Discuss the role of media studies in making sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of everyday life.

Discuss the role of media studies in making sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of everyday life

In Mass Communications, it is essential to study about the media and hence the subject media studies emerged. The definition of media is- the means to communicating with large numbers of people especially television, radio and newspapers whereas studies is defined as application of mind to any subject for the purpose of acquiring knowledge. In short, media studies mean application of mind to the main means of communicating with large numbers of people especially television, radio and newspaper for the purpose of acquiring knowledge of the subject.

Media studies is ‘controversial’ as it is new and deals with things that is always changing and focuses on many anxieties. (Bazalgette, 2000) The media is so powerful in many ways that it is always blamed for ‘all kinds of social ills, political problems and cultural degeneracy.’ (Bazalgette, 2000) It is also being seen as a ‘harbinger of apocalyptic change’ for better or worse, the change is so fast that no one has actually come out with any ideas what the media’s social, political and cultural effects really are. Media studies is about ‘what we think we know and how we came to know it’. It will become a ‘centre of crucial changes in our thinking about what’s worth learning and how it should be learned’. (Bazalgette, 2000) Media studies is a hybrid subject, meaning ‘the ideas come from many different sources’; it urges us to see why theory is important, exciting and how it is used to develop our own thinking. We are also encouraged to think about a literary text as a ‘commodity’ and why texts are presented this way, who made it, why it was made and in whose interest it was made. In fact, ‘media studies is essentially political as it makes you stop taking everything at face value’. (Bazalgette, 2000) This is because different people interpret media texts differently from others. Media studies also makes you want to look at things in many other sharply contrasting perspectives and ‘wakes you up from influences you knew but were there but not fully aware about’. (Bazalgette, 2000) The media has also been criticized about ignoring established ‘cultural values’ and paying attention instead to ‘trivial and ephemeral material’ but ‘media studies do assert the principle that test are not rendered worthy of study simply through some preordained cultural status’. (Bazalgette, 2000) There are 5 ways of answering the question of what constitute a valid argument for studying a text, they are-popularity, exemplification, notoriety, turning points and aesthetic value. By studying media studies, it ‘makes you more powerful as a reader, gives you the power of choice and to question.’ (Bazalgette, 2000) It really makes you see how everything falls into our daily life and how the balance is kept.

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The Europeans’ ‘social political stance is critical of society and is most often specifically Marxist’; they emphasise more on interpretation and is holistic in scope whereas Americans’ ‘social political stance is said to be liberal or pluralistic’, their approach is more empirical and micro in its scope. (Sinclair, 2002) Europe has strong tradition of ‘positivism’ which is aligned with ‘American’ empiricism and functionalism. (Giddens, 1974, cited in Sinclair, 2000) In short, media studies help us understand the domination of the ruling class over the working class during Marxism. The Frankfurt School argues that the ‘rise of media’ has induced ‘false consciousnesses’ by providing false information to the ‘working class’ to accept Marxism. (Garfinkel, 1976, cited in Sinclair, 2000) They are seen as ‘cultural dopes’ who just absorb the ideology messages found in the media text which lead them to believe that capitalism is both desirable and inevitable to be denied. (Sinclair, 2000) Media studies gives us the chance to see through the falseness and realise the impact it can make on us. Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) on the other hand was one of the many other European theorists who made ideological critique with his idea of ‘hegemony’, meaning the ‘bourgeoisie’ ruled the ‘proletariat’ by getting their consent and not by deception. The ‘hegemony’ concept has revolutionised media studies and stimulated the analysis of ‘polysemic nature of media messages’, in fact with ‘hegemony’ Western Marxist incorporated semiology and structuralism with European traditions. (Sinclair, 2000) Marxism stresses on the importance of economic influences as it aids the development of cultures and politics leading to the differences in classes with one ruling over the other. Later, Louis Althusser (1918-90) reinvented the ideology into ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’ where ‘sphere of society was relatively autonomous of the economic’, a complete opposite to Marxism where the base of capitalist society is formed. (Sinclair, 2000) Media studies has opened our eyes about the different opinions of people about political structures in a society. The British’s interpretation of media and culture were very influential in Australia, Matthew Arnold viewed culture in the nineteenth century as the ‘best’ while F.R and Q.D. Leavis and T.S. Eliot took upon themselves as ‘defenders of a spiritual, aristocratic, traditional and elite high culture from the working class of mass culture.’ (Sinclair, 2000) The development of press, cinema and radio has stirred many critiques of both conservative and radical leading them to a heated debate about mass media and culture.

