James Shanahan, Media Effects: A Narrative Perspective (Key Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies), Book Review

Media Effects: A Narrative Perspective (Key Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies) is written by an eminent scholar in media effects research, an authoritative representative of cultivation theory, who looks back and offers an original overall view of the field. In doing this, James Shanahan uses a “narrative” perspective as a unifying lens to link different subfields, results, and disciplines that have been investigated in media effects research for almost a century. Using this construct, Shanahan takes a stand on the basic research questions of the field: What are the effects of the media? Are these effects large or small? Do digital media render traditional effects theory obsolete? What remains unknown?