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Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Chapter 8: Audiences and Creators
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The “uses and gratifications” approach focuses on ______.
A. what people are doing with media
B. who is controlling the media
C. why people are using media
D. both what people are doing with media and why people are using media
2. Scholars use the term polysemy to describe ______.
A. the time it takes to create meaningful media content
B. the notion that multiple meanings can coexist in media content
C. the notion that there is only one true meaning in media content
D. the amount of people it takes to create meaningful media content
3. What is one reason polysemy can be a highly desirable content feature for mass-
market media?
A. Polysemic texts are open to interpretation.
B. It only appeals to the ages range of 30–40.
C. Polysemic texts are easy to digest.
D. Both it only appeals to the ages range of 30–40 and polysemic texts are easy to
digest.
4. What does “decoding” mean in regard to an audience viewing media content?
A. It refers to the process of figuring out how much money and time went into creating
the content.
B. It is the thought process of what it would be like to be “behind the scenes” of the
content.
C. It is a form of hacking that the viewer follows in a science-fiction film.
D. It is the process of using implicit knowledge of both medium-specific and broader
cultural codes to interpret the meaning of a media text.
Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
5. Which is a well-known study that focused on the relationship between social structure
and audience interpretation?
A. A Class Divided
B. Bobo Doll Experiment
C. Women Watching Television
D. Ross’ False Consensus Effect Study
6. The sexuality of videos featuring performers such as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper was
interpreted by teenage fans as a ______.
A. simple display of promiscuity
B. sign of female power
C. display of seduction prowess
D. sign of male-dominated media
7. Teenage fans are able to interpret sexual music videos in their own way due to
______.
A. watching
B. encoding
C. decoding
D. reading reviews
8. When Liebes and Katz compared the decodings of six different ethnic groups from
three different countries, they found that the distinct strategies they used to interpret
could be explained by their ______.
A. age
B. home life
C. cultural position
D. country of origin
9. What makes racialized spaces online like “Black Twitter” important?
A. It encourages pride in blackness and stimulates communal responsibility among all
people of color.
B. It allows users to redefined mainstream media content.
C. It gives the opportunity to share information and anecdotal experiences.
D. all of these
10. What are the two activities that captivate audiences in the playful celebrity world?
A. avoiding and downplaying
B. analyzing and critiquing
C. gossip and detective work
D. consuming and talking
11. According to Janice Radway’s classic book, Reading the Romance, the damsel in
distress, the woman who is incomplete without her heroic man, and the woman who
finds love with the man who has sexually assaulted her are all heterosexist visions most
commonly found in ______.
A. romance novels
B. romantic comedies
C. dramas
D. biographies
12. In Morley’s study of British families, who is most likely to view sitting down just to
watch television as a waste of time?
A. the father
B. the mother
C. the young son
D. the young daughter
13. What is the argument for the almost endless possibilities of resistance based on?
A. facts backed by evidence gathered from years of research
B. faith in the power of citizens to think and behave as active subjects
C. the biology of the human brain
D. a survey that over 1,700 Americans participated in
14. “No Comment” was a space where readers of Ms. could ______.
A. identify images from mainstream media and “expose” their underlying sexism
B. “trash talk” men
C. share memes that other women could relate to
D. ask other women for relationship help involving sexist husbands or boyfriends
15. What is the main strategy employed by cultural jammers?
A. harrasment
Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
B. rioting
C. picketing
D. pranking
16. The Internet brought audience members out from ______.
A. being just audience members
B. discussing media content with friends and family
C. not being able to critique media
D. poorly analyzing media
17. Which characterizes the “matrix media” that users live in today?
A. multiple sites of idleness
B. a lack of tools available for interpretation and use
C. interactive exchanges among users
D. all of these
18. In regard to online participation, what is the 1% rule?
A. A rule that says for every person not creating content, there are 99 who are.
B. A rule that says for every person who creates content, there are 99 who do not.
C. Only one percent of content online is created by a group of 99 people.
D. The percentage of all content available online that the average person sees is 1%.
19. Who is most likely creating content online?
A. a woman in her second year of college
B. a boy who is a sophomore in highschool
C. a mother of three
D. a man who graduated highschool and is taking a year break before college to work
20. Which is a defining differences between the traditional broadcast model of mass
media and today’s Internet environment?
A. The flood of creators has made all news untrustworthy.
B. People mostly communicate information through memes.
C. Professional “gatekeepers” have been diminished.
D. Gifs are now used to convey complex emotion.
1. Critical cultural studies focused on how people interpret and make meaning out of the
media content they use.
2. Watching something violent and horrific but gaining an alternative interpretation from
it is an example of polysemy.
3. Social position has nothing to do with influencing interpretation.
4. According to press, middle-class women were much less likely to think about whether
the programs were realistic.
5. Watching a video and interpreting it in a way that opposes the dominant meaning is
called resistance.
6. Twitter is not commonly used as a tool for online meaning-making.
7. One of Radway’s principal findings was that, when she asked about why they read
romance novels, women focused on the content instead of on the act of reading.
8. According to Morley, when it comes to television, men were either very attentive
when they watched or they didn’t watch at all.
9. The argument for the almost endless possibilities of resistance involves faith.
10. An advertisement for a bottle that’s easier to open that targets women wouldn’t likely
be seen on the “No Comment” feature of the original Ms. magazine.
11. In regard to Cultural Jamming, sabotage and appropriation of company symbols and
products were tactics commonly used in “pranking.”
12. The media environment today includes multiple sites of productivity and a diverse
range of tools available for interpretation and use.
13. A relatively small number of people generate most of the content found online.
14. Content creators tend to be in their 30s or older
15. Reviewing and recommending movies and TV shows is no longer the exclusive
domain of professional reviewers
Short Answer
1. Define polysemy as it’s used in the field of cultural studies and explain why it is
important for mass-market media.
2. Give an example of an audience member using the process of decoding.
3. How might someone create online meaning-making through the use of the “second
screen?”
4. Why do audience members enjoy online meaning-making?
5. Why have African Americans used Twitter at higher rates than their White
counterparts?
6. Why do people enjoy the activites of gossip and detective work that surrounds
celebrity media?
7. Describe one of the reasons why women read romance novels that Radway gives.
8. Explain the differences between men and women watching television based on David
Morley’s findings.
9. What are some issues with the argument for the almost endless possibilities of
resistance?
10. Describe the importance of the “No Comment” feature of Ms. Magazine.
11. What created the media resistance known as cultural jamming?
12. How has the Internet helped people become more than just audience members?
Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
13. Out of the seven types of users who are the most active online? What do they do?
14. What age range is producing more content? Why?
