Summary of Theories

1. Uses and Gratifications Theory:

Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use. The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user. Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

This theory is very similar to the pluralistic model.

2. Effects Theory:

The effects theroy suggests that the audience are passive and they are manipulated by the society (Hegemony)

The hypodermic needle model:

certain texts are injected into the passive audience with certain ideologies.

3. Reception Theory:

This theory concentrates on the audience and how the audiences respond to a media text, and also that the texts that the audience consume have more than one meaning and the audience are there to decode.

Similarities & Differences:

Uses and Gratification Theory and Reception Theory inludes more about the active audience and how the audeicnes are more media literate, whereas the Effects theory argues that the audience are passive and are injectedwith certain ideoligies by the ruling class.