James Lull
Biographic Data
| ID | 173202 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James Lull |
| GIVEN NAMES | James |
| FAMILY NAME | Lull |
| SIGNATURE | LULL J |
| AFFILIATIONS | San Jose State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4150-1007 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 379 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Evolution, structuration theory, and new research on free will
Classic structuration theory explains how social actors use their personal and collective agency to contend with the structural forces they encounter in everyday life. The antonimous interface between structure and agency is analyzed from an evolutionary communication perspective as it applies to structuration theory generally and to media audiences specifically. The explanatory power of structuration theory is then reconsidered in light of new r…
From ethnography to evolution
The author reflects on the development of his epistemic approach to the study of communication and culture first by recounting key experiences he had as a boy and young man, especially travel. He traces the trajectory of his empirical study of media, culture, and communication by citing key scholars and literature as well as his experiences as a professional communicator. Professor Lull’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madis…
Approaching evolutionary communication
The determining roles played by communication in the ongoing evolution of our species remain largely unexplored in communications-related disciplines. An unhelpful controversy that raged over E. O. Wilson’s sociobiology last century contributed to the problem and is reconsidered here in terms of the fault lines that run between natural science, social science, and politics. The article describes paths for future theoretical development by focusin…
Living with television and the Internet
We communicate to survive. The social history of our species can be characterized by how we continuously expand our ability to connect with others. Television and the Internet function as unique resources people creatively use to fulfill their social needs and build communities. But they do so in very different ways. By placing television and the Internet in evolutionary perspective, this commentary compares the form, content, and contexts of how…
Evolutionary Communication: An Introduction
Evolutionary Communication presents the first comprehensive evolutionary approach to the study of human communication. Presuming no specialized knowledge of evolutionary theory, this reader-friendly textbook explains why and how communication became the determining factor in human development. Drawing from the latest scientific research, Evolutionary Communication represents a truly groundbreaking contribution to Communication Studies as a field …
Public Speaking: The Evolving Art
Inside Family Viewing (Routledge Revivals): Ethnographic Research on Television's Audiences
First published in 1990, this title presents a rich account of how television intersects with family life in American and other world cultures. From an analysis of the political and cultural significance of China’s most important television series to detailed descriptions of how families in the United States interpret and use television at home, James Lull’s ethnographic work marks an important stage in the study of the role of the mass media in …
Communicating Culture: An Evolutionary Explanation
Whether gathering around bonfires, watching TV, or sitting in front of computer screens, the pressures of Darwinian natural selection have forced individuals into tight patterns of interdependency, welded together by communication links. Can the information-sharing behavior of our species ever be brought into broader perspective and eventually foster greater harmony for all humankind? The authors argue that the answer to this question is «yes». C…
The open spaces of global communication
Do contemporary advances in global communication serve mainly to strengthen and extend international power relations already in place, or do they offer realistic opportunities to transform those tendencies into a more humane and harmonious world? Can the enormous barriers posed by fundamentalist thought eventually be overcome through intercultural contact? How might the technological and cultural developments that are sweeping the world today bri…
Communicating Change The Promise of Human Evolution
Na época atual, a evolução humana não segue mais exatamente o mesmo princípio da evolução biológica, resultante da adaptação e da sobrevivência competitiva das espécies na natureza em função das mutações aleatórias. Essa transformação varia em função das inovações culturais e de determinações morais, traço distintivo da espécie humana, a única a subordinar seus interesses genéticos a outras questões que julga mais relevantes. O ritmo dessas mudan…
The active pleasures of expression and communication
Based on Lull’s recent book «Culture-on-Demand: Communication in a Crisis World» (2007) and on the author’s view of audiences as active participants in all forms of human communication, this article argues for the place of human expression and symbolic power in contemporary media and cultural studies. It also discusses how modern communication technology reinforces and extends the expressive potential of ordinary citizens in the normative context…
Culture‐on‐Demand: Communication in a Crisis World
Superculture for the Communication Age
How can people find their way in a world where the stabilizing influence of culture as a communal project is being transformed into a far more symbolic, personalized panorama of images and dreams, fantasies and illusions, journeys and retreats? The historically unparalleled development of communications technology and the sweep of globalization that surrounds us today are changing the very nature and meaning of culture. Although ‘community’ remai…
Culture in the Communication Age
Culture in the Communication Age
Culture in the Communication Age (Comedia)
China Turned On: Television, Reform, and Resistance
The years following the Cultural Revolution have seen the arrival of television as part of China's effort to modernize and open up the West. Endorsed by the Deng Xiaoping regime as a bridge between the Government and the people, television became at once the mouthpiece of the Communist party and the most popular entertainment for Chinese people living in the cities. But the authorities failed to recognize the unmatched cultural power of televisio…
Inside Family Viewing: Ethnographic Research on Television’s Audiences
