Media plays an important role in our everyday lives. Why is it important to us?

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Media plays an important role in our everyday lives. Why is it important to us? This is because media can tell us what is exactly going on in the world today, so that we will not be left behind and we can always keep ourselves updated via the media. Media comes in many forms such as newspapers, film, radio, television, computer software, communications network and so forth. While discussing about media, technology and theory are involved. This is because media themselves change quicker than any theory (Bazalgatte, C, 2000, pp.5). But what is ‘media studies’? According to Bazalgette, media studies is a controversial, unstable and immensely important field. This is because it is still new and deals with things that change continuously. Therefore it is hard to be understood, regulated & consumed (Bazalgatte, C, 2000, pp.2). Media studies is considered as a hybrid subject. This is because the ideas and approaches that make up the subject are taken from many different sources (Bazalgatte, C, 2000, pp.3).

Media studies is associated with politics, not just national party politics but the politics of the media. Undeniably, the politics of the media influences our lives as much as government politics and can be fulfilling to investigate since proofs can be found daily all around (Bazalgatte, C, 2000, pp.7). The influences, the impact of the influences and how they may be challenged and modified is what makes up media studies. Bazalgette “identified two basic principles that media studies courses are likely to have in common: using economic and political perspectives as key ways of understanding the media” (Bazalgette, C, 2000, pp.7). Furthermore, media studies also plays an important role in making sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of our everyday lives.

According to Sinclair, “it has become conventional to contrast the main differences in theoretical orientation behind media studies, and their corresponding research methodologies as ‘European’ and ‘American’. In this characterization, ‘European’ means heavily interpretive and holistic in scope – that is, taking a macro perspective, looking down on society as a whole. Its sociopolitical stance is critical of society as it exists, and most often specifically Marxist” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.14). On the contrary, ‘American’ means powerfully empirical, experimental and micro in its scope (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.14). “Its sociopolitical stance is said to be liberal or pluralistic” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.14). It means it is not associated with any sort of sector of the society that interested in changing the world. Moreover, it is more conventional and straight. As a whole, the ‘American’ approach is the contrast of the ‘European’. These approaches were taking in two different points of view. The ‘European’ is taking a macro viewpoint which observes the whole society. The Marxism term is come from the ‘European’. On the other hand, the ‘American’ is taking a micro viewpoint, “its form of knowledge relies on the direct observation of distinct phenomena, preferably controlled and measurable occurrences, like in a laboratory experiment” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.14). The Empiricism term is come from the ‘American’. However, the ‘European’ and ‘American’ are related to each other and cannot completely be separated in the media theories. This is because the aspects of each are found in the other. ‘Positivism’ is then produced by the Europe, fundamentally ‘positivism’ means “the idea that the methods of natural science can and should be applied to understand and control society and culture, which includes the media” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.14). Moreover, it is the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation).

This is a preview of the whole essay

However, in order to understand the contemporary media studies, it is important and imperative to know about the significant of the ‘Frankfurt School’ and its tradition (Jay 1974; Slater 1977). The Marxism was also brought up by them. The member of this group had described a critique of the rise of the mass media. The mass media is referring to the ‘new’ media nowadays such as the media of cinema, radio and so on. However, the critique that they made is actually defining the significant direction for Marxist criticism (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). This is said to be the ideological critique of the media – “the idea that the media, taken together, form an institution within capitalism which serves to reconcile the exploited class to its fate” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). By the 1980s, the widespread theoretical orientation in media studies had arisen. “In its simplest formulation, this view argues that the media induce ‘false consciousness’ through diversion and misinformation, so that the working class never realizes the historical destiny which Marx predicted for it – namely, to unite and overthrown capitalism. That is, media audiences are seen as ‘cultural dopes’ (Garfinkel 1967) who absorb the ideological messages present in all media contents which induce them to believe that capitalism is both desirable and inevitable, and that they should accept their place within it” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). This clearly shows that people are easy to be influenced by the media, and that is why they believe in capitalism. Besides, media is actually propaganda. People are easily to believe and get influenced about what it shows through the media without thinking twice. For examples, CNN (Cable News Network in US), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and so on. The news that broadcasted in CNN about the

Terrorism of September eleventh in New York was making the people around the world worried about their safety. People did not think twice about whether it was the real situation or not, they just believe it. Obviously, this shows that people are the ‘cultural dopes’.

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) had brought up an idea named ‘hegemony’ to make the ideological critique about media. ‘Hegemony’ can be defined as domination and power to control the state over its allies. In the conception of ‘hegemony’, “the bourgeoisie (or ruling class) achieved its power over the proletariat (working class) only by achieving its always resistant and unstable consent, rather than by illusion or deception. This was a significant reformulation for media studies because it has encouraged the analysis of the polysemic nature of messages – that is, their multiple meanings, as distinct from just one, dominant ideological meaning” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). This means that the ruling class is controlling the working class because of their power in the hierarchies. However, political would include anything related to hierarchies of power. But how does the media help to maintain these hierarchies of power and domination within the society?

The political control of some people over the others depends on who owns the media. It is now bordering on the economic aspects already. For other examples, the economic aspects also included the arguments about media as commodity and advertising purpose.

Via the concept of ‘hegemony’, the Western Marxism was able to slot in other crucial European interpretive traditions into media studies, which named semiology and structuralism (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). Furthermore, while discussing about Marxism, we are more likely connected with the economic structure. This is because it is the ‘base’ of capitalist society, eventually determined both the political and cultural life (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15). The French communist philosopher Louis Althusser (1918-90) pointed “the way out of Marxist paradigm, almost by giving permission to theorists to think of media messages (and audiences, for that matter) as being amenable to interpretation without reference to their place in the economic structure of capitalism” (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.15).

Moving on to the structuralism, it is largely based in France, was a wide intellectual movement (Sinclair, J, 2002, pp.16). Semiotics and textual analysis are related to the structuralism. But what is semiotics? Semiotics is actually a tool in deconstructing texts so as to see the deeper meanings that are ‘suspended’ within the text. So that it can helps us to understand the media studies in the deeper meanings.

According to Thompson, we are the symbols of the media. The media determines on what we are today and also our self-identify. This is because of the emergence of the symbolic materials which are the things that we live on around us in our daily lives that affect and influence our self-identify. When there was no media, the self was constructed using locales communication as their symbolic materials. The face-to-face interaction has restricted the development of individual’s self (Thompson, J.B., 1995, pp.23). When individual encounters with media, the development of media gives mediated symbolic materials such as images and knowledge of the outside world to develop the self within.

Although the mediated materials do benefit to the self, but there are some negative consequences to it.

Firstly, the ideological material is intruding the self via the use of media. This ideological material has the dominant formation and will control and maintain the symbolic forms. However, this may influence the individual on creating their self-identity (Thompson, J.B., 1995, pp.26). Secondly, it is the double-bind of mediated dependency. The self grows dependent to the media as a source for self-identity. The self is now under the circumstance where individual begins to be very dependent and not rely on this media system (Thompson, J.B., 1995, pp.27). Thirdly, it is the disorientating effect of symbolic overload. It means that the self will never be encountered with only one narrative material for self-formation and not only one mediated material to the view of the outside world (Thompson, J.B., 1995, pp.28). Finally, it is the absorption of self in mediated quasi-interaction. It means the individual depends very much on the mediated materials for constructing the self-identity (Thompson, J.B., 1995, pp.30). Undeniably, media is easily influences and affects our cultural meaning of daily lives. It affects the changes of our identities and behaviors such as the way we dress, the way we think, the way we communicate, so on and so forth.

In conclusion, media studies do plays an important role in making sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of our everyday life.