Mass society and early theories of mass media

WELCOME!!!MASS MEDIA AND EARLY

THEORIES OF MASS MEDIA

CHICAGO SCHOOL

• First huge body in sociology btwn. 1920&1930• Concentrated on urban sociology• Positivist uses deduction method• Ecologist examines environment on human

behaviour• Microcosmos the city for them

• They focused on 2 things about problems of city1. Urbanization 2. Social mobility because;• Chicago was an empty city (in 1860-10000-)• After Great Chicago Fire growed up rapidly (in

1910-2 million)

Three themes

1. Meeting different cultures and their conflicts2. Interest groups’ monopoly in cities3. Structure of city policies and mechanism

Ecological Approach• Robert Park( 1915) The City• Municipal ecology disintegration• Locational organizing patterns of cities

Process of Ecological Approach

1. Competition 2. Sovereignity3. Capturing the city4. Invasion (Occupation)

Key Terms

• Socialization• Changing modes of associations within

modernity• Social reform

Mass Communication Research

• Harold Laswell impact of propaganda• A critical reflection to current media structures• Propaganda technics questionizing • Propagandas guiding ppl in World War II.• Impact of mass communication still available

in modern societies

• Horatio Herbert

Kitchener

After the day of drama

Functionalist Sociology and Media

• Who says???• What in which channel????• To whom with what effect?????

• Laswell’s formula cause:1. Impact Analysis2. Content Analysis3. Mass Media Analysis4. Audience and Control Analysis

MASS SOCIETY

• Mass society emerged with;1. Industrial capitalism2. Urbanization3. Advancement of science4. Rise of mass democracy5. Mass education&Public communication in western societies

• The term is originated from 19th. century• It states media has a strong influence on

people in terms of; • Shaping1. people’s mind2. perception3. And social worlds’• It was thought it controls people

• Mass society theoryemerges around mass• Power holders as economically/politically

incorporation of media• i.e. No alternative perceptions in media• Any actions of media over the reflects of

mass society

• Mass society seem as granted and centralized

• Centralized media 1. No realized aims in local groups in media2. Narrower public sphere3. One-way transmission4. Changing people’s mind and controlling them

MARXISM

• Mass media tool for political community/top class to control the society

• Marxist theoryeconomic/spreading of messages

• i.e. In capitalist societies: media owners/entrepreneurs

FOUR PHASES

• Natural history Shaped via circumstances of time and place

• Including environmental factors like;1. Law makers’ interests2. Changing technology3. Propogandas of activists4. Continuous concerns of public opinion

ALL 4 PHASES

1. All powerful media2. Theory of powerful media put to the test3. Powerful media rediscovered4. Media power can vary with the times

1.All Powerful Media

• Until 1930s media considered as the power shaping our opinion and beliefs

• Not basis of scientific theory observation-based

• Throughout 1st. World War propaganda• Many books written during 1920s and 1930s

2.Theory of Powerful Media Put to the Set Test

• Payne Fund studies in US pioneer example of the second phase

• Studies effects of films on children/youths• Hovland’s studies value of films:brainwashing• Studies i.e. the harms of TV after 1950s

• In time new types of variables• Joseph Klapperno direct effect of media• Values embedded into the media• Impossible accepting a life

advertising/propoganda-based

3.Powerful Media Rediscovered

• No (Minimal effect) theory seen as «media impotence»

• Lang&Lang «no effect» as a myth• Minimal effect short-term effects on individuals• Unwillingness to accept «minimal effect» arrival

of TV• Early investigation relied on • «degree of exposure»

• New researchs shift attention to long term • Attention intervening variables of context• Newer theoriesrebirth of «direct-effect theory»• Noelle-Neumann «return to the concept powerful mass media»

4.Negotiated Media Influence

• Media texts beginning in late 1970s• A new approach «social constructivist»• Bankruptcy of behaviourism• Noelle-Neumann spiral of silence• Spiral of silence 2 main thrusts1. Construct social formations2. People’s reality vs. offered symbolic interactions

• Many studies on how media interact important social movements in society

• Constructivist Approach not replaced earlier effect process

• Perse (2001) key points important rather than historical account

• Perse 4 models she named

1. Direct effects2. Conditional effects3. Cumulative effects4. Cognitive-Transactional effects

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!

Created by;

Halil İbrahim ULUHAN