Chapter 8. Media and Technology

Technology - describes the application of science to address the problems of daily life - all encompassing of tools such as calculators to cell phones

Technological stratification - technology access often creates changes that lead to ever greater inequalities

There are two forms of technological stratification

• Differential class - based access to technology in the form of the digital divide

• Knowledge gap - an ongoing and increasing gap in information for those who have less access to technology

e-readiness - the ability to sort through, interpret, and process knowledge

Planned obsolescence - business practice of planning for a product to be obsolete or unusable from the time it is created - Ex. women’s stockings

Embodied energy - calculation of all the energy costs required for the resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, marketing, and disposal of a product

Media - refers to all print, digital, and electronic means of communication

Without technology - media would not exist

Patents - three types of innovation

• Utility patent - Invention or discovery of any new and useful process, product, or machine, or for a significant improvement to existing technologies

• Design patent - Architecture and industrial design, this means someone has invented a new and original design for a manufactured product

• Plant patents - recognize the discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced

Such evolving patents - created new forms of social organization and disorganization

Schmeiser - found Monsanto’s genetically modified “Roundup Ready” canola growing on his farm - he saved the seed and grew his own crop, but Monsanto tried to charge him licensing fees because of their patent

Anderson and Tushman - suggest an evolutionary model of technological change, in which a breakthrough in one form of technology leads to a number of variations

Print media - early forms found in ancient Rome - hand-copied onto boards and carried around to keep the citizenry informed - now reduced significantly

Invention of the printing press - the way people people shared ideas changed -information could be mass produced and stored

Telegraph - mid-1800s - information could be transmitted in minutes

Television - mid-20th century - newspaper circulation steadily dropped off - more people turn to internet news sites and other forms of new media to stay informed

Digital media overtaken print media - less costly

Radio - first “live” mass medium - information and enjoyment can be at home or on the go

Quality programming and a global perspective - PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), and CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

Film industry - 1930s, when colour and sound were first integrated into feature films - early films were unifying for society - Hollywood and Bollywood are still very active

New media - encompasses all interactive forms of information exchange - including social networking sites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and virtual worlds

Popular video game and movie titles geared toward children and teens - shows the vast spectrum of violence that is displayed, condoned, and acted out

Anderson and Bushman - reviewed 40-plus years of research on the subject - links violent video game use and aggression - children who had just played a violent video game demonstrated an immediate increase in hostile or aggressive thoughts, emotions, and physiological arousal

Advertising - technology and media have allowed consumers to bypass traditional advertising venues

Thomas Friedman - landmark study, identified several ways in which technology “flattened” the globe and contributed to our global economy - claims core economic concepts were changed by personal computing and high-speed internet

Media globalization - the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas

Technological globalization - refers to the cross-cultural development and exchange of technology

Lyons - suggests that multinational corporations are the primary vehicle of media globalization - corporations control global mass-media content and distribution

Mass media control and ownership - Bell, Telus, and Rogers control over 80% of the wireless and internet service provider market

Critical sociology - political ideology and cultural colonialism occurs with technological growth

Functionalist - might focus on how technology creates new ways to share information about successful crop-growing programs, or on the economic benefits of opening a new market for cell phone use

Interpretive sociologists - global exchange of views creates the possibility of mutual understanding and consensus

Feminist perspective theorists - believe it is crucial in creating and reinforcing gender stereotypes

Cyberfeminism - New media and feminism - application and promotion of feminism online

China’s authoritarian government - blocks the use of certain terms, such as “human rights” and passes new laws that require people to register with their real names, making it more dangerous to criticize government actions

Technological globalization - impacted in large part by technological diffusion - spread of technology across borders

Same patterns of social inequality that create a digital divide in the West also create digital divides in peripheral and semi-peripheral nations.

Africa’s poorest countries - lack of infrastructure and no access to telephones - a shared phone program created by the Grameen Foundation is put in place so people would have access to a “village phone”

We are socialized and resocialized by media throughout our life course

Gatekeeping - the sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into a mass media–appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount - defined by Shoemaker and Voss

Panoptic surveillance - envisioned by Jeremy Bentham and later analyzed by Michel Foucault - increasingly realized in the form of technology used to monitor our every move

Neo-Luddites - people who see technology as symbolizing the coldness and alienation of modern life

Technophiles - technology symbolizes the potential for a brighter future

Technological middle ground - technology might symbolize status or failure (owning expensive technology vs basic technology)