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Chapter 1

Chapter 1. Mass Communication: A Critical Approach. Some guiding questions. What is the role of media in our lives? How do media shape our culture, both positively and negatively? How do media reflect and sustain a vital democracy? How do we take a “critical perspective” about media?.

kenneth-roach
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Chapter 1

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  1. Chapter 1 Mass Communication: A Critical Approach

  2. Some guiding questions • What is the role of media in our lives? • How do media shape our culture, both positively and negatively? • How do media reflect and sustain a vital democracy? • How do we take a “critical perspective” about media?

  3. Our goal is to BE INFORMED and to THINK CRITICALLY about • the powerful dynamics of media (their structure and function) • their impact on community and global life • their impact on our personal desires as consumers • our roles as citizens who can shape media culture

  4. Cultureand theEvolution ofMass Communication

  5. What is CULTURE? • defined as “the symbols of expressions that individuals, groups and societies use to make sense of daily life and to articulate their values” • includes both products and processes • a process that delivers the values of a society through products or meaning-making forms

  6. What are MASS MEDIA? • the culture industries that mass-produce and distribute cultural products • examples of cultural products: songs, mystery novels, newspapers, movies, online services, magazines, comic books, CD-Roms, video games, textbooks, and so on

  7. FIVE HISTORICAL ERASof media and communication: • Oral • Written • Print • Electronic • Digital

  8. Characteristic communication ofPre-Industrial Cultures • Oral • Written

  9. Characteristic media ofIndustrial and Post-Industrial Cultures • Print • Electronic • Digital

  10. Mass communication: • the process of designing and delivering cultural messages and stories to large and diverse audiences through media channels

  11. Invention of the Printing Press • Johannes Gutenberg (1397-1468, Germany) • studied metallurgy, sold trinkets to religious pilgrims • invented movable type printing • first printed “Indulgences” for Catholic Church • printed 200 copies of two-volume Gutenberg Bible

  12. Printing innovated MASS PRODUCTION and MASSMARKETING: • mechanical duplication replaced tedious hand copying • rapid duplication produced multiple copies • copies were less expensive and thus affordable to more people

  13. Social and cultural changeswith advent of mass media: • transmission of knowledge beyond local communities • rise of nationalism • rise of elite class

  14. Social and cultural changes with advent of mass media • democratization of knowledge and literacy • nourishing ideal of individualism • facilitation of large social movements

  15. Development of Telegraph (1840s) • separated communication from transportation • transformed information into a commodity • coordinated commercial and military operations • forerunner of electronic communication

  16. Industrial Revolution • shift from agrarian to industrial society • transformations in production and spread of information • changed perceptions of time and space • changed demographics (urbanization) • development of working class • need for leisure time activities

  17. From Electronic to Digital • images, texts and sounds converted (encoded) into electronic binary signals • transmitted through satellite and digital technology, then decoded

  18. LINEAR MODEL OF COMMUNICATION • process of producing and delivering messages to large audience • sees mass communication as component system: • senders-->messages-->receivers

  19. Components of linear model • sender • message • channel • receivers • gatekeepers • feedback

  20. Alternative model • based on belief that audiences are NOT merely passive receptacles of message • audience members can can interpret the meanings of media messages differently based on their own values and viewpoints

  21. Mass media and public perception • mass media can alter a society’s perception of events and attitudes • e. g.: • news coverage of civil rights movement • Hill-Thomas hearings & sexual harassment • O.J. Simpson trial and domestic violence

  22. Public debates about media • Ancient Greece: art and drama • early 20th century America: working class popular culture • ongoing concerns about children’s exposure to sex and violence in media

  23. Concerns about media today • fragmentation of media audience • perceived lack of quality, “family values” • overabundance of information • dangers of cyberspace for youth • sex and violence in media • loss of face-to-face community

  24. What do you think?

  25. CULTURE AS HIERARCHY • broad appeal vs. narrow appeal • high culture vs. low/popular culture • artistic merit vs. consumer culture • forms with short life span vs. “classics”

  26. Concerns about popular culture • inundates our cultural environment and fills our lives with cheap, low-quality forms • makes “genuine” culture less accessible • undermines democratic reasoning and inhibits social progress • multinational media conglomerates control what we see, hear, read, and know

  27. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

  28. Culture as a MAP • a metaphor that challenges the “culture as hierarchy” metaphor • on one hand, cultural phenomena are conventional, recognizable, stable and comforting • on other hand, cultural forms may be innovative, unfamiliar, destabilizing and challenging

  29. Culture as a MAP • people have complex cultural tastes, needs and interests • cultural forms contain a variety of messages, “all over the map”--not just vertical as in hierarchy

  30. Media Convergence • Characteristic of digital era and development of Internet • Blurring of boundaries between media forms and channels • TV, computers, stereo systems, VCR’s, newspapers--all functions merging into online information/entertainment sources

  31. Shift from MODERN to POSTMODERN • Social and cultural responses to changing economies and technologies • reflected in mass media and other forms of popular culture

  32. Values of MODERNperiod • Celebrating the individual • Believing in rational order • Working efficiently • Rejecting tradition

  33. Values of POSTMODERN period • Opposing hierarchy • Diversifying and recycling culture • Questioning scientific reasoning • Embracing paradox

  34. Developing a CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE • DESCRIPTION • ANALYSIS • INTERPRETATION • EVALUATION

  35. Our goal is to BE INFORMED and to THINK CRITICALLY about • the powerful dynamics of media (their structure and function) • their impact on community and global life • their impact on our personal desires as consumers • our roles as citizens who can shape media culture

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