2. THE NATIONWIDE PROJECT
The nationwide project was an influential media audience research
project. It was conducted in the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s, the
principle researchers were David Morley and Charlotte Brunsdon.
The BBC television current af fair s programme Nationwide was selected
to study the encoding/decoding model, a par t of reception theor y. This
first par t of the study was published by Brunsdon and Morley in 1978 .
David Morley conducted qualitative research with various par ticipants
from dif ferent educational and occupational back grounds. A long side
this he obser ved dif ferent responses to a clip of its budget special to
see whether they would construct dominant, oppositional or negotiated
readings (the three categories of readings proposed by Hall).
The initial conclusion was that decoding's cannot be traced solely to
socioeconomic position, since member s of the sample occupying the
same class location produced dif ferent readings.
3. DOMINANT READINGS.
The reader shares the programme's meaning, system of
values, attitudes, beliefs and assumptions and fully accepts
the programme's 'preferred reading’
Print Management Trainees
Bank Managers
Apprentices
School Students
4. NEGOTIATED READINGS.
The reader partly shares the programme's code and broadly
accepts the preferred reading, but modifies it in a way which
reflects their position and interests .
Teacher-Training College Students
University Arts Students
Photography HE Students
Trade Union Of ficials
5. OPPOSITIONAL READINGS.
The reader does not share the programme's code and rejects
the preferred reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of
interpretation.
Black FE Students
Shop Stewards
6. CONCLUSION OF THE PROJECT.
The meaning of the text will be constructed dif ferently according to
the discour ses (knowledge's, prejudices, resistances etc.) brought
to bear by the reader, and the crucial factor will be the range of
discourses at the disposal of the audience. Individuals in dif ferent
positions in the social formation defined according to structures of
class, race or sex.
Whether or not a programme succeeds in transmitting the preferred
or dominant meaning will depend on whether it encounter s reader s
who inhabit codes and ideologies derived from other institutional
areas (e.g. churches or schools) which correspond to and work in
parallel with those of the programme or whether it encounters
readers who inhabit codes drawn from other areas or institutions
(e.g. trade unions or 'deviant' subcultures) which conflict to a
greater or lesser extent with those of the programme.
7. MORLEY’S VIEW.
Morley says that he does not take a social determinist
position in which individual 'decoding's' of T V programmes are
reduced to a direct consequence of social class position. 'It is
always a question of how social position, as it is articulated
through particular discourses, produces specific kinds of
readings or decoding's. These readings can then be seen to be
patterned by the way in which the structure of access to
dif ferent discourses is determined by social position'
Individuals in dif ferent positions in the social formation
defined according to structures of class, race or sex, for
example, will tend to inhabit or have at their disposal
dif ferent codes and subcultures. Thus social position sets
parameters to the range of potential readings by structuring
access to dif ferent codes.
8. KEY TERMS AND MEANINGS.
Q u a n t i t a t i ve : q u a n t i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h r e f e r s to t h e s y s te m a t ic e m p i r i ca l i nv e s t i ga t i o n
o f s o c i a l p h e n o m e n a v i a s t a t i s t i ca l , m a t h e m a t i c al o r n u m e r i ca l d a t a o r
c o m p ut a t i o n al te c h n i q ue s .
Q u a l i t a t iv e : Q u a l i t a t i ve r e s e a r c h i s a m et h o d o f i n q u i r y e m p l oye d i n m a ny d i f fe r e n t
a c a d e m i c d i s c i p li n e s , t r a d i t io n a l l y i n t h e s o c i al s c i e n c e s , b u t a l s o i n m a r ket
r e s e a r c h a n d f u r t h e r c o n tex t s .
D e d uc t i ve : p r o c e s s o f r e a s o n i n g f r o m o n e o r m o r e g e n e r a l s t a te m e n t s to r e a c h a
l o g i c al l y c e r t a i n c o n c l us i o n .
Re a c t i v e : Re a c t i v i t y i s a p h e n o m e n o n t h a t o c c ur s w h e n i n d i v i d ual s a l te r t h e i r
p e r fo r m a n c e o r b e h av i o ur d u e to t h e aw a r e n e s s t h a t t h ey a r e b e i n g o b s e r v e d .
Po l y s e m ic : t h e a m b i g ui t y o f a n i n d i v i d ua l w o r d o r p h r a s e t h a t c a n b e u s e d i n
d i f fe r e n t c o n tex t s to ex p r e s s t w o o r m o r e d i f fe r e n t m e a n i n g s .
P a s s i v e a u d i e n c e : p e o p l e w h o l i s te n i n o r d e r to a c c o m p li s h o t h e r g o a l s .
A c t i ve a u d i e n c e : a u d i e n c e m e m b e r s w h o a l r e a d y a r e i n te r e s te d i n a n o r g a n i z a t i o n ,
i s s u e , o r c a u s e . I n s te a d o f w a i t i n g to r e c e i v e i n f o r m a t i o n o n i t , t h ey s e e k i t o u t
f r o m m a ny s o u r c e s a n d w h e n d o i n g s o , t h ey s p e a k a s w e l l a s l i s te n .
S o c i o e c o n o m i c g r o u p s : c l a s s s o c i et y, i s a s et o f c o n c e p t s i n t h e s o c i a l s c i e n c e s
a n d p o l i t i ca l t h e o r y c e n t r e d o n m o d e l s o f s o c i a l s t r a t i fi c a t io n i n w h i c h p e o p l e a r e
g r o up e d i n to a s et o f h i e r a r c h i c al s o c i a l c a te g o r i e s , t h e m o s t c o m m o n b e i n g t h e
u p p e r, m i d dl e , a n d l o w e r c l a s s e s .
D e m o g r a p h i c: D e m o g r a p hi c s a r e t h e q u a n t i fi a b l e s t a t i s t ic s o f a g i v e n p o p u l a t io n .
D e m o g r a p h i cs a r e a l s o u s e d to i d e n t i f y t h e s t u d y o f q u a n t i fi a b l e s u b s et s w i t h i n a
g i v e n p o p ul a t i o n w h i c h c h a r a c te r i z e t h a t p o p u l a t io n a t a s p e c i fi c p o i n t i n t i m e .
