Reception Theory

Reception theory

·         Given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s.

·         This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and the decoded (understood) by audiences.

The theory suggests that:

·         When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience.

·         In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.

·         In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to understand the message.

Stuart hall identified three types of audience readings of the text:

1.       Dominant or preferred

2.       Negotiated

3.       Oppositional

Dominant - audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do.

Negotiated - audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous held views.

Oppositional - where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.