Chapter 7

The Mass Media

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Sociological Perspectives of the Media

Functionalist View Agent of Socialization

Increase social cohesion by presenting a more or less standardized, common view of culture through mass communication; provide a collective experience for members of a society.

Enforcer of Social Norms

reaffirm proper behavior by showing what happens to people who act in a way that violates societal expectations; shape perceptions about the risks of substance use, although not necessarily in a positive fashion.

Conferral of Status

confer status on people, organizations, and public issues; People magazine.

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Surveillance of the Social Environment

the collection and distribution of information concerning events in the social environment; stock market quotations, weather forecast, election campaigns, sport events, etc.

Dysfunctional Media: the Narcotizing Effect

refer to the phenomenon whereby the media provide such massive amounts of information that the audience becomes numb and generally fails to act on the information, regardless of how compelling the issue.

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Conflict ViewGatekeeping

A relatively small number of people control what eventually reaches the audience; in many countries, the government plays a gatekeeping role; 60% of the top five TV stations and 72% of the largest radio stations are government-owned (World Bank, 2001). Gatekeeping is not as dominant in the Internet.

Dominant Ideology: Constructing Reality Powerful groups may limit the representation of others in the media;

the set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests.

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Dominant Ideology: Whose Culture? Movies produced in the U.S. account for 65% US risk being ethnocentric if they overstress US

dominance and assume other nations do not play a role [e.g., Survivor (Sweden), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Britain), Iron Chef (Japan)]

Cultural domination goes beyond films, books, magazines, and TV programs. It also applies to what ideas and facts get transmitted.

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Feminist View Women are underrepresented Men and women are portrayed in ways that reflect and perpetuate stereotypical views of gender. Depictions of male-female relationships emphasize traditional sex roles and normalize violence against women.

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Interactionist View Especially interested in shared understandings of everyday behavior. Friendship networks can emerge from shared viewing habits or from recollection of a cherished television series from the past. Family members and friends often gather for parties centered on the broadcasting of popular events such as the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards.

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The Audience

Who is in the audience?Audience is somewhat distinctive in terms of age, gender, income, political party, formal schooling, race, and ethnicity. The segmented audienceAdvertising media specialists have sharpened their ability through survey research to identify particular target audiences. Audience behaviorDespite the role of opinion leaders. Members of an audience do not all interpret media in the same way. Often their response is influenced by social characteristics such as occupation, race, education and income.

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The Media Industry

Media concentration Ownership is getting more and more centralized; a prime example was

the merger in 2001 of AOL and Time Warner. Similar concerns are raised about the situation in such countries as

China, Cuba, North Korea, where the ruling party owns and controls the media.

The media’s global reach Physical distance is no longer a barrier, and instant messaging is

possible across the world. The media are not only broad in reach but they permeate all aspects of

everyday life. The internet has facilitated other forms of communication. Reference

materials and data banks can be made accessible across national boundaries.