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Reception Analysis
In the 1980’s the development of the reception research tradition
is greatly influenced by the encoding/decoding model proposed by
Stuart Hall (1980) and his associates at the Centre for Contemporary
Cultural Studies (CCS) of the University of Birmingham. Hall criticizes
the traditional mass communication research, mainly the linearity
of its sender/message/receiver model and the concentration on the
level of message exchange. Based on Marx, he proposes to address
this process in terms of distinctive but linked periods: production,
circulation, consumption, and reproduction. Hall also points out
that the process of “encoding” messages, developed by
TV broadcasters, and the process of their “decoding”
by the TV audiences, are relatively autonomous, they are not identical
processes, but related. Hall articulates that a message can be encoded
with a “preferred meaning” and the audience can decode
it with an opposite or different meaning, or with the same meaning.
He then identifies three hypothetical positions for a possible decoding
of a television message: dominant-hegemonic position, that is when
the viewer embraces the meaning of the television program in their
straight form; negotiated position, the viewer might agree with
some of the hegemonic definitions, having a critical position about
some issues; and oppositional position, that is when the viewer
decodes the message in a totally contrary way.
In 1980 David Morley published a research applying Hall’s
model. In his book The Nationwide Audience he studies variations
in audience decoding of a British program called “Nationwide”,
according to their socio-economic position. He explaines decoding
as a process constructed according to viewers’ discourses,
such as knowledge or prejudices. This is considered by some to be
one of the most influential approaches in the study of media audiences
and is a reference to reception studies that follow. Some critics
have pointed out that Morley’s studies minimized variations
within the groups studied and try to generalize the responses obtained
(Turner, 1990). Hall’s encoding/decoding model is also criticized
for assuming that the preferred meaning and preferred reading of
a text always expresses the dominant ideology (Pillai, 1992). In
a later article, even Hall agrees that it is possible for some TV
texts to not work within the dominant meaning, or even against it,
therefore, questioning the notion of preferred meaning, and consequently
the three response positions: the dominant, the oppositional, and
the negotiated (Hall, 1994).
The encoding/decoding model opens the doors to a new ethnographic
tradition of research, constructed on the basis that audiences are
different, active and selective, but also influenced by socio, cultural
and economic factors within their environment. Special emphasis
is given here to the studies of how women find pleasure and develop
different interpretations while watching soap operas (Hobson, 1982;
Ang, 1985) or reading romance novels (Radway, 1991). These studies
are important in validating soap operas and their audiences as a
legitimate object of study, counteracting prejudices and rejections
common in academic and social arenas (Brunsdon, 1997). In Reading
the Romance Radway (1991) investigates how female readers relate
to romance novels. Through the analysis of responses from discussion
groups, interviews, and questionnaires, Radway (1991) points out
how the readers express pleasure in reading the romances, which
helps them escape from their own day-to-day routine and problems.
The readers identified with the romance’s heroine who has
little to do with their own lives. Radway called romances “compensatory
literature”, one that relieves tension and allows women to
fantasize and feel good over an extended period of time, even after
the readers return to their obligations. Morley (1995) cites Radway’s
study as one of the best examples of media consumption study that
took place in the 1980’s.
A major distinction between reception analysis and uses and gratifications
studies relies on methodology. While reception studies favor qualitative
methods such as ethnographic studies, media effects research prefer
a quantitative approach to collect data. The preference for qualitative
work usually stresses small and less representative sample sizes;
therefore, these studies can rarely be generalized to the population,
bringing about one of the criticism of the reception approach (Jensen
& Rosengreen, 1999). The samples are not only small, but usually
they tend to be formed by fans, which are individuals with strong
engagements with the medium analyzed in the study. This practice
also adds to the limitations of reception studies, making it easier
to confuse more involved individuals with the average (Hermes, 1993).
Radway’s (1991) Reading the Romance is criticized for its
small sample and lack of representation. The sample for her study
consists of avid romance readers who are regulars at a bookstore.
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