SOSIOLOGI & MEDIA Pertemuan 1 Matakuliah: Sosiologi Komunikasi Massa Tahun: 2009/2010

SOSIOLOGI & MEDIAPertemuan 1

Matakuliah : Sosiologi Komunikasi MassaTahun : 2009/2010

Bina Nusantara University 3

Sociology• The study of social (groups)

– Interaksi– Aktifitas kelompok masyarakat– Sub-groups– Ethnic groups– Politics (kekuasaan)– Ekonomi (household corporations )– Ideas (come from culture) ie: ideologi, filsafat, moral



Sociology• A scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of

humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious.

• Sociologists study such areas as bureaucracy, community, deviant behavior, family, public opinion, social change, social mobility, social stratification, and such specific problems as crime, divorce, child abuse, and substance addiction.

• Sociology tries to determine the laws governing human behavior in social contexts; it is sometimes distinguished as a general social science from the special social sciences, such as economics and political science, which confine themselves to a selected group of social facts or relations.


Unit of Study

• Political Science is the study of government and political processes, institutions, and behavior

• Anthropology is the scientific study of the origin and behavior of man, including the development of societies and cultures

• Sociology the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships ; specifically : the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings


Fathers of SociologyKarl Marx (1818-1883) : Society and ConflictEmile Durkheim (1858-1917) : Society and FunctionMax Weber (1864-1920) : The Rationalization of

Society


Social Organization Social Structure• Refers to the social context

itself, or the set of social relations that link individuals in a society

• Social organizations tend to refer to social actions and define roles individuals play in relation to one another

• The term ‘social organization’ has been used since Comte

• Refers to the sum total of activities performed in a given social context

• Social structure defines the status of actors performing such roles

• The study of social structure descends from classical structural-functionalist and structuralist traditions

Sociological Perspectives of the Media

– The media:

• Socialize us• Enforce social norms• Confer status• Promote consumption• Keep us informed about our environment• May act as a narcotic

• Functionalist View



• Media increases social cohesion by presenting common view of culture

– Provide collective experience for members of a society– Socializing effects can promote religious as well as

patriotic exchanges, uniting believers around the world– Socializing effect of media means programming can easily

become controversial

• Functionalist View– Agent of Socialization



• Media reaffirm proper behavior by showing what happens to people who violate societal expectations

– Conferral of Status• Singles out one from thousands of other

similarly placed issues or people to become significant

• Functionalist View– Enforcer of Social Norms



• Media advertising– Supports economy– Provides information – Underwrites cost of media

• Functionalist View– Promotion of Consumption



Figure 7-1. Number of Hours per Week Spent with Media,1997—2008 (projected)

Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC 2003:166-167 for 1997; 2004:184-185 for all other data



Table 7-1. Status Conferred by Magazines



•Surveillance Function: collection and distribution of information concerning events in the social environment

– Dysfunction: The Narcotizing Effect

•Narcotizing Dysfunction: phenomenon in which the media provide such massive amounts of information that audience becomes numb and fails to act on the information

• Functionalist View– Surveillance of the Social Environment



– Gatekeeping: how material must travel through a series of checkpoints before reaching the public

• Conflict View

• Ethnicity• Social class

– Conflict theorists emphasize that the media reflect and even exacerbate many of the divisions of our society and world, including:• Gender• Race



• Dominant Ideology: set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests

• Mass media serve to maintain the privileges of certain groups

• Stereotypes: unreliable generalization about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group

• Conflict View– Dominant Ideology: Constructing Reality



• Globalization projects the dominating reach of the U.S. media into the rest of the world

• Media cultural exports undermine the distinctive traditions and art forms of other societies and encourage their cultural and economic dependence on the U.S.

• Conflict View– Dominant Ideology: Whose Culture?

Nations that feel a loss of identity may try to defend against the cultural invasion



– Feminists share conflict theorists’ view that the mass media stereotype and misrepresent social reality

• Women underrepresented• Perpetuate stereotypical views of gender• Emphasize traditional sex roles and

normalize violence against women

• Feminist View



– Interactionists especially interested in shared understandings of everyday behavior

– Examine media on micro level to see how they shape day-to-day social behavior

– Scholars increasingly point to mass media as source of major daily activity

• Interactionist View



Figure 7-2. The Internet Explosion

Source: National Geographic 2005:21



Table 7-2. Sociological Perspectiveson the Mass Media


Documents

SOSIOLOGI & MEDIA Pertemuan 1 Matakuliah: Sosiologi Komunikasi Massa Tahun: 2009/2010