Western Michigan University

The media is a powerful presence in people’s lives. Within the field of communication, media is the term used to refer to the particular medium used to deliver a message to a large, anonymous, diverse audience (Pearce, 2009a). Media studies involve research on media effects, which refer to the influence that the media has on audiences, and media representations, which are portrayals of various cultural groups. At the core of social construction is the idea that there is no such thing as objective reality (Pearce, 1995). Instead, scholars who advocate for this foundation stress that all knowledge is historically and culturally specific (Allen, 2005). Media, as a powerful social system, plays an important role in creating a person’s sense of reality (Gergen, 1999). Even those persons who closely monitor their media consumption are not immune to media effects. Media consumption Journey Through Chapter 11