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.
