MST 100 - The History of Media (The Sociocultural Context)

society*

• institutions and relationships

• General term, institutes and relationships w/in which a relatively large group of people live

• Abstract condition in which such relationships form

culture*

• ways of life, knowledge, beliefs, practices, and expressions

• Intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development

• Intellectual and artistic works: High culture – Popular culture – Folk culture

• A particular way of life, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired

why does media matter?

• help us encounter and understand both society and culture

• vital link how we see and understand our relationship with our society and culture.

• media has a large impact on our society and culture in Canada. It creates and reinforces how we understand the world and ourselves within it.

What was communication limited by before mass media?

• distance

• speed

• transportation

• access

before print, there was…

writing

• Memory can exist outside the human body

• Knowledge can travel across time + space

  • But who can read? Write? Controls the records?

Europe, 1400s

• The Renaissance led to renewed interest in:

  • Learning

  • Human potential

  • Reason

  • Ideas

    • A changing society creates new communication needs, e.g., the printing press.

what did print do?

print changed possibilities

• Before the printing press, reproducing text was time-consuming; the printing press changed that by making it quicker and easier to spread information.

why does print become important?

a feedback loop

Print expands access

ideas become harder to contain

• More copies = more readers = info travels greater distances = less control over ideas

  • print expanded access, but did not mean it was distributed equally

The European Roots of Media and Western Society

• Allowed individuals to develop and record their ideas

  • Could be more readily shared

the enlightenment

the time for

• reason

• science

• rights

• public debate

The industrial revolution, communication, and social form

• All the changes created a communication need

• All the moving parts need someone in charge to coordinate

the problem of distance returns

• Industrial society has a communication problem

  • people move

  • goods move

  • market expand

  • cities grow

telegram breaks the link

Before

• Communication was impacted by the speed of communication

  • Had to wait for a person or animal to transport it

After

• Info moves faster than people

the early evolution of media

Media development in this context is close to geographical and social distances.

• The media becomes increasingly layered. New media builds on older types of media.

• New media respond to changing social needs

  • Telegraph → information across distance

  • Telephone → voice across distance

  • Photography → memory + distant events

  • Film → mass entertainment + leisure

from communcation to mass commuciaction

one → many

• newspaper

• film

• radio