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Social Control, Mass Media, and Propaganda Brave New World

Social Norms

• Defined as the standards of behavior and expectations of behavior held by members of a social group.

• Norms are written and unwritten rules of behavior that guide our lives daily.

• To explore this idea imagine if: • You were a restaurant server and a diner did not leave a tip

• Someone said “goodbye” when answering the phone

• Someone pushed elevator buttons for floors they were not visiting

• A young child used profanity

• You saw a person standing in a line, but facing backwards

• You found an unflushed toilet in a public restroom

• A car in front of you parked in the middle of the roadway

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Social Norms• Your reaction to these scenarios demonstrate some behaviors that violate social norms.

• However, norms vary by group, culture, society.

• Members within a group define what is viewed as acceptable/unacceptable.

Social Control• Techniques and strategies employed to

prevent deviant human behavior in any given society

• All societies have ways to promote order, stability and predictability in social life.

• Without social control, social life would be unpredictable, even chaotic.

• There are two broad types of social control: • Internal

• External

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Internal Social Control

• Lie within the individual, and is developed during socialization.

• Internalize norms and values of the society

• Culture: customs, norms, mores.

• Family

• Peers

• Group affiliations

External Social Control

External rules enforced by government to prevent the establishment of chaos or break down of social bonds. • Laws

• Law enforcement

• Court system

• Prisons

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Enforcement

• Societies reinforce norms and rules through sanctions (systems of reward and punishments).

• Positive sanctions (e.g. smile of approval, awards, raises) are used to encourage conformity.

• Negative sanctions (e.g. criticism, fines, imprisonment, shaming, humiliation) are intended to stop socially unacceptable behavior.

• Act of violating a social norm is called deviance.

What Is Social Deviance? • Social Deviance is a violation of social

norms that can include • Actions

• Murder

• Wearing clothes backwards

• Driving against the flow of traffic

• Beliefs/Attitudes • Alien abductions

• Racism

• Women shouldn’t hold certain roles

• Characteristics • Obesity

• Extensive tattooing

• Disability (in some cultures)

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Socialization

• Lifelong process in which individuals inherit norms, customs, and ideologies (belief systems) of the social world they live in

• It is necessary in order for a person to interact within their society and behave appropriately

• We are socialized by what we call agents of socialization

• As we move through society it is important we alter our behavior according to other individuals and the agents

Agents of Socialization

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What is Mass Media? • All media technologies used for mass

communications

• Organizations which control these

technologies

Types of Mass Media • Print • Recordings • Cinema • Radio • Television • Internet • Cell phones or other signalling devices

Power of Mass Media

• Key role in political power

• Shaping public perceptions on important issues

• Shaping modern culture (belief, values,

traditions)

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Propaganda Journal (you may work together, but answer on your own paper)

1. What is propaganda? With your group, collectively come to an agreed upon definition (you may use your phones)

2. Have your ever seen or heard propaganda used? Write down a few examples that you are familiar with.

3. Related to your examples, what did you see or hear and what effect did it have on you?

4. Why do you feel leaders and organizations often employ propaganda?

Cite examples and provide detailed explanations.

Propaganda: 1) information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view 2) information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

• Commercials

• Political ads (candidates)

• Music – WWII

• Political Posters

• Advertisements of products

• Newspaper articles

• Online blogs

• Social media

• Clothing

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Brave New World Propaganda Chart

Working in your group, evenly divide up the work and complete the following tasks:

1. Identify examples of the propaganda techniques used in the novel.

2. Explain what goal each technique is trying to accomplish.

Then, adding to your journal paper, answer the following questions:

1. Why is the propaganda in the text not challenged by most people in the society?

2. Which characters do question the propaganda and what causes their questioning?

THEORY The Propaganda Model

The propaganda model seeks to explain the behavior of news media operating within a capitalist economy. The model suggests that the mass media often serves as a tool to manufactured consent, operating on unchallenged premises that serve the narrow interests of political and economic elites.

As Noam Chomsky maintains, “Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.”

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This graphic updated in 2013

This graphic updated in 2013

CNET, Last.fm, TVGUide.com

TNT, TBS, TCM, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim

Nickelodeon, SpikeTV, VH1

Hulu

E!, Oxygen, USA, Telemundo

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• Comcast (NBC/Universal) is set to purchase Time Warner (CNN, HBO, Time Magazine, Warner Bros) - first publicly announced on February 13, 2014

• The acquisition is to take the form of a stock swap estimated at the time of announcement to be worth about $45.2 billion.[2]

• Comcast began the regulatory review process of the deal by filing a public interest statement at the Federal Communications Commission on April 8, 2014,[3] is currently in the process of obtaining permission from both the FCC and United States Department of Justice to complete the acquisition.

As of January 2015 a decision is expected in the first quarter of 2015.[4][5]

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Do you believe that U.S. Corporations manipulate the masses to shape their perceptions and personal ideologies to conform to the dominate class?