SOC100 Chapter 12 The Mass Media

L01 Appreciate that, although the most popular mass media are products of the twentieth
century, their growth is rooted in the rise of Protestantism, democracy, and capitalism.
Illusion Becomes Reality
 The realities we know best- the illusions created by the mass media- are every bit as
pervasive and influential as religion was 500 or 600 years ago. This isn’t an exaggeration
if you think about it because we spend 40% of our day interacting with the mass media..
 We are so accustomed to interacting with the mass media that we find it increasingly
difficult to be alone with our thoughts. In fact, a recent experiment has shown that about
two-thirds of men and one quarter of women would rather shock themselves than be in
their own company.
 Canadian media guru Marshall McLuhan said that the media are extensions of the human
body and mind.

What are the mass media?

 Mass media: Print, radio, television, and other communication technologies that reach
many people.

The Rise of the Mass Media

 Most of the mass media are recent inventions.
The print media only became a truly mass phenomenon in the 19th century and continued to
dominate mass medium even as late as the 1950s.

Causes of Media Growth

 The rise of the mass media can be explained by three main factors:
1) The Protestant Reformation – Catholics relied on priests to tell them what was in the
bible, however, Martin Luther protested certain practices, which led to the formation of a
new form of Christianity- Protestanism. Suddenly millions of people were being
encouraged to read and the Bible became the first mass media product in the West and by
far, the best selling book.
 2) Democratic movements –From the eighteenth century on, when the citizens of France,
the U.S., and other countries demanded & achieved representation in government, they
also demanded to become literate and gain access to previously restricted centres of
learning. This led to encouraged popular literacy and the growth of free press.
3) Capitalist industrialization – Modern industries required a literate and numerate
workforce and rapid means of communication to do business efficiently, which the mass
media provided.

The mass media are print, radio, television, and other communication
technologies that reach many people. It is a mediated (“media”) form of
communication that transmits messages to many people (“mass”). Three main
factors contributed to the rise of mass media:
Religious: The Protestant Reformation urged people to read the Bible in their
own languages. The Bible became the first product of the mass media in the
West.
Political: The democratic movement encouraged the growth of the free and
independent press that presented a plurality of opinions.
Economic: Capitalist industrialization required a rapid means of communicating
to conduct business efficiently and a literate workforce; business owners made
substantial profits from the mass media.

L02 Identify the ways in which the mass media make society more cohesive.
Functionalism
The functions that the mass media provides include:
1) Coordinating the operation of industrial and post-industrial societies.
2) Playing as an important agent of socialization.
3) Working as a form of social control, by helping to ensure conformity.
 4) Providing entertainment.

The nationwide distribution of newspapers, magazines, movies, television, and

Internet cements the large, socially diverse, and geographically far-flung
population of Canada. Functionalists argue that the four main functions of the
mass media are coordination, socialization, social control, and entertainment.
First, the mass media help to coordinate information in a large society. Second,
the mass media disseminate social norms and values, such as the value of
competition that is reinforced in the news, business, editorial, and sports
sections of newspapers. Third, the mass media help to promote social control by
promoting conformity to societal norms and values. For example, newspapers,
news broadcasts, and television shows vilify criminals and exalt law enforcement
agents. Fourth, the mass media provide entertainment that distracts people from
daily frustrations and pressing concerns.

L03 Identify the ways in which the mass media foster social inequality.

Conflict Theory
 Conflict theorists say functionalism exaggerates the degree to which the mass media
serve the interests of the entire society.
 Conflict theorists maintain that there are two ways in which dominant classes and
political groups benefit disproportionately from the mass media:
1) The mass media broadcasts beliefs, values, and ideas that create widespread acceptance
of the basic structure of society.
2) Ownership of the mass media is highly concentrated in the hands of a small number of
people and is highly profitable for them.
 For decades, Canadian mass media have been owned by fewer than a dozen families
(Siftons, Thomsons, Bassetts, Southams, Irvings, Honderiches, Blacks, and recently
 the Shaws, Rogerses, and Peladeaus). Today, there are just 5 multi-media giants in
the country: BCE, Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor, CBC/Radio Canada.
Media Bias
 Conflict theorists think argue that when a few conglomerates dominate the production
of news in particular, they shut out alternative points of view. So basically, putting
the power of mass media within a few hands will cause people to be deprived of
independent sources of information and will have the diversity of opinions limited.
 Some subtle mechanisms that are used to bias the news in a way that supports
powerful corporate interests and political groups include:
1) Advertising – Most of the revenue earned by television stations, radio stations,
newspapers and magazines come from advertisements, so basically advertisers can use
their money as leverage to have their views portrayed.
2) Sourcing – News-gathering shows rely heavily on information on press releases, news
conferences, and interview organized by large corporations and organizations. But these
sources tend to have a bias that favours their views.
3) Flak – Basically, when governments and big corporations attack anyone who opposes
their views, it’s hard to see different opinions being portrayed in the media.
According to conflict theorists, functionalists exaggerate the degree to which the
mass media represent the interests of the entire society, and pay no attention to
how the mass media contribute to social inequality. Conflict theorists argue that
the mass media serve the interests of dominant classes and political groups.
There are two ways these groups benefit from the mass media. First, the beliefs,
values, and ideas promoted by the mass media create widespread consent for the
basic structure of society. Second, the mass media are highly profitable and are
owned by a small number of people.

