class 1+2 - the role of the media

This chapter only is 2 classes and will only have 3 txtbk questions

Media

• any form of communication that targets a mass audience   * traditional or new   * very pervasive
• represent one of the core pedagogical forces in contemporary society   * how we learn
• ==define boundaries between groups, define social problems, and shape public debates==   * ==us v them mentality develops==   * ==stigmatized others==     * ==seen as a threat to the way of life==       * ==people on social welfare, single parents, mental illness, street kids==       * ==the powerLESS of society==     * ==only need to fail to conform to conventional norms and expectations to be labeled this way==     * ==stigmatized others can be framed through media as absolute others==       * ==welfare users were equated with terrorists through media coverage in the uk==   * ==absolute others==     * ==seen as truly and inherently evil==       * ==psychopaths, terrorists, pedophiles==     * ==their behaviors are so offensive that their rejection is seen as not only natural but necessary==
• before social media, we were in the place of consuming, but now we are in the   * social media has a democratizing effect, where everyday people can get their message out
• approaches to media study/analysis   * administrative     * explores the effects of media on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (relates to objectivist/positivist approaches to deviance)       * trying to look for a cause-effect relationship       * why do people think, feel, and do because of media       * looking at the individual   * critical     * explores how the media construct events, issues, and identities (relates to subjectivist/interpretive-critical approaches to deviance       * understanding society, power, social control       * the kinds of images and messages media conveys about terrorists, young offenders, sex workers

Media and Individuals: Administrative Research

Advertising

• based on the art of persuasion
• research explores who says what to whom and with what effects

Media Violence

• the most researched topic in media studies
• correlational v experimental research   * experimental: in the short term, exposure to media violence appears to raise peoples level of aggression, but we don’t know if the level of aggression persists
• questions remain as to whether exposure desensitized people to violence or whether it stimulates feelings of vulnerability prompting violence as a wall of protection   * mean world view     * through exposure to violent media, we come away with the impression that the world is a dangerous place. because of that we use violence as a wall of protection

\ Media and Society: Critical Research

Framing

• refers to the overall way that an issue is depicted in the media
• frames of race/ethnicity:   * absence or inauthentic presence,     * stereotypes   * racializing the body     * features that get exaggerated   * being a social threat     * example: perceived overrepresentation of Chinese Canadian youth in universities which is harmful to the youth
• implications: erased from public consciousness, voices unheard/they are silenced, representations integrated into identities (this shapes how marginalized groups see themselves), and impact on policy (getting targetted in very specific ways, or being excluded in social policy)   * ==SYMBOLIC annihilation==     * ==not being there in media==
• frames of gender   * feminine touch     * sexualized   * ritualization of subordination     * women are presented as subordinate to men, and power dynamics and physical submission   * licensed withdrawal   * women are presented as brain-dead and vacant   * infantilization   * presentation of women as little girls   * pervasive   * often sexualized   * masculinity     * emotionless and logical     * dominant, protective     * power, aggressive     * violent     * authority     * men rather than boys     * entitled

Media Ownership

• media content is intertwined with the structure of media ownership
• convergence   * media companies own multiple forms of media     * a single company can own internet services, tv stations, magazines, newspapers etc.
• conglomeration   * media companies merging or buying out each other
• concentration   * media ownership and control are concentrated in fewer and fewer hands

\ claim of normalcy

• everyone else if doing it so it’s okay

\ Media Strategies

• these are to make continued and growing profit   * sensationalism     * emphasizing the most dramatic issues and events and its elements       * overexaggeration   * simplification     * breaking down and simplifying issues and events so that the audience doesn’t need to think much about it     * this grossly distorts complex phenomena or issues       * individualizing things as the explanation for something and ignoring the social and structural issues that are included in it   * standardizatoin     * information and storyline media are presented in ways that fit into neat formulas     * tend to fit with prevailing ideas, attitudes, and beliefs (dominant moral codes)   * symbolization     * media create and perpetuate stereotypes       * certain racial and ethnic groups are more prone to certain kinds of deviance or crime

Media and Deviance/Crime

peoples attitudes and beliefs are largely formed by media

• disproportionate focus on violence   * mean world view
• there’s an oversimplification, lack of looking at context

\ However

media messages are not homogeneous

• left or right leaning in views
• promote or challenge the status quo
• the right leaning, more dominant moral code media is given more legitimacy

\ how we make sense of media depends on our

• past experiences
• backgrounds
• identities

\ media and media consumption is not simple cause and effect

\ Consequences

• moral panics   * periods of heightened concerns about some issue     * common source or focus is youth because they’re vulnerable       * presented as they exist in opposition to adults       * imply that this is the tip of the iceberg of something that is much more pervasive       * often just takes a singular event and people turn them into crisis situations         * this generation…
• risk society   * led to believe that everything is associated with some kind of risk   * this exposure leads to support of legislature and policy changes that are harsher     * those kinds of measures makes the problems worse

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