"The second edition of this groundbreaking textbook provides a comprehensive overview of mass communication theories, as well as their origins and empirical supports in psychology, sociology, political science, and philosophy. Each chapter presents a specific theory, describing its basic structure in simple formal terms and providing an accessible summary of the research studies and scholarly writings from which it developed. It breaks each complex theory down into five or six interlinked basic propositions, making them easily digestible for undergraduate students. This new edition includes up-to-date research; greater coverage of contemporary critical and cultural theories; new treatments of theories such as cultivation theory, the spiral of silence, framing, and social media theories; chapter discussion questions; and informative charts and figures. This textbook serves as an accessible core text for undergraduate and graduate Mass Communication, Communication Theory, and Communication and Society courses"--