The Reception Theory

-given that the effects model and the Uses and Grats. model have their problems and limitations, a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s





-this considered how texts were encoded with meanings by producers, and then decoded (understood) by audiences

-the theory suggests that:

• when a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience


• in some instances, audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and unbderstand what the producer is trying to say


• in some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

-Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text:

1. Dominant


2. Negotiated


3. Oppositional

1. Dominant

-were the audience decodes the message as the producer whats them to do and broadly agrees with it

e.g. watching a political speech and agreeing with it

2. Negotiated

-were the audience accepts, rejects or refines elemnts of the text in light of previously held views

e.g. neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested

3. Oppositional

-were the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons

e.g. total rejection of the political speech and active opposition