"Any sociological explanation of the influence of the mass media needs to take into account the social situation of the audien

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Sociology Essay

“Any sociological explanation of the influence of the mass media needs to take into account the social situation of the audience.” Explain and evaluate this view.

“Members of a given sub-culture will tend to share a cultural orientation towards decoding messages in particular ways. Their individual ‘readings’ of messages will be framed by shared cultural formations and practices.” [The Structured Interpretation Model] which is associated to Morley, David (1981b, p. 51).

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arious theories, approaches, experiments & researches looked into the effects of the mass media on the audience. The social situation of the audience is considered in some of the studies. Others may believe that the influence of mass media would heavily depend on the social situation (age, ethnicity, gender, class, educational attainment, abnormality, etc.), while others may think that the audience in the society is greatly influenced by the mass media alone.

 Recent news alarmed the reading-audience how influential mass media could be. An Eminem impersonator killed his fan without a particular reason! Some believe that media played a role why he behaved in that particular way, while others may argue that it is because of his social situation. This will be assessed by looking at different arguments & explanations.

The Hypodermic Syringe Model of mass media effects suggests that media content is directly injected to the audience. It indirectly implies that the media controls the audience. This approach, however, doesn’t take into account the social situation of the audience. Though, this provides us explanation and adds to our understanding on how media can be very influential & powerful.

The Two-Step Flow Model of Mass Media Effects states that opinion leaders influence and shape the views of other people via the media. This asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, opinion leaders who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages, receive the information. Then, opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content to the individuals (less active sections in the society). Since individuals are exposed to the media, there would be more likelihood for us to be influenced to the content formed by opinion leaders.

It also helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes & behavior. This shows that the media can have little effect on people’s opinion. It also emphasises the importance of relationships within the society. It means that media effects will depend on the social situation of the audience.

The Cultural Effects Theory highlights the important effects on its audience. The societal effects are slow, steady & build up ideas & information on a long-term basis to create public consciousness. It takes into account the social position of the members of the audience. For instance, Black people may interpret news differently from middle-class White business people.

The Pluralist theory would say that media content is a reflection of the wants of the public. This suggests that it only responds to the market’s demand. It doesn’t change the society’s attitudes & beliefs – the media only reinforces it. This takes into account the social position of the audience because it recognises, responds & maintains the society’s attitudes & beliefs.

In contrast to the pluralist’s theory, the Marxist Theory onto the effects of mass media would argue that it stresses the power of the media to control people in the society. In addition, the media works against change & interest of the major society. Therefore, it clearly tells us that only the capitalist society (the rich & powerful) has the full control of the media. As a result, it doesn’t take into account the social situation of the general public. This theory is supported by Ralph Miliband’s (1973) study. He concluded that the media exercises power in the interest of the ruling classes & maintains   the dominance of those who have economic power. He further stated that the media’s role is to ‘socialise mass to a life of subordination.’

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The Empiricist Tradition/Approach (as first proposed by Prof. Halloran) brings together researches & studies onto the effects of mass media. This approach is concerned in find out as much evidence as possible about media audiences, e.g. people, age, gender, social status, occupation, leisure, etc.

Berelson & Steiner in 1964 concluded that people tend to see & hear communications/media content that are favourable or ‘congenial [related] to their predispositions [willingness].’

The Knowledge Gap Approach tells us that people with higher socioeconomic status tend to have better ability to acquire information from the media and lower socio-economic status people ...

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