Chapter 2

Perspectives on Mass Communication

 KEY TERMS
Paradigm: a model or pattern that a person uses to analyze
something
1. Functional approach: emphasizes the way that audiences
use mass communication and the benefits that people
receive from media consumption
2. Critical/cultural approach: examines the underlying
power relationships in media exposure and stresses the
many meanings and interpretations that the audience
members find in media content
3. Empirical approach: uses the techniques of the social
sciences, such as experiments and surveys, to investigate
the cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of mass
communication*
*the empirical approach is covered later on in the semester. We will only be discussing the functional and critical/cultural approach in this chapter
 Why Use A Paradigm?
1. It provides us with a consistent
perspective from which to examine mass
communication
2. It generates concepts that are helpful in
understanding media behavior
3. It helps us identify what is or is
not important in the process
 Example: The Apprentice
The functional approach would ask why
people watch this show. What about the
show appeals to men, or women? Does
the audience learn anything? Do people
like to play along? Do they talk about
the show with their friends?

The critical/cultural approach would

investigate the role editing and casting
plays in creating a reality experience,
how does the show portray capitalism?
Does it suggest wealth is an important
value? Does it glorify competition over
cooperation?
 Functional Analysis

Asks, “why?”

•Why do you watch TV?

•Why do you go to the movies?
•Why do you use Facebook?
 Mass Communication In Society
• Mass media is pervasive
• Different people use different media for different purposes
• Society requires communication
• Function/dysfunction

Two types of analyses:

1. Macroanalysis: take the perspective of a sociologist and look
through a wide- angle lens to consider the functions performed
by the mass media for the entire society
2. Microanalysis: look through a close- up lens at the individual
receivers of the content, the audience, and ask them to report
on how they use mass media
 Functions of Mass Communication for
Society
• Surveillance: the news and information
role of the media*. The media as sentinels
and lookouts. On any given day, about 60
million Americans are exposed to mass-
communicated news
• Beware surveillance: when the
news/information media warn the public
about something. i.e. weather alerts,
terrorism warnings, global warming
• Instrumental surveillance: information that
is useful in an everyday manner. e.g. stock
prices, movie listings, “lifestyle” articles

*Not all types of surveillance come from the traditional news

media. For example, HBO’s Sex and the City performed a
surveillance function for fashions and designer footwear.
 Consequences Of Relying On The Media
Surveillance Function
• With electronic media, news travels
FAST
 It took months for the news of the end of the
War of 1812 to travel across the Atlantic. In
contrast, more than 90% of the U. S.
population knew about the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, within 2 hours of the
events.
 Sometimes speed leads to inaccuracy
 In 2011, NPR erroneously reported that
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had died
following a shooting incident in Tucson,
Arizona.
 The media shows us more than we can
personally verify
 Credibility is what makes news believable,
reliable. According to the news, the Mars rover
is collecting data. Can you personally verify
this?
 Dysfunctions Of The Media
• Media can cause panic
and anxiety
In 2004, many reports
concluded bird flu would kill
150 million people worldwide
(this never happened)
• The media decides
what/who “matters”
status conferral: media
attention raises prominence
 Interpretation
• The mass media do not supply just
facts and data, they also provide
information on the ultimate
meaning and significance of events
• Media gatekeepers decide what
makes it into the
newscast/newspaper/magazine
and what doesn’t
• Editorials, TV news specials, cable
news roundtable shows, reviews,
political cartoons
Consequences: many opinions are
presented, there is no guarantee that
opinions by experts are accurate and
valid, people might let the media do their
thinking for them
 Linkage
• Mass media are able to join
different elements of society
that are not directly connected
Advertising links the needs of buyers
with the products of sellers
• When geographically separated
groups share a common interest
and are linked by the media.
Example: Social Networking sites,
eBay, Craigslist

