Using a unique combination of cultural studies research, neo-pragmatist philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory, the author sheds light on the formation of a social identity and the important role that mass media play in this process. Case studies covering a range of media and communities provide a model for developing a truly explanatory as well as descriptive account of self-media interaction that bridges the two opposing sides of the media audience debate and provides a significant new dimension to notions of "passive" and "active" media audiences.

About the Author(s)

Steven Bailey

Steven Bailey is Assistant Professor of Humanities in the Information Age at York University in Toronto.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Media, Culture and The Self * Media and Self-Construction: Theoretical Issues * Every Freak Needs a Show: Polyvalent Subjectivity and a Local Underground Film Scene * 'I Believe in Me': Self-Affirmation in the Kiss Army * Screen Subjects and Cyber-Subjects: The Case of Futurama * Conclusion: Underground Hybridity, Popular Piety and Virtual Irony as Three Modes of Mediated Selfhood * Bibliography * Index *