CRM 312 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Mass Society, Media Studies, Behaviorism
23 Nov 2013
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Document Summary
Purpose of chapter: introduce cross-disciplinary scholarship and to develop a theoretical context for what follows in the remainder of this book. Example: what makes a criminal? & why does mass media matter? . Explores how mass society theory and psychological behaviourism gives rise to the notion that media images are responsible for eroding moral standards, corrupting young minds. Period of turbulence and uncertainty (late 19th early 20th centuries) and mass society theorist held that social upheavals associated with industrialization, urbanization and the great war had made people feel increasingly vulnerable. Media were seen as both an aid to people"s well-being under difficult circumstances and as a powerful force for controlling people" thoughts and diverting them from political action. Behaviourism and positivism -> behaviourism derived from positivism, which emerged from natural sciences and regards the world as fixed and quantifiable. Example: ivan pavlov"s stimulus-response experiments with dogs and conditioned responses (salivating) and stimuli (bell-ringing)