Consequences: In 2011 it was

estimated that there were more than
1,000 “hate” terrorist-related sites on
the Internet; children bullying each
other via social networks; pro-ana
“thinspo” websites
 Transmission of Values
• Also called the socialization function: the ways
an individual comes to adopt the behavior and
values of a group
• By watching the media, we learn how people
are supposed to act and what values are
important
• Consequences:
• Media stereotypes
What do you think some of those are?
How does the media portray the American family over the years?
 Mass Media & Social Values
Sometimes, the media consciously tries to
instill values and behavior in the audience,
and/or enforce social norms

• newspapers reporting
whether or not a car
accident victim was
wearing a seatbelt
smoking on TV
•
anti-drug ads
• Brothers purity
Jonas
pledge
•
 Entertainment
• By 2011 more than 50 million
people in the United States had seen
Avatar at a theater.
• About 110 million people watched
the 2011 Super Bowl on the Fox
Network.
• The video game Call of Duty: Black
Ops sold more than 5 million copies
the first day it was on sale.

The emergence of mobile media and

the internet have increased the
entertainment function of the mass
media
 Consequences Of The
Entertainment Function
Consequences: entertainment that is carried
by the mass media must appeal to a mass
audience. As a result, media content is
designed to appeal to the lowest common
denominator of taste. More programs that
resemble Survivor and Jerry Springer will find
their way to TV than will opera performances.
• We are more apt to see sequels such as
Star Trek VIII than we are to see Much
Ado About Nothing II and More King Lear.
• Rock radio stations outnumber
classical stations 20 to 1.
• Critics have charged that the mass media
will turn Americans into a nation of
watchers and listeners instead of doers.
 How People Use The Mass Media
(Microanalysis)
Functional approach is a uses-and-gratifications
model, that states audiences have needs and desires
that are satisfied by media and non-media sources.
Six category system:
1. Cognition
2. Diversion
3. Social Utility
4. Affiliation
5. Expression
6. Withdrawal
 1. Cognition
The act of coming to KNOW
something
•Using the media to learn
something
•Example: current events,
news
•People use the media in a
cognitive way when they
want to understand the
world
 2. Diversion
Using the media to take our attention
elsewhere. Three major forms of diversion:
1. Stimulation: seeking relief from boredom
or the routine activities of everyday life (I
watch TV because I am bored, this
special on the History Channel interests
me)
2. Relaxation escape from the pressures
and problems of day- to- day existence
(Had a really stressful day at school, I
relax by watching Honey Boo Boo or
reading TMZ) The content is not the
defining factor, since virtually any media
material might be used for relaxation by
some audience members.
3. Emotional release: Media consumption
as catharsis - a release of pent-up
emotion or energy. (horror movies,
tearjerkers)
 3. Social Utility
Social Utility describes the human need
to strengthen contact with family
members, friends, our entire social
group
•Conversational currency: using media as
common ground for connecting with
others
Did you see The Avengers?
What did you think of the Superbowl
commercials?

•Parasocial relationship: the

phenomenon where people develop
(one-sided) relationships with media
characters.
Example: fans of fictional characters, fans
of a band, people who have favorite
American Idol contestants, etc.
 4. Affiliation
Affiliation refers to a person’s
desire to feel a sense of
belonging or involvement
within a social group
The Internet is the primary
medium that fulfills this
function for many people.
• Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
• Others include: online
gaming, instant messaging,
dating and matchmaking
Web sites, and text
messaging
 5. Expression
Self-expression refers to individuals’ need to
express their inner thoughts, feelings, and
opinions.
• The first examples of the need for self-
expression are the cave drawings done by
early human beings
• Since that time, the need for self-expression
has been fulfilled primarily by creative and
artistic activities such as music, painting,
writing, dance, and sculpture
• The Internet has opened up new vistas for
self- expression
• Blogs, commenting on articles
• YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud
• Facebook pages can be personalized to express
a person’s individuality
Expression is an important function for the
individual
 6. Withdrawal
Withdrawal describes using the media to create
a barrier between themselves and other people
•“I’ll do that after I’m done watching my
show.”
Here, attending to mass media content is defined as a
socially appropriate behavior that should not be
interrupted.
•People also use the media to create a buffer
zone between themselves and others.
• When you are riding a bus or sitting in a public place
and do not want to be disturbed, you bury your head
in a book, magazine, or newspaper.
• If you are on an airplane, you might pop in your iPod
ear buds and tune everybody out.
• Television can perform this same function at home by
isolating adults from children (“ Don’t disturb Daddy;
he’s watching the game”) or children from adults (“
Don’t bother me now; go into the other room and
watch Sesame Street ”).
 Critical/Cultural Studies
The critical/cultural approach examines such concepts as ideology,
culture, politics, social structure, and hegemony as they relate to the
role of media in society

