Understanding and evaluating mass communication theory -- Establishing the terms of the debate over media : the first trend in media theory--mass society and propaganda theories -- Normative theories of mass communication -- The media-effects trend -- The emergence of the critical cultural trend in North America -- Theories of media and human development : children and adolescents -- Audience theories : uses and reception -- Theories of media cognition and information processing -- Theories of the effect of media on society -- Media and culture theories : meaning-making in the social world -- The future of media theory and research.