Media concentration in Canada has increased in recent decades. Until the 1990s,
media conglomeration mainly involved horizontal integration (the process of
acquiring or merging with other companies in the same industry for the purpose
of gaining more control over the industry).

In the 1990s, vertical integration (the process of acquiring companies involved in

the production and sale of various media products) became more widespread.
For example, Rogers Communications Inc. owns the Toronto Blue Jays,
broadcasts the team’s games on its sports television station, analyzes the team
on its sports radio station, owns the stadium where the Blue Jays play, carries
signals to the viewer’s homes via its cable system, and spins off team promotions
at Rogers stores.

Conflict theorists argue that media concentration in Canada produces media bias.
Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) argued that other, more subtle
mechanisms also foster media biases in favour of dominant classes and political
groups. They include advertising, sourcing, and flak. Critics argue that the mass
media are not completely biased toward corporate interests. For example,
mainstream journalists often report stories that are critical of corporate actions
or points of views. However, considerable evidence supports the claim that the
mass media promote the core society values that create widespread consent for
the basic structures of society (democracy, capitalism, and consumerism).

L04 Describe how audiences filter, interpret, resist, and even reject media messages are
inconsistent with audience beliefs and experiences.

Interpretive Approaches
 Both functionalists and conflict theorists believe that the mass media influences a
passive public.
  Both functionalists and conflict theorists stress how the mass media bridge social
differences and reinforce society’s core values. However, functionalists believe that
the core values are in everyone’s interests, while conflict theorists see them as
favouring the interests of the rich and powerful.
 The sociological consensus seems to show that TV violence only seems to influence a
small percentage of viewers to commit acts of violence.
 It is important to question the strength of media effects. From the 1950s, researchers
have known that people don’t change their attitudes and behaviours just because the
media tells them to do so. This is because there’s an indirect link between persuasive
media messages and actual behaviour. Instead, a two-step flow of communication
occurs.
 Two-step flow of communication: Occurs between mass media and audience
members and involves (1) respected people of high status and independent judgement
evaluating media messages and (2) other members of the community being
influenced by varying degrees by these opinion leaders.
 However, symbolic interactionists and cultural studies experts have a different
argument that leads us to question how people interpret media messages. In their
approach, according to Stuart Hall, they take an active role in consuming the products
of the mass media. They filter and interpret mass media messages in the context of
their own interests, experiences, and values.
 In Hall’s view, any adequate analysis of the mass media needs to take into account
both the production and the consumption of media products. First, he says, we need to
study the meanings intended by the producers. Then we need to study how audiences
consume or evaluate media products.

Cultural studies: Focus not just on the cultural meanings that producers try to transmit but also
on the way that audiences interpret mass media messages in the context of their own interests,
experiences, and values.
Symbolic interactionists provide an alternative perspective to the top–down,
deterministic view of the mass media presented by functionalists and conflict
theorists. Both approaches understate how audience members interpret media
messages in different ways. However, there is only an indirect link between
media messages and actual behaviour. There is a two-step flow of
communication between the mass media and audience members because media
messages are often filtered by opinion leaders.

Furthermore, cultural studies research on the mass media focuses not just on
the cultural meanings that producers try to transmit but also on the way
audiences filter and interpret mass media messages in the context of their own
interests, experiences, and values. For example, even young children can
distinguish between real-life violence and “make-believe” violence on television
(Hodge and Tripp, 1986).

L05 Analyze how the mass media misinterpret women and members of racial minorities.
Feminist Approaches
Feminist researchers focused on the misrepresentation of women in the mass media.
They found that women were tend to be cast in subordinate roles, they’d appear in domestic
settings, and were targeted as only purchasers of household products and appliances.
Most of the early feminist research assumed that audiences are passive. However, in the 1980s
and 1990s, started criticising this idea.
Over a four year period, Andrea Press and Elizabeth Cole conducted 34 discussion groups (108
women) to find the audience reactions to abortion. They showed the group three TV programs
that focusing on abortion. Four distinct categories of opinion emerged:
1) Prolife women from all social classes form the most homogenous group. They think
abortion is never justified.
 2) Pro-choice working-class women who think of themselves as members of the working
class adopt a pro-choice stand as a survival strategy, not on principle.
3) Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class status. They tolerate
abortion for people on the TV shows, but reject it for themselves and for other
“responsible” women.
4) Pro-choice middle class women that believe that only an individual woman’s feelings
can determine whether or not abortion is wrong.
 Striking aspects of Press and Cole’s findings: For one, three of the four categories of
women are highly skeptical of TV portrayals of the abortion issue. Their class position
and attitudes act as filters influencing their reaction and view on abortion. Secondly, three
of the four categories of women reject the simple pro-choice vs pro-life dichotomy
portrayed by the mass media.
 In recent years, some feminists have focused on the capacity of the mass media to
reproduce and change the system of racial inequality in North American society.
 On the one hand, they find that certain stereotypical images of women of colour recur in
the mass media. Black women, for example, often appear in the role of “the welfare
mother, the highly sexualized Jezebel, and the mammy.” On the other hand, they
recognize that some mass media, especially independent filmmaking and popular music,
have enabled women of colour to challenge these stereotypes. The music and videos of
Erykah Badu, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé Knowles, and Alicia Keys are
especially noteworthy in this regard.

