Series in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2.) POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY: THE PRESS AND

Both of these recent books attempt to assess the social impact of the media; to identify problem areas and, where possible, proceed towards a prescription for their cure. Beyond this however they have remarkably little in common. Howitt’s book employs a social-psychological framework to work over some of the ’chestnuts ’ in media research whereas Curran and Seaton present an historical analysis, seeking to link the development of (British) media insti-tutions to developments in the society in which they are embedded. If nothing else, these two works exemplify the diversity in the field of mass com-munications research. Howitt’s book is divided into five parts, the first dealing with psychological and social-psychological approaches to the problem of media ’effects ’ and the remainder ostensibly applying these insights to such topic areas as conflict, race, sex, violence, crime, education, health and welfare. Unusually in such a work, no concluding statement is supplied; the specificity of the treatment perhaps precluding this, with different (and understandably imprecise