SOC103H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Media Literacy, Herbert Blumer, Main Source
Document Summary
Ways of looking at mass media: mass communication- the transmission of a message from a single source to multiple recipients at the same time. Interested in the way mass media are organized and how it contributes to equilibrium: media is a mechanism for informing, socializing, and educating the public, media literacy and mass media are important factors in modernization . Interested in ways powerful groups use media to perpetuate their dominant ideologies. A variant of this approach is the political economy perspective (focus on the ways private ownership affects what is communicated). Important in understanding the manipulative side of mass media. e. g. over-coverage or slanting of particular topics: cultivation theory information in society today. People believe the world is mean because they are exposed to a lot of violence within media. (mean world syndrome) (gerbner and gross): mass media have become the main source of. Tv normalizes violence, numbing violence for some individuals, while heightening it for others.
