social formation, there is no denying

postmodernism’s impact as a cultural movement.

One of the major reasons given for the onset of the ‘postmodern’

condition is the existence of new media forms and the information

society.

‘The complete A-Z Media & Communication handbook’ Stuart Price (1997)

Pluralism A theory which argues that society is made up of many different

groups, and that political and social power is fairly widely dispersed

among these groups. Pluralists also believe that participatory

democracy is impossible to achieve in very large societies, with the

result that ‘representative’ democracies provide a reasonable

compromise between different factions.

Pluralism has faces extensive criticism for its failure to examine the

imbalance of power in modern societies, and for concentrating

instead upon the notion that various interest groups have equal

chances to intervene on issues of public policy.

‘The complete A-Z Media & Communication handbook’ Stuart Price (1997)