The Reality of the Mass Media

Niklas Luhmann, Kathleen Cross

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German

Stanford University Press
01 July 2000

Society & Social Sciences; Social theory

Series: Cultural Memory in the Present

In The Reality of the Mass Media, Luhmann extends his theory of social systems applied in his earlier works to the economy, the political system, art, religion, the sciences, and law to an examination of the role of mass media in the construction of social reality. Luhmann argues that the system of mass media is a set of recursive, self-referential programs of communication, whose functions are not determined by the external values of truthfulness, objectivity, or knowledge, nor by specific social interests or political directives. Rather, he contends that the system of mass media is regulated by the internal code information/noninformation, which enables the system to select its information (news) from its own environment and to communicate this information in accordance with its own reflexive criteria.

By: Niklas Luhmann
Translated by: Kathleen Cross
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 249g
ISBN: 9780804740777
ISBN 10: 0804740771
Series: Cultural Memory in the Present
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 01 July 2000
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Reality of the Mass Media

In his work on social complexity, Niklas Luhmann always gave to symbolic communication a central, indeed pivotal place. Yet he had never written a systematic theoretical statement about mass media and communication. Only now, posthumously, in these late lectures from the very end of his extremely productive life, do we have finally such a statement. It is written with all the conceptual elegance and the supple empirical intuition that we came always to expect from this great German master, whose presence in contemporary intellectual life is already sorely missed. Jeffrey C. Alexander, University of California, Los Angeles