• Rooted in Marxism: the best way to understand how a society

worked was to examine who controlled the means of
production that met the basic needs of the population for
food and shelter
• They noted that, just as big firms controlled the production of
economic goods, other big companies controlled the production
of cultural goods
• The Marxist perspective caused many to analyze the impact of
the media industries on the political and economic life of society
and to use interdisciplinary theories and methods in their
investigations
 Critical/Cultural Approach
Great Britain (late 1950s and early 1960s) Scholars at the Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University noted that
members of the British working class used the products of mass
culture to define their own identities through the way they dressed,
the music they listened to, the hairstyles they favored, and so forth.

• The audience did not seem to be manipulated by the media, as

the Frankfurt School argued; instead, the relationship was more
complicated.
• Audience members took the products of mass culture,
redefined their meaning, and created new definitions of their
self- image.
• This emphasis on meaning was reinforced by studies of film
and television.
 Critical/cultural approach
• A theory developed by British film critics
suggested that cinematic techniques (camera
angle, editing, imagery) subtly but effectively
impose on the audience the meanings preferred
by the filmmaker.
• However, audience members were free to resist
and come up with their own meanings.
For example, although the dominant theme in a
documentary about efforts to control pollution might be how
hard industry is trying to control the problem, some in the
audience might see the program as nothing more than an
empty marketing gesture by big companies.
 Critical/Cultural Approach
• Important to the cultural studies group were the
values that were represented in the content.
• Marxists note that the values of the ruling class
became the dominant values that were depicted
in mass media and other cultural products.
• The dominant values that were represented were
those of white, upper- class, Western males.
• The media worked to maintain those values by
presenting versions of reality on TV and films that
represented this situation as normal and natural,
as the way things should be (cultural norms)
 Critical/Cultural Approach
• This approach gained
prominence in the United
States during the 1970s and
1980s, and was adopted by
communication
researchers and scholars
engaged in feminist studies
• Examined the role of the
patriarchy in media and
cultural products
• How were women portrayed in
the 1980s on TV and in film?
How about now?
 Critical/Cultural Approach
• The audience is not passive in
this approach – they are free to
reject or accept cultural norms
encoded into cultural products
• Do you think audiences are
passive or active?
• This approach also includes
studying cultural myths
embodied in mass
communication
Example: Star Trek relies on the telling
of cultural myths of frontier expansion
and exploration
 Key concepts
Culture: is a complex concept that refers to the common values,
beliefs, social practices, rules, and assumptions that bind a group
of people together

Text: is simply the object of analysis. Texts are broadly defined:

They can be traditional media content such as TV programs,
films, ads, and books, or they can be things that do not fit into
the traditional category, such as shopping malls, T-shirts, dolls,
video games, and beaches.

Meaning: the interpretations that audience members take away

with them from the text. In fact, texts have many meanings; they
are polysemic. Different members of the audience will have
different interpretations of the same text.
 Key concepts
Ideology: a specific set of ideas or
beliefs, particularly regarding
social and political subjects. Mass
communication messages and
other objects of popular culture
have ideology embedded in
them.

Hegemony: has to do with power

relationships and dominance. In
the United States, for example,
those who own the channels of
mass communication possess
cultural hegemony over the rest
of us. Maintains the “status quo.”
How are gym teachers represented in our cultural products?