SOC 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Propaganda Model, Neoliberalism, Conflict Theories
28 Jun 2018
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SOC105 Exam
Topic 4
Media influences
- Media communicate messages on different levels: the pleasurable, the meaningful, the
entertaining, and the informative
- Often through representation of media
- Messages are powerful
- Communication entails a process of representation:
Use of language, visual images, and other symbolic tools to portray something in a
coherent meaningful way that others can understand
Theoretical perspectives on the mass media?
Functionalist view:
Media function as
- How does media function society
- Look at media as agent of socialization- brings together community
- Enforces of social norms- shows people what happens to people who act in a way that
violates societal expectations
- Conferrers of status- whose voice counts, confers status on people, organizations and
public issues
- Promoters of consumption- media advertising, serves function of supporting economy,
provides information about products, and underwrites cost of media
- Media supports buying and selling things
- Look at dysfunction
- Promotion of consumption- huge part of media
Functionalist dysfunction of media
- Dysfunction: the narcotizing effect
Phenomenon in which the media provides massive amounts of coverage that the
audience becomes numb and fails to act on the information
See one homeless, you are inclined to give but see a lot of homeless and we do not
give “can’t give to everyone”
- Dysfunction: “Media World Syndrome”
The more we watch, the more we fear
- Media advertising contributes to a consumer culture that creates “needs” and raises
unrealistic expectations of what is required to be happy or satisfied
The theoretical perspectives on the mass media
Conflict perspective
- Process of limiting what you can imagine and think
- How to explain the problem of “False Consciousness”
Why do people tolerate great inequalities?
Why do people vote for leaders who work in opposition to these voters interests?
- Theorists argue that mass media helps to maintain the privileges of powerful and elite
groups
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Important to look at how this is done
- The media reflects and even exacerbates, many divisions in our society and world,
including those based on gender, race, ethnicity, and social class
Gatekeeping- prevails in all kinds of media, however least dominant with the interest
- People and processes that shape information we see in media
- Describes how material must travel through specific check points before reaching the
public
- In many countries government plays a role in gatekeeping
- C. Wright Mills observed that the real power of the media is that they can control what is
being presented
- Gatekeeping isn’t as dominant in the internet
- Critics of the content of mass media argue that the gatekeeping process reflects a desire
to maximize profit, and that much content that is shown does not reflect the diversity of
the audience
Chomsky & Herman
- Propaganda Model- number of filters in media shaping content
- Five Filters to operate to control the content of the mass media
Five Filters
Ownership
- highly concentrated and privately held
- who owns it? Owner has a say in content
Advertisers
- process reflects a desire to promote consumption and shape the ideas embedded in
programs
- when advertisers pay for time on the news, they want safe programming that does not
scare people
Sources
- small number of official sources control what reaches the audience
- who gets to be source of news? Who gets to create news?
- Governments are sources
Flak
- Attempts to discredit news
- White house threatens reporters
Enemies and fear
- enemy are terrorists, people we must be afraid of
- fear rationalizes what people can do
Conflict theory- political economy
Media Concentration
- media concentration on both global and national levels concerns regulators
- the ownership of Canadian mass media outlets tends to be concentrated in the hands of a
few companies
- one exception to the centralization and concentration of the media is the internet
- which are the largest media companies?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Media communicate messages on different levels: the pleasurable, the meaningful, the entertaining, and the informative. Use of language, visual images, and other symbolic tools to portray something in a coherent meaningful way that others can understand. Look at media as agent of socialization- brings together community. Enforces of social norms- shows people what happens to people who act in a way that violates societal expectations. Conferrers of status- whose voice counts, confers status on people, organizations and public issues. Promoters of consumption- media advertising, serves function of supporting economy, provides information about products, and underwrites cost of media. Phenomenon in which the media provides massive amounts of coverage that the audience becomes numb and fails to act on the information. See one homeless, you are inclined to give but see a lot of homeless and we do not give can"t give to everyone . The more we watch, the more we fear.
