NW

Media and Consumption Lecture Notes

COURSE OBJECTIVES

  • Students will learn:
    • Definition and development of mass media
    • Major theoretical perspectives on mass media
    • Relationship between media and consumption
    • Key concepts in sociology of consumption

COURSE SUMMARY

  • Mass Media: Definition and types
  • Major theoretical perspectives
  • Media culture and consumption
  • Sociology of consumption

THIS LECTURE IS BASED ON

  • Richard Schaefer – Chapter 6 – The Mass Media
  • Anthony Giddens Chapter – Chapter 17 – The Media

MASS MEDIA

  • Definition: A system of communication enabling large and dispersed audiences to receive content (information or entertainment) via technology.
  • Historical Development:
    • Newspapers: Emerged in the 19th century due to social/economic changes, rising literacy, and technological advancements in communication and transportation; financed by advertising.
    • Radio: Became popular in the 1920s; initially by the US Navy, critical for home information and entertainment during debates over private life, contributed to consumerism through advertising.
    • Television: Introduced in the 1930s but became significant in the 1950s as mass media.

NEW MEDIA

  • Offers more choices and controls to audiences regarding content.
  • Emerging Issues:
    • Piracy
    • Invasion of privacy
    • Link between media content and public morals
    • Access to morally questionable content (e.g., pornography, hate speech)

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

  • Various approaches highlight advantages and risks of mass media, examining:
    • Who communicates
    • What is communicated
    • Communication channels used
    • Audience effects

FUNCTIONALISM

  • Understanding mass media's role in maintaining social order through:
    • Manifest Functions: Intended outcomes of media
    • Latent Functions: Unintended consequences
    • Dysfunctions: Negative impacts on society

AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION

  • Media provides a common cultural view to all audiences.
  • Risks of excessive media exposure, potentially affecting children's interaction with family and reinforcing stereotypes.

ENFORCER OF SOCIAL NORMS

  • Regulates proper behavior by highlighting rule-breakers and reinforcing societal core values (e.g., hard work, education).
  • Stigmatizes socially undesirable behaviors.

PROMOTION OF CONSUMPTION

  • Advertising and product placement are integral to economic growth, merging entertainment with commercialism.

DYSFUNCTION

  • Media idealizes happiness, encourages consumerism, desensitizes viewers, and can bombard them with excessive information.

CRITICISM OF FUNCTIONALISM AND MEDIA

  • Functionalist perspective does not justify media necessity as other institutions may fulfill similar roles.
  • Fails to consider audience interaction with media; assumes passive reception.

CONFLICT THEORY

  • Media as a mechanism for supporting inequalities and prioritizing information relevant to dominant groups, silencing marginalized voices.

GATEKEEPING

  • Media executives control the content reaching audiences, often prioritizing profit over quality.

MEDIA MONITORING

  • Governmental and corporate entities monitor content, raising issues of privacy and control over information.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGY

  • Ideologies reinforce the interests of powerful groups, shaping media content towards maintaining privilege and escapism.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGY AND STEREOTYPES

  • Stereotypes propagate unreliable generalizations and may be perpetuated through media, misrepresenting various groups (e.g., class, gender, race, religion).

STEREOTYPES AND MORAL PANIC

  • Media can incite moral panic, exaggerating societal responses to perceived threats to dominant values.

MEDIA CULTURE AND CONSUMPTION

  • Examines how media contributes to consumer culture and influences politics, values, and contemporary ideas.
    • Marshall McLuhan's concept of the "global village" highlights media's role in creating new social subjects sensitive to aesthetics and advertising.

COMMUNICATION AND CONSUMPTION

  • Modern communication connects the nation state to households, enhancing micro-sociological experiences through media (TV, films, etc.)
  • The household becomes a site of consumption and entertainment.

CONSUMPTION

  • Alan Warde defines consumption as practices involving goods, services, and information.
    • Items may be consumed through market transactions or without purchase.
    • Consumption not only involves using items but also involves understanding their meanings (socially constructed).

CONSUMPTION AND COMMODIFICATION

  • Commodification: The process of integrating products into market relations, often detaching goods from their social production processes.

MASS CONSUMPTION

  • Refers to large numbers consuming similar products due to mass production and marketing, making goods universally accessible.

CATHEDRALS OF CONSUMPTION

  • George Ritzer described various settings where consumption is a combined experience (e.g., theme parks, stadiums) that appeals to consumers.

CONSUMPTION RITUALS

  • Special events (like holidays) lead to collective consumption, fostering community and transformation.

CLASS EXERCISE

  • Reflect on DIY practices in the context of contemporary consumption; discuss the relationship between production and consumption and compare DIY to mass production.