'An original and well organised book, mostly written by young academics, that draws on comparative and historical insights to make new sense of a key topic: how audiences are constituted, defined, condescended to, deferred to, anathematised, ‘civilised’, seduced, interact, and are recreated. After reading this book, you will think about audiences, and discourses about them, in a different way.' - James Curran, Professor of Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London
‘Pooling their considerable expertise, Butsch and Livingstone here demonstrate that the branding of media audiences as mass, public, citizens, consumers, etc. - in different times and places - is revealing of underlying patterns of social stratification and social control. There is a hint here that the study of ‘collective behaviour’ may have found a new home in media research.’ - Elihu Katz, Distinguished Trustee Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
'All essays include a helpful bibliography. A resource for cross-cultural studies and media culture. Summing Up: Recommended' - R.A. Logan, University of Missouri-Columbia in CHOICE, Vol. 51 No. 09