One of the worlds most influential and prolific media scholars George Gerbner played a major role in the development of communication theory and research. His critical approach to mass communication changed the way we think about media industries the messages and images they produce and their social and cultural impacts. Gerbner is most widely known for his decades of work on television violence but his research and writing focused on many other vital aspects of the symbolic cultural environment. This book provides a broadbased introduction to Gerbners theories of mass communication his longterm research on media content and effects and the critical and policy contributions of his work. Although hundreds of studies have been conducted based on Gerbners ideas this is the first volume to provide a concise and comprehensive overview of his many contributions to the field.