The book begins with a review of more than 40 years of research on media violence. It then proposes a re-conceptualization of these theories, focusing on violence, context, levels of phenomena, human development, effects, risk, and the media industries. The latter half of the book discusses the necessity for a reconfiguration of the methodological tasks used to assess media violence. In introducing the concept of Lineation Theory, the book suggests a perspective for thinking about media violence and a new theoretical approach for explaining it. This theory uses the metaphor of a line in making distinctions and drawing connections. Lineation theory is a blend of explanations and speculations. The lineation perspective focuses on media violence while seeking to integrate thinking about the media industries, the content they produce, the effects of violent content on audience members and society, and the processes that lead to those effects. The lineation perspective attempts to avoid excluding any key ideas on media violence. It also aims to extend those key ideas in the current thinking into a new position by challenging some of the currently held assumptions and by suggesting revisions to the currently used practices. 591 references and author and subject indexes