Mass and Social Media

sociology 1000

Mass Media

print, radio, television and other communication technology

Social Media

the apps and website that allow people to interact and create/share content

Truth Bubbles

small chamber where people only hear information that support their idea by choosing the sources to correspond with their own attitudes

americans trust in mass media

low, dropping and divided

stages of mass media

print media, radio and television, internet, online gaming

Print media

1800, news paper became cheap and widespread, first mass media, required physical transportation

Radio and Television

second, 1900, radio widespread by 1950, tv was standard, allowed news to reach millions at a time

First Internet

1960, ARPANET, US defence department created to survive nuclear attacks to reroute signals. also caused the world wide web to start in 1991

Internet today

multi platform media, interactive media

Gaming industry

part of modern culture, creates social places, affects identity and behaviour, influences media industries, creates global and political issues, affects youth and education, shapes future.

Government controlling media

regulates media to protect canadian culture, limit american media dominance and support local artists

CTRC

created to regulate broadcasting and telecommunications

Online streaming act

Bill C-11, regulates online platforms, support locals

Online news act

Bill C-12, regulates google and meta, must pay canadians news outlets when sharing links to news stories

Functionalist Perspective

focuses on mass media, media helps society stay stable,

functions of media

coordinate society, agent of socialization, social control and entertainment.

how does media coordinate society

society is too big and face to face is no longer enough, helps people stay connected, informed and organized

how is media agent of socialization

families used to teach norms, now media also influences it

how is media a social control

helps ensure conformity, shows crime, punishment, shame and moral lessons that reinforce norms of right and wrong

how is media entertainment

a way for people to release tension safely

Conflict Perspective

some people benefit more than others, favors dominant class and political groups, helps rich and politicians, spread idea that make people accept inequality

According to conflict theorists, who controls most media in Canada?

A small number of giant corporations

What is media concentration?

When a few companies own most of the media, giving them control over what information the public receives.

Why is media concentration a problem according to conflict theory?

It lets the rich control information, shape public opinion, and protect their own interests.

What is the advertising bias?

Media avoid criticizing corporations because they rely on corporate advertisers for money.

What is the sourcing bias in media?

News relies mainly on government and corporate sources, which shapes stories in favour of the powerful.

flak

Negative reactions or pressure from powerful groups when journalists criticize them, discouraging independent reporting.

How does social media support the conflict perspective?

Social media platforms profit from user data, control the algorithm, and shape what people see based on corporate interests.

How is digital surveillance connected to conflict theory?

Governments and corporations monitor online activity to control or suppress dissent.

What does conflict theory say about influencers?

Influencers provide free advertising, generate profit for big platforms, and participate in a system that enriches corporations.

How does mass media create false political legitimacy?

By presenting society's inequalities as normal, natural, or the best possible system

How does media maintain the status quo?

By spreading beliefs that support capitalism, consumerism, and existing power structures.

how do the powerful benefit

media spreads beliefs that support their system and media ownership

Horizontal Concentration

until 1990, media used many outlets of same type, firms controlled as many productions possible in their field

Vertical Integration Concentration

form 1990, A corporation controls resources at different stages of distribution within a particular industry, media firms control productions and distribution in many fields

Problem with horizontal

does not give expressive diverse viewpoints that democracy needs

Media conglomerate

Companies that control a large number of media sources across several types of media outlets.

Media Bias

Chomsky and Herman, through advertising, sourcing and flak

Conglomerate ownership

Marginalization of alternative non-corporate views

you are the product mean

media depends on advertisers, so content avoids upsetting them, audiences attention is sold to advertisers

Common enemy

Media highlights people, groups, or ideas as threats in ways that reinforce dominant societal beliefs and support the powerful.

How does mass media promote consumerism?

Ads, shows, and news encourage buying and spending, making consumerism seem normal and desirabl

Why do conflict theorists still make a valid point despite media promoting core societal values?

Because while media promotes accepted values, it still favors the powerful by shaping content, controlling narratives, and limiting dissenting views.

How does mass media support democracy and capitalism?

Media presents political and economic systems positively, promoting participation and acceptance of these societal structures.

Attention Capital

The capacity to gain, hold onto, and spread attention. works with social capital (who you know) and cultrual capital (skills) to create economic capital

Whos considered an influencers

Creators who gain a large following are a valuable asset to advertisers.

Media Voluntarism

A school of thought that holds that we are free to choose the media messages that suit us—we decide who we are,which imagined communities we will join; the mass media justoffers us options.

Cultural studies

focuses also on the way audiences filter and interpret mass media messages in the context of their own interests, experiences, and values.

Representation

The use of signs for the purpose of conveying meaning.• People produce meaningful communication by employing signs to represent objects, people,events, and ideas.

Interpretative frame

It's the framework of assumptions, ideas, and experiences we use to interpret signs, symbols, and messages.

Selective Representation

Media and people choose which signs to show and how to show them. This influences how we think about things, like social roles or events

Stuart Hall

argues that we need to take both production and consumption of media products. Argues that producers encode messages with intended meaning but audiences might decode them differently with their own interpretation.

Cancel Culture

publicly rejecting or withdrawing support from people based on actions and words. audiences interpret media differently from their producers intentions

Interpretive approach

a way of studying media that focuses on how people create and understand meaning rather than just looking at facts or effects.

Feminist Approach

focus on representation and misrepresentation of women in the mass media

1970 feminist focus

found that news rarely mentioned issues of importance for many women, newsworthy issues were associated with men, and they were likely used as news source and to deliver the news

misogny

hate for women, media helped it grow online

Manosphere Cyberviolence

mens online spaces encourage misogyny for women, share a sense of victimhood, blame contemporary feminism

Intersectionality and the media

different identities intersect, reinforces racist sterotypes mixed with sexism. representing black women as loud, hyper sexual and out of conrtol.

Postructualism

media creates multiple realities each with what they think is true, creates simulations and lets people create their own version of truth

simulations created in mass media

people believe in them more than real world, as a result people experience a weakened capacity to comprehend reality as it is

poststructuralism view on social media

lets people create content, find like minded people and share ideas with them, now its possible to live in a truth bubble that reinforces their values while excluding the rest.

Forms of control

Access, content, advertising, algorithms

Access as control

the internet needs expensive technology and infrastructure that need to be paid, not open to everyone, rich have betetr access creating more inequality

Content as a control

most of the world's content is by American companies and culture, media starts favoring western norms and shapes what people think globally, other cultures get overshadowed

Media Imperialism

domination of a mass medium by a single national culture and the undermining of other national cultures

Advertising as Control

influences consumers to buy products and services, influences what you, shapes your preferences, tracks behaviour from history, searches

Algorithism as Control

decides what you see, videos recommended, and google autocompletes searches, biased in them favour privileged and right groups increases inequality

what resists the internet control

countertrends like fog off movement

net neutrality controversy

principle that internet service providers do not control what content people can access, maximizes freedom, innovation, user choice, access online education, information what would not be available without full access

media affecting identity

offers opportunities to change the way they present themselves to others and explore others aspects of themselves that are hidden in social interaction.

Media affecting social relations

adds to relationships, stay connected to others, online communities help people bond over shared interests, create communities that are multiplex, variegated, personalized, portable and ubiquitous

media affecting social activism

new way to engage in social change, people advocate and spread awareness of issues, right and causes, mobilize others fro petitions, meetings support.

countertrends of social media in activism

governments monitor media to identify arrest or silence activists who don't support their views, and it acts as replacement for high-risk activism by allowing people to like the post without engagion

slaktivism

the practice of supporting a political or social cause by using social media or online petitions, characterized as involving very little effort or commitment.