Books by Jib Fowles

?Effective long-range planning is essential in our society; this reader goes far in elucidating how the future can be meaningfully anticipated. No planner will want to be without it.?-Library Journal

Taking the provocative stand that television violence has been misinterpreted, this book posits that rather than undermining the social order, television supports order by providing a safe outlet for aggressive impulses. Fowles demonstrates that the scientific literature does not support what many believe; asks readers to question their viewing habits; explains that the anti-violence critique is best understood as the key issue in the conflict between high and popular culture; situates the arrival of televised violence within the historical context of the disallowance of traditionally sanctioned targets of aggression.

Fowles asserts that the appeals of mass advertising reflect the motivational state of the targeted audience and that these motivational states anticipate socio-cultural change. From this data, he constructs a forecast of our socio-cultural state in 1980 and predicts an increasingly isolationist U.S.

Substantially updated, this revised edition of Why Viewers Watch presents recent research, overlooked past studies and fresh survey data to offer an alternative perspective on the role of television and how it serves its viewers psychologically.Fowles argues that television is a `grandly therapeutic force'' - a tension-reliever of great benefit to viewers. He also examines the phenomenon of media snobbery - anti-television attitudes proliferated by those who want to feel superior to others by denigrating television viewing.

`The 11 comprehensive and well-documented chapters provide critical insights toward understanding these complex domains and their contemporary roles.... This is a valuable resource for academics and professionals in advertising, media and communication, as well as for research on the cultural significance of advertising and popular culture' - Choice