This study investigates aspects of the relationship between a small, but broadly representative, group of Dublin working class viewers and television. Working with forty seven members of ten families from a predominantly working class suburb in north Dublin the following key research questions are addressed at both a theoretical and empirical level: (1) The programmes and channels which members of the ten families watch. (2) How much television they watch. (3) What the responses of the families to drama and sport reveal about Dublin working class culture. (4) What the responses of the families to actuality programmes reveal about the operation of ideology and levels of critical awareness. (5) The gender and age factor in responses and audience activity. The thesis comprises ten chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction to the research dissertation. Chapter Two critically reviews some key theoretical writings on ideology, discourse and working class culture. Chapter Three explores aspects of communication and television audience research in terms of 1 active audience1 and 'powerful text1. Chapter Four presents a profile of the suburb of Coolock where the ten families live. Chapter Five assesses the research methodologies of ethnographic interviewing and time use diaries, which are employed in this study. Chapter Six consists of infomation on the families' time use patterns and media consumption. Chapter Seven and Eight present and analyse the responses of family members to questions on the genres of drama, sport, news, current affairs and documentaries, in order to determine what they reveal about Dublin working class culture, the operation of ideology and levels of critical awareness. Chapter Nine examines the extent to which gender and age were factors in the responses and audience activity of the families. Chapter Ten concludes the thesis by presenting the most pertinent points to have emerged from the research. The study indicated that television viewing was the main leisure activity for the majority of the family members and that a wide variety of programmes on all the available channels were viewed. The responses revealed a high level of engagement with representations of both Irish and English working class culture. The majority of interviewees associated notions of 'Irishness' with rural Ireland in so far as they identified Glenroe as been particularly Irish. Replies to questions on news and current affairs, illustrated levels of critical capacity and an awareness that what was broadcast was but one possible interpretation. Documentaries were perceived to have a greater degree of credibility than the news. Differences between men and women viewers was less to do with the genres they favoured than with the nature of their engagement. Power relations along lines of gender and age were identified in particular aspects of audience activity. The study concludes by presenting the implications of the research to a wider Dublin working class audience, the telling of the Dublin working class story and further research.