Framework of Cultural Theories: A Theoretical Approach to Understanding Media and Society in Contemporary Times

Mass Media has over the years undergone transformation in ways by which it affects societies. Technology and society relationship has been a hallmark of these debate surrounding media. Theories of society and class domination initially provided for the framework of this understanding. While later many social theorists study the effects of media content on viewers. As messages and technologies changed, we find qualitative difference in the way in which audiences react. Thus, media studies today comprise of theories from diverse fields such as sociology, cultural studies, anthropology etc. to understand this relationship better. This paper picks up quite a few theorists such as Marx (1996), Marshall McLuhan (1966), Harold Innis (1951), Adorno (1944) etc. to analyze ways in which media today can be defined and brought under a theoretical framework.