MACS 110 | Introduction to Mass Communication Theory translate
Week 3: Four Eras of Mass Communication Theory back to MACS 110 Home
How are the mass media seen in relation to each of these theories? Bear in mind the historical context of the different perspectives.
Mass Society Theory | Limited Effects Perspective | Critical and Cultural Studies | Meaning Making Perspectives
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Mass Society Theory
Is this a negative or positive view of the role of the media ? Which of the theories of media effects theories does it correspond to the most ?
Limited Effects Perspective
Paul Lazersfeld (1901-1976) a social scientist applied the scientific method to measuring media effects and concluded they were limited and no two audiences were alike. (Limited Effects)
What connection to Nazi Germany did Lazarsfeld have ? As a social scientist, what was his approach to measuring media effects and what conclusions did he draw ? What does empirical evidence rely upon ?
Lazarsfeld was critical of mass society theory and viewed individuals on a more subjective level. He considered audience fragmentation due to personal differences and saw us making sense of the world five different ways as opposed to being dominated by mass media: Personal - We discover for ourselves the things we know; Tradition - People hold to a belief because everyone knows it to be true; Authority - Experts tell us that something is true; Religion - We accept the truths that our scriptures or religious officials advocate; Science - We know what is true based on controlled, systematic observation.
There are always some people more vulnerable to propaganda and other types of persuasive messages than others. Consider the War of the Worlds in 1938. Not everyone who heard the broadcast went running down the street like a maniac.
Do "opinion leaders" help protect us from media manipulation ?
Critical and Cultural Studies
Why do you think some Eurpoean academics might view American empiricism as "both simplistic and intellectually sterile?"
- cultural hegemony
"Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) in the 1920s argued that the reason the proletarian revolution had not advanced in Europe as fast as many Marxists had expected it would was due to cultural hegemony. The theory of cultural hegemony states that a diverse culture can be dominated by one class because of that class's monopoly over the mass media and popular culture. Gramsci therefore argued for a culture war in which anti-capitalist elements seek to gain a dominant voice in mass media, education, and other mass organizations." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war
"Fonte documents how Gramsci distinguished two ways the dominant group exercises control, whereas Marx had only written of one. First, there is direct domination through coercion or force – political might in service of the economic interests of the bourgeoisie. Second, there is what Gramsci calls hegemony, which means the pervasive and mostly tacit use of a system of values that supports and reinforces the interests of the dominant groups. The repressed groups may not even know they are repressed, in Gramsci’s view, because they have internalized the system of values that justifies their repression. They have internalized a "false consciousness" and become unwitting participants in their own domination." Source http://www.lewrockwell.com/yates/yates24.html
- consciousness industry (Enzensberger)
- culture industry (Frankfurt School)
- ideology
- agenda setting It's not that we're told what to think, as much as it's we're told what to think about - priming.
- ideological state apparatus (Althusser - critical theory)
Meaning Making Perspectives
These perspectives emphasizes the active audience. Which of the theories of media effects already discussed does this most correspond to ? Is it a microscopic or macroscopic theory ? What's the difference between the two ?
Which perspective of media effects does reinforcement theory dovetail with ?
Some Other Key Thinkers
- John Dewey believed that given the right education, people would be able to tell for themselves what is true and what is not through their reasoning abilities. Do you believe Dewey was romantic is this belief ?
- Laswell believed the vast majority of people were weak-minded and vulnerable/malleable. He called for elite control of the media.
- Walter Lipmann thought along the same lines as Laswell and believed technocrats should handle decision making regarding media messages. What would Dewey and Laswell make of our mass mediated culture and the role of propaganda today ?
- George Orwell saw the media playing a role in dominating society through fear.
- Aldous Huxley saw pleasure as the means to ensure social order.
- Edward Bernays wrote the essay "The Engineering of Consent" published in 1947.
Concepts
- agenda setting - it's not that we're told what to think, as much as it's we're told what to think about - priming.
- selective perception
- video news releases
- emotional transfer
