ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the possible terms of a further convergence between the humanistic and social-scientific traditions of mass communication research with special reference to reception studies. Starting from the premise that mass communication is simultaneously a social and a discursive phenomenon, it argues that a theory of social semiotics is needed in order to account for the social impact and uses of mass media. Different methodologies give rise to distinctive modes of understanding media and to specific applications of the findings in contexts of media production, education, and policy. In addition to specifying the complementarity of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the chapter shows how the different methodologies might be conjoined within a theoretical framework of social semiotics. It suggests that the semiotics and pragmatism originated by Charles Sanders Peirce offers a promising avenue for a social theory of signs that may move mass communication research beyond the heritage of French semiology and of American content analysis.
