Chapter 16 - Media & Technology

Question 1

Why is technology an important area of study within sociology?

Answer 1

We increasingly rely on technology and media

Question 2

What is technology defined as?

Answer 2

Complex, multifaceted concept

Question 3

Who defined technology as a system involving organization, procedures, symbols, new worlds and a mindset?

Answer 3

Franklin

Question 4

Who said that technology is an assemblage of material things that embodies and reflects societal elements shaped to serve various purposes?

Answer 4

Quan-Haase

Question 5

Who argued that technological determinism ignores the social context?

Answer 5

Raymond Williams

Question 6

What are two key perspectives in the analysis of media?

Answer 6

Political economy & cultural studies

Question 7

What does the political economy perspective of media focus on?

Answer 7

Issues of ownership, policy and globalization

Question 8

What do the cultural studies analyze in the media?

Answer 8

Media messages and content

Question 9

What are the different forms of media ownership?

Answer 9

Private or public

Question 10

What are the different types of private media ownership?

Answer 10

1) horizontal integration
2) vertical integration
3) cross-ownership
4) conglomerate ownership

Question 11

What is horizontal integration?

Answer 11

One company owns media organizations engaged in similar production but different locations

Question 12

What type of private media ownerships is owning media operations linking production, circulations and exhibition/retails?

Answer 12

Vertical integration

Question 13

What type of private ownership is one company owns media enterprises involved in different types of media content?

Answer 13

Cross-ownership

Question 14

What is conglomerate ownership?

Answer 14

Company holds both media and non-media enterprises

Question 15

What are possible implications of private ownership?

Answer 15

May lead to ownership concentration and reducing competition and diversity of content

Question 16

What sets rules for media companies in Canada?

Answer 16

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

Question 17

What does the Marxist theory say about Canadian media?

Answer 17

State in Canada serves the interest of private media companies with deregulation and privatization

Question 18

How does cultural globalization effect media?

Answer 18

Global diffusion of media (Hollywood)

Question 19

How does economic globalization impact media?

Answer 19

International division of labor coordinated by multinational media companies, outsourcing and offshoring

Question 20

What is the popular media people encounter every day?

Answer 20

Mainstream media

Question 21

What do critics argue about representation in media?

Answer 21

Represent dominant ideology

Question 22

What are different representations of less-dominant groups in society?

Answer 22

Under-representation and misrepresentation

Question 23

Who argued that the working class is under-represented in family sitcoms in the US?

Answer 23

Butsch

Question 24

Who argued that female cop films represent women as having different kinds of masculine power?

Answer 24

Dole

Question 25

In later films, how did the representation of women change?

Answer 25

Intellectual rather than physical power

Question 26

What are contradictory messages about the representation of women in media?

Answer 26

Women have some power but still misrepresented and stereotypes as incapable without help

Question 27

What ethnic groups do Canadian studies show underrepresentation of?

Answer 27

Francophones, blacks, indigenous

Question 28

How did Hall explain how dominant ideology is woven into media texts through a complex process of encoding?

Answer 28

Meanings or factors are embedded in media content

Question 29

What are the 3 possible ways of decoding media texts according to Hall?

Answer 29

1) Dominant-hegemonic reading - taking preferred reading 2) oppositional reading - rejecting message by interpreting it through alternative ideological framework 3) negotiated reading - mixture of dominant-hegemonic and oppositional readings and is contradictory

Question 30

Who argued that the process of decoding is affected by the social position of the viewer?

Answer 30

Morley

Question 31

What are forms of communication used by subordinate groups or social movements?

Answer 31

Alternative media

Question 32

What are criticisms of the political economy perspective of media?

Answer 32

Development of internet linked to US department of defense, access to internet linked to private companies and internet contributes to globalization

Question 33

What is the Criticism of cultural studies in media?

Answer 33

Internet extends mainstream media and circulates it worldwide, and facilitates alternative media

Question 34

What two sociological approaches examine the close link between technology and society?

Answer 34

Conflict theory and feminism

Question 35

What theory helps us consider how technology is linked to inequalities in society?

Answer 35

Conflict theory

Question 36

What refers to systematic differences in terms of access to and use of information and communications technologies?

Answer 36

Digital divide

Question 37

What group of students has been most disadvantaged with current COVID conditions?

Answer 37

First Nations and new immigrants

Question 38

What approach provides insight into the ways technology affects men and women differently and how it might lead to social change?

Answer 38

Feminism

Question 39

What are the two views on the relation between women and technology?

Answer 39

1) Women’s liberation view - technology can liberate women by supporting different choices 2) women’s oppression view - technology can enslave women as they rely on it more and more

Question 40

What are the two feminist views of reproductive technologies?

Answer 40

1) Women’s liberation view - offer women more options and control over their bodies 2) women’s oppression view - enable male domination

Question 41

What are feminist scholars interested in media wise?

Answer 41

Media images in terms of relation to their feminist and masculinity

Question 42

What are the two women’s views on social media?

Answer 42

1) women’s liberation view - enables both genders to craft an online self 2) perpetuates gender stereotypes and pressure to conform to an ideal body type