Audience Theory - The Reception Theory

The Reception Theory is an audience theory created by academic Stuart Hall during the 1970s.

This theory considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers, and then decoded by audiences.
This theory suggests that:

• When a producer constructs a text, it is encoded with a meanings or message that the producer wants to convey to the audience.
• In some cases, the audience will correctly decode the message and understand what the producer was attempting to portray.
• In other cases, the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

Hall consequently identified the 3 types of audience readings of the text.

• Dominant or preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

Dominant Reading
The audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to and largely agrees with it. An example of this would be watching a political speech and agreeing with it.
Negotiated Reading
This is where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views. An example of this would be watching a political debate and neither agreeing or disagreeing with the speech being made.
Oppositional Reading
This is where the audience recognises the dominant reading, yet rejects it for cultural, political or ideological reasons. An example would be the total rejection of a political speech and active opposition.