The average person in America watches four hours of television
per day and spends the equivalent of nine years of his or her life
in front of the television set. If the attention most people devote
to popular culture--listening to the news, watching soap operas,
reading the comics--were added up, it would reveal that most people
spend an enormous amount of time with popular culture, which
becomes, in large measure, their culture. Manufacturing Desire is a
study of how the mass media broadcast or spread various popular
arts; further, how the media and popular arts play a major role in
shaping our everyday lives.
The television shows we watch, the movies we see, the radio
programs we listen to, and all the comics strips we read influence
social behavior. They give us ideas about what is good and evil,
about how to solve problems, and about how we should relate to
others. If we understand this, says Berger, then the way we think
about our media-influenced culture will be far different than if we
see popular culture as mindless entertainment. Berger provides an
analysis of the way popular culture and the mass media
simultaneously reflect and affect various aspects of American
culture and society. He examines commercials, television shows,
comics, film, humor, and everyday life in terms of what beliefs and
values are found in them, what attitudes toward ourselves and our
societies are contained in them, how they achieve their effects,
and what they reflect about present-day American culture and
society.
The book begins with a consideration of theoretical matters
related to the study of popular culture and the mass media, and
focuses on the important contributions of Gilbert Seldes on the
subject. Throughout Berger makes use of a number of different
perspectives to show how various disciplines, modes of analysis,
philosophical positions, and belief systems help people interpret a
given text. He concludes with an analysis of the impact mass media
have across America, cross-culturally, and internationally.
Manufacturing Desire will provide the general reader as well as
specialists in communication and information, sociology, and
psychology with a better understanding of the effects of mass media
and popular culture on contemporary society.
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