From the needle to the microchip: a brief review of reception studies

Abstract

This study reviews the trajectory of reception studies to point out the narrative character of such theories, depending on the point of view of the narrator. There are theoretical and ideological linkages, which result in different ways of conceiving the history of the field, with distinctive inclusions and exclusions of theories and trends that vary from author to author over time. Nomenclatures which entered the field from the the beginning of its activities, in the early years of the last century are indicated – a critical factor in this moment of transition of the status of the receptor, which, in many cases, becomes a producer, a producer-receiver. We present some of the criticism regarding the scope of reception studies to understand the contemporary communication processes, which have reached a high degree of complexity. The study is closed with some possibilities of analytical confrontation that arise from the very tradition of the reception studies anchored in cultural studies, with possible arrangements with cybercultural studies.