MACS 110 | Introduction to Mass Communication Theory           translate  

Week 4: The Rise of Media Industries and Mass Society Theory         -back to MACS 110 Home-

  • "Ferdinand Tonnies' Gesellschaft. C. Wright Mills, in both his Power Elite and White Collar, used the term mass society or mass as a crucial concept in his description of the "non-democratic" character and structure of American society. In Mills' conception, American society is essentially twofold; an elite and a mass. The power flow is one way; the ruling elite manipulates and defines the existence of the politically and economically powerless mass, using as its technology the modern mass media of communication."  Source: http://www.webref.org/sociology/m/mass_society.htm

  • Yellow Journalism  Some theories of mass society developed in response to Hearst's practice of yellow journalism and circulation wars.

  • Direct Effects

  • Comic Books of the 1950s

  • News/Wire Services

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