MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY an introduction Paul Hodkinson ®SAGE Los Angeles | London j New Delhi Singapore | Washington DC
MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY an introduction Paul Hodkinson
®SAGE Los Angeles | London j New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC
Contents
List of illustrations xi Acknowledgements xii
1 Introduction 1 Introduction 1
Media, culture, society 1 Starting points: shaping, mirroring and representing 4 The communication process 6
Transmitters, receivers and noise 7 'Who says what. . .? ' and other questions 8 Linear and one-dimensional 9
Elements of media in socio-cultural context 10 Media, power and control 13 Media, identity and culture 13
Making connections 14
PART 1 ELEMENTS OF MEDIA 17
2 Media Technologies 19 Introduction 19 Contrasting medium theories 20
McLuhan: the medium is the message 20 Kill your television 22
Technological determinism 26 Hot, cool or both? 26 Generalization and reification 28 Technologies and social contexts 29 Capacities and constraints 31
Into the digital age 32 Convergence 33 Interactivity 34 Mobility 35
The Internet: a cure for social ills? 35 Conclusion: technologies in context 38
M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y
Media Industry Introduction Media organizations
Commercial ownership Concentration of ownership = concentration of
The bottom line: sources of revenue Advertising revenue Direct audience payments Payments between media companies Maximizing audiences
The role of sponsors Governments and regulation
Access restrictions Ownership restrictions Content regulation Deregulation Supporting the industry: copyright
Conclusion: economic determinism?
Media Content Introduction Media texts as arrangements of signs
Signs as arbitrary? Levels of meaning Signs as relational Uncovering mythology Limitations of semiology
Narrative, genre and discourse analysis Narrative analysis Genre analysis Discourse analysis
From quality to quantity: content analysis 'Systematic, objective and quantitative' Categories and coding Population and sample Case study: Gerbner and television violence Limitations of content analysis
Conclusion: putting texts into context
Media Users Introduction US empirical traditions of audience research
Effects research
C O N T E N T S VII
Limited effects and two-step flow 87 Uses and gratifications 89 Functionalist and complacent? 90
Cultural studies: dominant and oppositional readings 92 Encoding, decoding and preferred meanings 92 Social context and differential readings 93 Audiences as cultural producers 95 Ethnographies of audiences, fans and users 97
Conclusion: an uncritical celebration? 99
PART 2 MEDIA, POWER AND CONTROL 103
6 Media as Manipulation? Marxism and Ideology 105 Introduction 105 Marxism and ideology: basics 106 The culture industry as mass deception 107
Unsupported elitism? 110 Ideological meanings • 112
Beyond Marx's materialism 112 Case study: consumerist myths 114
Political economy and ideology 118 Manufacturing consent 118 Cultural imperialism as globalization of ideology 120
Arguments and criticisms 122 Political economic versus cultural approaches 122
Complex communication flows and consumer resistance 123 Conclusion: avoiding easy dismissals 125
7 The Construction of News 127 Introduction 127 Selection, gatekeeping and agenda setting 129
News values 129 Case study: September 11th 2001 134
Constructing stories 135 Differences between news providers 138
Medium 138 Style and market position 139 Political stance 140
Similarities: back to bias and ideology? 140 Class bias 141 Institutional bias 142 Infotainment and depoliticization 144
Conclusion: bad news? 146
vi i i M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y
8 Public Service or Personal Entertainment? Controlling Media Orientation 150 Introduction 150 Public service broadcasting (PSB) 151
Reith and the BBC 151 Differing PSB arrangements 153 Developing PSB principles 154 Enabling or imposing? 155
Censorship: preventing harm and offence 158 Avoiding majority (and minority) offence 158 Pornography 160 Violence 161 Preventing harm or inhibiting freedom? 161
Commercial competition and consumer choice 164 Neo-liberal approaches 165 US broadcasting: a free market model 166 A toaster with pictures: the decline of regulation 167
Conclusion: a rosy commercial future? 170
9 Decline of the National Public: Commercialization, Fragmentation and Globalization 173 Introduction 173 Media and the public sphere 174
Habermas' public sphere 174 Media and public engagement 175
Nation as 'imagined community' 177 Decline of the public sphere 180
From facilitators to shapers 180 Commercially driven content 181
Digital dilution of the nation 183 Fragmentation 183 Globalization 184 The Internet: interactive but fragmented 186
Conclusion: national public - good riddance? 190
PART 3 MEDIA, IDENTITY AND CULTURE 195
10 Media, Ethnicity and Diaspora 197 Introduction 197 Racism and exclusion 198 Representation 200
Under-representation 200
C O N T E N T S
Stereotypical representations 201 The reproduction of subordination 203
Promoting 'positive' images 204 Reversing stereotypes of passivity 205 Successful, well-adjusted, integrated 206 The burden of representation 208
New ethnicities and diaspora 209 New ethnicities 209 Diaspora 210 Representing diaspora 211
Audience segregation 212 Newspapers, video and global Bollywood 213 Digital specialization 214 Online diaspora 215
Conclusion: empowerment or ghettoization? 216
11 Media, Gender and Sexuality 219 Introduction 219 Constructions of femininity 220
Female marginalization 220 The male gaze 221 Patriarchal romance and domesticity 222 Post-feminist independence? 223 The enduring gaze 224
Elitist critics? 227 Empowering possibilities 229
Reading the romance 229 Subversive pleasures? 230 From consumers to producers 232 Remaining critical 233
Media and masculinities 234 Masculinity or masculinities? 234 Lads' mags and contradictory representations 236
Beyond heterosexuality 237 Conclusion: a balanced approach 241
12 Media Communities: Subcultures, Fans and Identity Groups 243 Introduction 243 Media versus community 244
Homogenization and atomization 244 Resisting mass culture (and media): youth subcultures 246
Moral panic and mass media stigmatization 248
M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y
Targeting community 250 Local media 250 Niche magazines and consumer groupings 252 Niche digital media 255
DIY media and Internet communication 256 Fanzines 256 Online micro-communication 257 Virtual community 258 Communities or individuals? 259
Conclusion: all about definitions? 261
13 Saturation, Fluidity and Loss of Meaning 265 Introduction 265 Saturation as loss of meaning 266
Consumerism: expansion and speed-up 266 Information overload 267
Media = reality 269 From truth, to ideology, to simulacra 270 Celebrity culture as hyperreal 271
Identity: fragmentation and fluidity 273 Recycling and pastiche 273
The Internet as virtual playground 275 Simulated identity? 275 Internet as extension of everyday life 278 Case study: social networking sites 279
Conclusion: saturated but real? 281
Glossary 285 References 300 Index 312