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McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 1
SOCIOLOGYRichard T. Schaefer
The Mass Media7
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
7. The Mass Media
• Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• The Audience
• The Media Industry
• Social Policy and Mass Media
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• Media advertising– Supports economy– Provides information – Underwrites cost of media
• Functionalist View– Promotion of Consumption
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
Table 7-1. Status Conferred by Magazines
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
•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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
– 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
– 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
– 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
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
Figure 7-2. The Internet Explosion
Source: National Geographic 2005:21
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
Sociological Perspectives of the Media
Table 7-2. Sociological Perspectiveson the Mass Media
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
The Audience
– Mass media distinguished from other social institutions by necessary presence of audience
– Identifiable, finite group or a much larger, undefined group
• Who Is In the Audience?
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
The Audience
– Increasingly, media market themselves to a particular audience
– The role of audience members as opinion leaders intrigues social researchers
• The Segmented Audience
Opinion leader: someone who, through day-to-day personal contacts and communication, influences opinions and decisions of others
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
The Audience
– Response often influenced by social characteristics:• Occupation• Race• Education• Income
• Audience Behavior
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 20
The Media Industry
– Handful of multi-national corporations dominate publishing, broadcasting, and film industries
• The Media’s Global Reach– Mass media have begun to create global
village in terms of communication– Internet key to creating truly global
network
• Media Concentration
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 21
The Media Industry
Figure 7-3. Media Penetration in Selected Countries
Source: Bureau of the Census 2004a:870
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 22
Social Policy and Mass Media
• What effect does movie and TV violence have on audiences?
• Does violence in the media lead people, especially youth, to become more violent?
• Media Violence– The Issue
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 23
Social Policy and Mass Media
• We spend great deal of time with the media
• Does watching hours of mass media with violent images cause one to behave differently?
– Some studies linked exposure to media violence to subsequent aggressive behavior
• Media Violence– The Setting
It is important to recognize that other factors besides the media are also related to aggressive behavior.
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 24
Social Policy and Mass Media
• If function of media is to entertain, socialize, and enforce social norms, can violence be part of that message?
• Even if viewer does not necessarily become more violent from watching violent images, there could be desensitization
• Media Violence– Sociological Insights
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 25
Social Policy and Mass Media
• Conflict and feminist theorists are troubled that victims depicted in violent imagery are often:
– Women– Children– Poor– Racial minorities– Citizens of foreign countries– Physically disabled
• Media Violence– Sociological Insights
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 26
Social Policy and Mass Media
• Interactionists especially interested in finding out if violence in media may then become script for real-life behavior
• Media Violence– Sociological Insights
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 27
Reluctance to pass laws regarded as censorship
Social Policy and Mass Media
• Policymakers responded to links between violence depicted in media and real life aggression:
– Public statements of support for family-oriented, less-violent media content
• Media Violence– Policy Initiatives
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 28
Social Policy and Mass Media
Figure 7-4. Violence on Prime-Time Television, 1998—2002
Source: Parents Television Council 2003