This definitive examination of this important social topic asks questions such as: How much media violence is there? What are the meanings conveyed in the way violence is portrayed? What effect does it have on viewers?

Divided into four parts, the book covers: a review of research on media violence; re-conceptions of exisiting theories of media violence; addresses the need to rethink the methodological tools used to assess media violence; and introduces the concept of Lineation Theory, a perspective for thinking about media violence and a new theoretical approach explaining it.