The Birmingham School has linked the ‘sociological analysis of particular social groups, such as youth subcultures, with media representation and consumption’ in defining the field of British studies. (Turner, 1996, citied in Sinclair, 2000) There was also emphasis of the importance of media images and what it represents in terms of social and political conflicts. An ideological criticism about perspectives of ‘feminism’ and ‘structuralism’ came to attention; the concept of ‘male gaze’ in cinema is the classic example. (Mulvey, 1975, cited in Sinclair, 2000) Structuralism consist of Lacan’s theory of psychoanalytic, Levi-Strauss’ anthropology and Saussure’s semiology all in all known in cultural theory as ‘linguistic turn’. (Sinclair, 2000) This theory emphasise more on the messages the media is trying to convey to the audience subtly through colours, codes, rules, images and texts. The political economy places emphasis on the production and distribution of media content, with scant regard for the meaning of media messages. It does not dispute that media content under capitalism is ideological; instead it takes for granted as ‘obvious, unproblematic and transparent.’ (Sinclair, 2000) Political economy is also closer to orthodox, less ‘cultural’ Marxism places its focus on patterns in ownership and control of the media; ‘strategies of corporate concentration and expansion’ plus the links between capitalist structure and media industries in general. (Sinclair, 2000) A famous dictum by Dallas Smythe was that media messages were no more than ‘free lunch’ which companies use to catch audiences attention and in turn ‘sold’ as ‘commodity’ to advertisers. The further proves that the media is being used again to manipulate the audiences to generate more income and control in the industry. Media studies therefore help us see through the smoke screen and take precautions to avoid falling into the trap.

The empirical tradition is used by America who was highly conscious of using propaganda in a positive sense to ‘build popular sentiment’ and public opinions, studies were carried out on propagandas based on ‘behavioural’ sciences through direct observation. Content analysis was then introduced with Harold Lasswell’s (1902-78) help of his famous question: ‘Who says what, in which channel, to whom and with what effect?’ (Sinclair, 2000) It was devised ‘as a systematic and quantifiable method for the description and analysis of the meaning of media messages’. The effects were thought to be immediately psychological like a ‘hypodermic needle or magic bullet’; this method in practice is more of a ‘quantitative description of particular media texts that measures the frequency of certain elements or themes. (Potter, 1999, citied in Sinclair, 2000) Paul Lazarsfeld on the other hand believed that ‘personal influence’ was responsible in a ‘two-step flow process. This approach works by having people who are knowledgeable in the field express their opinions through the means of media and passing them to others. American empiricism had a ‘grand theory’ that the ‘mainstream idea does not compromise of one social group dominating society.’ (Sinclair, 2000)

The media has been playing a huge role in out daily lives for many years. It has helped develop us as an individual depending on the result of a ‘symbolic system’ which was acquired through ‘face-to-face interaction’ where locales play an important role in handing down the knowledge but there are rare cases where non-local knowledge is transmitted by travellers. (Thompson, 1995) There are several negative aspects of mediated forms of symbolic material namely the ‘mediated intrusion of ideological messages, double bind of mediated dependency, symbolic overload and mediated quasi-interaction.’ (Thompson, 1995) The media has both its positive and negative points which apply to different people in different ways.

In conclusion, media studies actually play a very important role in our lives by helping us make sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of our everyday lives. There is never a text which is ‘accurate’ or ‘inaccurate’ if anyone claims that it ‘reflects reality’ they are actually saying that they agree with the text. (McKee, 2001) We have to find out how audiences are interpreting media texts thus it is vitally important to study the media.

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