In the 1970s, feminists focused on how women were represented in the mass
media. Women were usually depicted in subordinate roles and appeared in the
domestic sphere, while men were usually depicted in dominant roles in public
settings (see Figure 12.1). Early feminist research assumed audiences passively
accepted these images as normal. By the 1980s, feminist research on the mass
media began to find that female audience members typically recognize that real
women are more complicated than the stereotypical women portrayed by the
mass media. Feminists also examined reoccurring stereotypical images of
women of colour in the mass media. Recent research has identified that women’s
representation in prime-time TV has stalled or even reversed (Lauzen, 2014).

L06 Recognize that the Internet and social media offer users more freedom than other mass
media do.

Centralized Control and Resistance on the Internet

 Unlike traditional mass media, the internet offers more opportunity for audience
influence.
 The Internet gives consumers new creative capabilities that partially blur the distinction
between producer and consumer. Basically, the Internet makes the mass media more
democratic.
To develop this idea, we first consider the forces that restrict Internet access and augment the
power of media conglomerates.

Access
 The internet requires an expensive infrastructure of personal computers, servers, and
routers; an elaborate network of fibre-optic, copper-twist, and coaxial cables; and many
other components.
 This infrastructure must be paid for by individuals. Not everyone can afford to pay for
these things, which is why internet access is not open to everyone.
 Internet access isn’t distributed evenly globally. Globally, the rate of internet access is
higher is much higher in rich countries than in poor countries.

Content
 American domination is a striking feature of Internet content. The world’s top search
engines are Google, Youtube, and Facebook.
  Some analysts say that American domination of the Web is an example of media
imperialism.
 Media imperialism: Domination of a mass medium by a single national culture and the
undermining of other national cultures.

Media Convergence
 Some researchers argue that the Internet also increases the power of media
conglomerates. This is evident, for example, in the realm of media convergence.
 Media convergence: the blending of the Internet, television, telephone, and other
communications media into new hybrid media forms.
 The cellphone is the centrepiece of media convergence. It allows you to watch TV shows
and videos, send and receive e-mails and text messages, browse the Web, and much else.
 Media conglomerates, such as Rogers and Bell, are united on industry-wide tactics to
maximize profit. The companies, for example, both strongly favour user-based billing.
 Media conglomerate, however, can never fully dominate the Internet because it is the first
mass medium that makes it relatively easy for consumers to become producers.

The Rise of Social Media

Individual users are making independent, creative contributions.
 And they react negatively if they lack access to computer-mediated communication. A
recent experiment found that inability to answer a cellphone while completing word
search puzzles causes anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate to increase and cognitive
performance to drop
 Our use of social media affects our identity (how we see ourselves), our social relations
(the patterned connections we form with others), and our social activism (the ways in
which we seek to cause social change).
 Identity – Social media offers people the opportunity to manipulate the way people
presents themselves and explore aspects of their selves that they may suppress in
embodied social interaction.
 Social relations - The impact that the Internet has on a person varies. It can lead some to
isolation, while others to form new communities based on common interests.
  Social activism - Basically, people can use social media to speak about their views on
social issues and to actually set up online petitions, protests, and fundraisers.

Some social forces restrict Internet access. The Internet requires an expensive
infrastructure. In the developed world, wealthier households have more access
to the Internet. Globally, Internet connectivity is significantly higher in the
richest countries. Some analysts argue that American domination of the Internet
leads to media imperialism, the control of the mass medium by a single national
culture and the undermining of other national cultures. However, they tend to
ignore the degree to which other national cultures are making inroads on the
Internet. Media convergence, the blending of the telephone, the World Wide
Web, television, and other communications media as new, hybrid media forms, is
increasing.

The Internet and social media offer more opportunity for audience influence
than other forms of mass media do. The Internet makes mass media more
democratic by partially blurring the distinction between producer and consumer.
For example, more than 300 million people express their opinions to many
followers through their Twitter accounts.

Using social media affects our identity, social relations, and social activism. First,
people have more freedom to manipulate how they present themselves to others
through social media. Second, social media create opportunities for social
connections between people who are geographically far from each other. Third,
social media offer a variety of opportunities for social activism, such as
promoting a political campaign over Twitter or Facebook. However,
opportunities for social activism are limited by the monitoring and censorship of
social media by authorities in undemocratic countries.