Mary Douglas and Karen Wollaeger

Abstract

Any good analysis of human behaviour should start with, end with, and never lose sight of the individual. It follows that this is also the right beginning for analysing viewers’ choices. Too often the information available about individual viewers is too chaotic and mysterious to be of use to those concerned with broadcasting policy. Then some abstract entity such as the public or the prevailing cultural mood is invoked to fill the gap in theory, or a generalised creative energy, artistic style or bureaucratic authority is called in to represent the production side of the relation between the screen and the viewer. We will honour anthropological tradition which assumes that cultural trends can be traced to individual choices, which themselves result from pressures exerted by individuals upon one another.