Against a backdrop of growing unease with traditional quantitative empirical research methods and an equal unease with abstract psychoanalytical models, ethnography is increasingly seen as one of the few empirical methods which is not completely undercut by contemporary theoretical work. Indeed, it is only recently that ethnography has begun to show its power to construct and explain in media studies. James Lull's work in this area has proved an …
Super media: A cultural studies approach
The Worldwide Failure of Media Policies
Critical response: The audience as nuisance
1988). Critical response: The audience as nuisance. Critical Studies in Mass Communication: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 239-243
Popular music and communication
Critical response: Audience texts and contexts
(1987). Critical response: Audience texts and contexts. Critical Studies in Mass Communication: Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 318-322
The Adolescent Audience for Music Videos and Why They Watch
Se-Wen Sun, James Lull; The Adolescent Audience for Music Videos and Why They Watch, Journal of Communication, Volume 36, Issue 1, 1 March 1986, Pages 115
Feminism as a predictor of mass media use
The Social Uses of Television
Building from the social constructivist view, this paper provides evidence that audience members create specific and sometimes elaborate practical actions involving television in order to gratify particular needs in the context of family viewing. The ethnography of mass communication is recommended as a methodological framework suitable for discovering and documenting these behaviors. Based on findings from systematic participant observation rese…
Inside Family Viewing: Ethnographic Research on Television’s Audiences
Against a backdrop of growing unease with traditional quantitative empirical research methods and an equal unease with abstract psychoanalytical models, ethnography is increasingly seen as one of the few empirical methods which is not completely undercut by contemporary theoretical work. Indeed, it is only recently that ethnography has begun to show its power to construct and explain in media studies. James Lull's work in this area has proved an …
Popular music and communication
China Turned On: Television, Reform, and Resistance
The years following the Cultural Revolution have seen the arrival of television as part of China's effort to modernize and open up the West. Endorsed by the Deng Xiaoping regime as a bridge between the Government and the people, television became at once the mouthpiece of the Communist party and the most popular entertainment for Chinese people living in the cities. But the authorities failed to recognize the unmatched cultural power of televisio…
Family Communication Patterns and the Social Uses of Television
Audience members "use" television in a variety of ways. The social environment in the family home is a major contributor to differential uses of the medium by individuals. Previous research on family communication patterns, for instance, has demonstrated that families which stress harmo nious social relations at home (socio orientation) differ in many attitudes, activities, and media habits from families which stress the independent expression of…
Critical response: The audience as nuisance
1988). Critical response: The audience as nuisance. Critical Studies in Mass Communication: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 239-243
A Rules Approach to the Study of Television and Society
A rule-based theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to scientific laws or purely interpretive approaches for examination of the activities undertaken by television audiences. Communication rules, which explains human actions in terms of its pragmatic and normative rather than causal features, is productively applied to the study of audience activity at two levels—the family and the larger society. Habitual, parametric, and tactical …
Feminism as a predictor of mass media use
Approaching evolutionary communication
The determining roles played by communication in the ongoing evolution of our species remain largely unexplored in communications-related disciplines. An unhelpful controversy that raged over E. O. Wilson’s sociobiology last century contributed to the problem and is reconsidered here in terms of the fault lines that run between natural science, social science, and politics. The article describes paths for future theoretical development by focusin…
Living with television and the Internet
We communicate to survive. The social history of our species can be characterized by how we continuously expand our ability to connect with others. Television and the Internet function as unique resources people creatively use to fulfill their social needs and build communities. But they do so in very different ways. By placing television and the Internet in evolutionary perspective, this commentary compares the form, content, and contexts of how…
Communicating Culture: An Evolutionary Explanation
Whether gathering around bonfires, watching TV, or sitting in front of computer screens, the pressures of Darwinian natural selection have forced individuals into tight patterns of interdependency, welded together by communication links. Can the information-sharing behavior of our species ever be brought into broader perspective and eventually foster greater harmony for all humankind? The authors argue that the answer to this question is «yes». C…
Family Communication Patterns and the Social Uses of Television
Audience members "use" television in a variety of ways. The social environment in the family home is a major contributor to differential uses of the medium by individuals. Previous research on family communication patterns, for instance, has demonstrated that families which stress harmo nious social relations at home (socio orientation) differ in many attitudes, activities, and media habits from families which stress the independent expression of…
The Social Uses of Television
Building from the social constructivist view, this paper provides evidence that audience members create specific and sometimes elaborate practical actions involving television in order to gratify particular needs in the context of family viewing. The ethnography of mass communication is recommended as a methodological framework suitable for discovering and documenting these behaviors. Based on findings from systematic participant observation rese…
Popular Music: Resistance to New Wave
