Richard T. Schaefer
SOCIOLOGY:
A Brief Introduction
Seventh Edition
A Look Ahead
█ Why are the media so influential?
█ Who benefits from media influence and
why?
█ How do we maintain cultural and ethical
standards in the face of negative media
images?
Sociological Perspectives
on the Media
█ New forms of mass media have changed
people’s viewing and listening habits
– Viewers have moved from broadcast TV to
cable outlets
– Americans now spend less time listening to
recorded music
– Americans spend more time on the Internet
Functionalist View
█ The media:
– Socialize us
– Enforce social norms
– Confer status
– Promote consumption
– Keep us informed about our environment
– May act as a narcotic
Functionalist View
█ Agent of Socialization
– Media increases social cohesion by
presenting common view of culture
• Socializing effects can promote religious as well
as patriotic exchanges, uniting believers around
the world
• Socializing effect of media means programming
can become controversial
Functionalist View
█ Enforcer of Social Norms
– Media reaffirm proper behavior by showing
what happens to people who violate societal
expectations
█ Conferral of Status
– Singles out one from thousands of other
similarly placed issues or people to become
significant
Functionalist View
█ Promotion of Consumption
– Media advertising
• Supports economy
• Provides information
• Underwrites cost of media
Functionalist View
█ Dysfunction: The Narcotizing Effect
– Narcotizing dysfunction:
phenomenon in which the media
provide such massive amounts of
information that audience becomes
numb and fails to act on the information
Conflict View
█ Conflict theorists emphasize that the
media reflect and even exacerbate many
of the divisions of our society and world
– Gender
– Race
█ Gatekeeping: how material must travel
through a series of checkpoints before
reaching the public
Conflict View
█ Media monitoring
– Used to refer to interest groups’ monitoring
of media content
– Expanded to include monitoring
individuals’ media usage and choices
without their knowledge
Conflict View
█ Dominant Ideology: Constructing Reality
– Dominant ideology: set of cultural beliefs
and practices that help to maintain powerful
social, economic, and political interests
• Mass media serve to maintain the privileges of
certain groups
– Stereotypes: unreliable generalization about
all members of a group that do not recognize
individual differences within the group
Conflict View
█ Dominant Ideology: Whose Culture?
– Globalization projects the dominating reach
of the U.S. media into the rest of the world
– Media cultural exports undermine the
distinctive traditions and art forms of other
societies and encourage economic
dependence on the U.S.
Feminist View
█ Feminists share conflict theorists’ view
that mass media stereotype and
misrepresent social reality
– Women underrepresented
– Perpetuate stereotypical views of gender
– Emphasize traditional sex roles and
normalize violence against women
Interactionist View
█ Interactionists especially interested
in shared understandings of
everyday behavior
█ Examine media on micro level to
see how they shape day-to-day
social behavior
█ Scholars increasingly point to mass
Source: Author’s content analysis of primary cover subject for full run of the periodicals beginning with Time, March 3,
1923; People, March 4, 1974; Ebony , November 1945; and Rolling Stone, September 1967 through April 30, 2006. In case of
ties, the most recent cover person is listed first.
Audience Behavior
Media Concentration
Media Violence
█ The Issue
– What effect does movie and TV violence
have on audiences?
– Does violence in the media lead people,
especially youth, to become more
violent?
Media Violence
█ The Setting
– Does watching hours of mass media with
violent images cause one to behave
differently?
– Some studies linked exposure to media
violence to subsequent aggressive
behavior
• It is important to recognize that other
factors besides media also relate to
aggressive behavior
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
6-27
Media Violence
█ Sociological Insights
– If function of media is to entertain,
socialize, and enforce social norms, can
violence be part of that message?
– Even if viewer does not necessarily
become more violent from watching
violent images, there could be
desensitization
Media Violence
█ Sociological Insights
– Conflict and feminist theorists are troubled
that victims depicted in violent imagery
are often:
• Women
• Children
• Poor
• Racial minorities
• Citizens of foreign countries
• Physically disabled
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
6-29
Media Violence
█ Sociological Insights
– Interactionists especially interested in
finding out if violence in media may then
become script for real-life behavior
Media Violence
█ Policy Initiatives
– Policymakers responded to links between
violence depicted in media and real life
aggression
– Public statements of support for family-
oriented, less-violent media content