Theories of the Media 2M

Question 1

what does functionalism see the mass media as?

Answer 1

an agency of socialisation and helps to integrate people by communicating the common values, norms and aspirations of society

Question 2

what functions do functionalists believe the media performs

Answer 2

• complimentary functions to the family and education
• reinflects and reinforces value consensus

Question 3

when was the functionalists view of the media in its prime and why

Answer 3

-until the 1970s
- sees individuals passive recipients of socialisation ( too simplistic)
societies changing nature made this seem too outdated and simple

Question 4

what do Pluralists beleive about the mass media

Answer 4

• reflects common values to some extent (inline with functionalism)
• society has become more diverse and media has changed to reflect these developments and differences

Question 5

Blondel 1969

Answer 5

• no single group in society has the monoply on power and control
• mass media is diverse and therefore no single group controls it

Question 6

supporting evidence for pluralistic view

Answer 6

• media now interacts with its audience
  -old media allows for viewers to phone in to radios and reply to shows
• new media like instagram allows the audience to directly comment straight away
• supproting idea that the audience influences the media

Question 7

what do postmodernists believe about the mass media

Answer 7

• offers a wide range of indentities and lifestyles from which people pick and chose
• people increasingly constructing their own identities from images and lifestyles presented by the media

Question 8

simularity between postmodern and pluralist

Answer 8

both see the the audience as a diverse group who use the media in differnt ways

Question 9

what type of society do we live in in accordance to post modernists

Answer 9

• a media saturated society - media presents us with images which increasingly dominate the way we see ourselfs and the world around us
• media images are themselfs not distorted but realities

Question 10

what do post modernists say increased exposure to the media causes

Answer 10

• blurs the divison between our everyday reality and media images
  media provides us with much of our knowledge about the world but is mot drawn from our own direct experience
• it is redproduced knowledge, representing the real thing but is not a true or genuine representation

Question 11

what do marxists believe about the mass media

Answer 11

• serves the interests of the RC and capitalism
• able to manipulate media content and audiecnes in their own interests
• evidenced in ownership of the media, both old and new are owned by large multi national coroporations headed by wealth individuals

Question 12

what do marxists think the media encourages the audience to do

Answer 12

• buy products and servies capitalism products through advertising and sponsorship

Question 13

what do marxists think the media diverts from

Answer 13

• attention away from unfair nature of capitalism
• entertainment becomes like a ‘happy drug’ prevetning subject class from seeing their explotation (maintains false consciousness)

Question 14

what do marxists assume about the audience

Answer 14

• the audience is passive, unthinking and uncritical
• exposed to undemanding, trivial, and uncritical content and a limited range of opinions in manipulated through biased reports
• prevents audience from thinking about serious issues or adopting a view counter to that of the RC

Question 15

what do Neo-Marxists beleive about the RC control over the media

Answer 15

• control is indirect and more subtle than traditional marxists
• key power of the RC is to control ideas, values and attitudes

Question 16

what is meant by the term hegemony

Answer 16

• developed by Gramsci
• refers to the idea that, through spread dominant ideology of the RC, other SC are persuaded to accept the values and attitudes of that ideology as reasonable and normal
• values of dominant class become part of everyday common sense
• values are accepted and consented by to by the rest of society, therefore presented in the media

Question 17

what was the frankfurt school

Answer 17

• school of neo marxists who were critical of the domination of the mass media in modern capitalist society
• mass media created false needs in people, to buy and consume products - to make them feel happy
• believed the meida presented mass culture to keep the subjecy class distracted, happy and entertained