Journal Article Popular Music: Resistance to New Wave Get access James Lull James Lull 1James Lull is Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech, University of California at Santa Barbara and program director, KTYD-FM, Santa Barbara Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 32, Issue 1, March 1982, Pages 120–131, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1982.tb00483.x Published: 07 F…
A Rules Approach to the Study of Television and Society
A rule-based theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to scientific laws or purely interpretive approaches for examination of the activities undertaken by television audiences. Communication rules, which explains human actions in terms of its pragmatic and normative rather than causal features, is productively applied to the study of audience activity at two levels—the family and the larger society. Habitual, parametric, and tactical …
Feminism as a predictor of mass media use
The Adolescent Audience for Music Videos and Why They Watch
Se-Wen Sun, James Lull; The Adolescent Audience for Music Videos and Why They Watch, Journal of Communication, Volume 36, Issue 1, 1 March 1986, Pages 115
Popular music and communication
Critical response: Audience texts and contexts
(1987). Critical response: Audience texts and contexts. Critical Studies in Mass Communication: Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 318-322
Critical response: The audience as nuisance
1988). Critical response: The audience as nuisance. Critical Studies in Mass Communication: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 239-243
Super media: A cultural studies approach
The Worldwide Failure of Media Policies
China Turned On: Television, Reform, and Resistance
The years following the Cultural Revolution have seen the arrival of television as part of China's effort to modernize and open up the West. Endorsed by the Deng Xiaoping regime as a bridge between the Government and the people, television became at once the mouthpiece of the Communist party and the most popular entertainment for Chinese people living in the cities. But the authorities failed to recognize the unmatched cultural power of televisio…
Inside Family Viewing: Ethnographic Research on Television’s Audiences
Against a backdrop of growing unease with traditional quantitative empirical research methods and an equal unease with abstract psychoanalytical models, ethnography is increasingly seen as one of the few empirical methods which is not completely undercut by contemporary theoretical work. Indeed, it is only recently that ethnography has begun to show its power to construct and explain in media studies. James Lull's work in this area has proved an …
Culture in the Communication Age (Comedia)
Culture in the Communication Age
Superculture for the Communication Age
How can people find their way in a world where the stabilizing influence of culture as a communal project is being transformed into a far more symbolic, personalized panorama of images and dreams, fantasies and illusions, journeys and retreats? The historically unparalleled development of communications technology and the sweep of globalization that surrounds us today are changing the very nature and meaning of culture. Although ‘community’ remai…
Culture in the Communication Age
Culture‐on‐Demand: Communication in a Crisis World
Communicating Change The Promise of Human Evolution
Na época atual, a evolução humana não segue mais exatamente o mesmo princípio da evolução biológica, resultante da adaptação e da sobrevivência competitiva das espécies na natureza em função das mutações aleatórias. Essa transformação varia em função das inovações culturais e de determinações morais, traço distintivo da espécie humana, a única a subordinar seus interesses genéticos a outras questões que julga mais relevantes. O ritmo dessas mudan…
The active pleasures of expression and communication
Based on Lull’s recent book «Culture-on-Demand: Communication in a Crisis World» (2007) and on the author’s view of audiences as active participants in all forms of human communication, this article argues for the place of human expression and symbolic power in contemporary media and cultural studies. It also discusses how modern communication technology reinforces and extends the expressive potential of ordinary citizens in the normative context…
The open spaces of global communication
Do contemporary advances in global communication serve mainly to strengthen and extend international power relations already in place, or do they offer realistic opportunities to transform those tendencies into a more humane and harmonious world? Can the enormous barriers posed by fundamentalist thought eventually be overcome through intercultural contact? How might the technological and cultural developments that are sweeping the world today bri…
Communicating Culture: An Evolutionary Explanation
Whether gathering around bonfires, watching TV, or sitting in front of computer screens, the pressures of Darwinian natural selection have forced individuals into tight patterns of interdependency, welded together by communication links. Can the information-sharing behavior of our species ever be brought into broader perspective and eventually foster greater harmony for all humankind? The authors argue that the answer to this question is «yes». C…
Inside Family Viewing (Routledge Revivals): Ethnographic Research on Television's Audiences
First published in 1990, this title presents a rich account of how television intersects with family life in American and other world cultures. From an analysis of the political and cultural significance of China’s most important television series to detailed descriptions of how families in the United States interpret and use television at home, James Lull’s ethnographic work marks an important stage in the study of the role of the mass media in …
Public Speaking: The Evolving Art
Evolutionary Communication: An Introduction
Evolutionary Communication presents the first comprehensive evolutionary approach to the study of human communication. Presuming no specialized knowledge of evolutionary theory, this reader-friendly textbook explains why and how communication became the determining factor in human development. Drawing from the latest scientific research, Evolutionary Communication represents a truly groundbreaking contribution to Communication Studies as a field …
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Media Studies and Communication (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Media studies (7 works) · Social aspects (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works)