Every detail is so firmly stamped with sameness that nothing can appear which is not marked at birth, or does not meet approval at first sight.'
The worst perpetrator of such a crime is the sound film that captures so much of the attention that there is very little room for interaction or thought. We become passive beings absorbing unquestioningly whatever the media transmits. The public are unable to escape as every audience, every taste is catered for, there's no digression. Individuals are increasingly dependent on the social processes, which are out of their control. They adapt to the social order by their desire for the things that the order has produced and they become ensnared by consumerism.
Not only does it make him believe that the deception it practices is satisfaction, but it goes further and implies that, whatever the state of affairs, he must put up with what is offered.cocg cgr secgcgw orcg cgk incg focg cg;
The autonomous individual is overwhelmed and de-individuated. Under the hands of the capitalists consumers continuously absorb the images and words they see before. They see the same things, products that the economists want you to see, over and over again so that leaving people the 'freedom to choose what is always the same'.
Such a view that Adorno and Horkheimer propagate views capitalists as in control of all aspects of media, which serves only themselves, and in doing so individual opinion id subordinated by the persistent reinforcement of media images and messages. However, the usefulness of such a theory is questionable. It is certainly true to say that if media influence really is as forceful as Adorno and Horkheimer suggest then the atrocious acts perpetrated by the Germans acts during WWII could have been due to their susceptibility to the German propaganda machine which indoctrinated the population with fascist and anti-Semitic ideology. However, there is little empirical evidence on which the theory is based other than, it seems, a deep understanding if Marxist ideology and is unsubstantiated by empirical evidence. Trained asphilosophers they were unfamiliar with todays standardised, sociological methods and so failed to conduce any evidenc eto support their theory They take the axiomatic view that the media is manipulating them for their capitalistic interests when in reality the industry has to tailor their work to the public's interest otherwise people would fail to take interest in the first place. The view takes the stance that the media have rendered the public at large pacified and unable to conduct autonomous critical thought but how can one be sure? How does one measure the level of pacificty in another individual It would seem that such a view of the media is unjustified considering the lack of empirical evidence to support it.
Adorno and Horkheimer instructed Habermas, a second-generation member of the Frankfurt school, and it is apparent s to how influential they have been upon Habermas's writings. Writing in the 1960's in his book 'The structural transformation of the public sphere' he discussed what he calls the 'pubic sphere' in which people come together and discuss matters of public concern and criticise the state. The public sphere, according to Habermas, created a realm of public communication and debate and arose from the radical periodical press and the flourishing coffee house culture that swept across London and European cities during the eighteenth century. It was a significant influence upon the rise of democracy and civil rights, especially the right to vote, speech and assembly were of special importance as such discussion was conducted free for Church or state influence, in a non-commercial atmosphere. However, he sees this freedom as having been destroyed by the mass media or 'culture industry' as Adorno and Horkheimer discussed. The nature of communication was changed forever by the commercialisation and sensationalism of newspapers and journals and instead has been replaced by a political show where appearance and image have become everything. Most criticisms of this theory are similar to those of his instructors namely the brazen lack of evidence to support such powerful claims. Also, having written post the televisual rise, Habermas has failed to take into account the positive aspects of such a medium like the accountability of politicians who are no longer invisible but exposed as never before. The age of the televisual image has had a significant affect on the way we see the world. Events role before our eyes and renders the mass media all-powerful s they control which images we can and cannot see, Baudrillard proposes a modern, critical theory of the media such as this. Visit coursework cf in cf fo cf for cf more cours cf Do cf not cf redistribute
Baudrillard, a French theorist on media, sees the growth of mass media as impacting more significantly than any other technological development. With our living rooms we are beamed images of wars, humanitarian crises, political developments, basically anything that is happening in the world as attainable on film. This is the process in which representations of things come to replace the things being represented, representations become more important than the "real thing". Baudrillard argues that today we only experience prepared realities such as edited war footage, meaningless acts of terrorism, the Jerry Springer Show. Baudrillard writes
'The very definition of the real has become: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction. The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced: that is the hyperreal. . . which is entirely in simulation.' acidicburn83, please do not redistribute this paper. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this paper elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned.
Hyperreality is conducted through simulacra, which are symbols such as television images which have no relation to reality instead they simulate a simulation, they are 'grounded in an external reality' These include television programmes and computer games which seem to have had a profound impact upon children's perception of the world.
Critics of Baudrillard state that he fails to take into account the benefits that modern technology has create such as the Internet and entertainment value of both TV and computer games. By insinuating that the media are attempting to deceive the general public he is forgetting that the general public must actually subscribe to viewing/listening/reading their media so, to some extent, they must contain things which the public want to be exposed to. Though it is true that most all media there is an underlying interest but what does one make of the BBC, which strives to provide a neutral, public service? The many commercial media such as newspapers and magazines do accentuate things aspects of stories, which their owners feel, are in their interest to follow and advertising is basically propaganda but this is the very nature of the industry, without the capitalist money injections there would be no such industry. It is also necessary to point out that in Britain, at least, the industry has its own, self-established regulator, the Press Complaints Commission that serves to ensure high standards throughout British journalism as well as laws that concern intrusion and accuracy of published materials. Visit coursework fg in fg fo fg for fg more cours fg Do fg not fg redistribute
John Thompon adopts a more positive view of the media in his theory of the media and modern society. The media throughout their development, Thompson believes, has influenced modern institutions and have had much more of an impact than any of the founding fathers of sociology proposed. Thompson sees the Frankfurt attitude to the media as too negative and he wishes to move away from such a view. The mass media do not, according to Thompson, limit critical thought as all aforementioned theorists have done. On the contrary, modern media have allowed us to vast realms of information which never before would we have had access or exposure to. He outlines three types of interaction, which are face-to-face, such as talking in supervision, mediated interaction, such as on the telephone. This is stretched out in time and space, is a direct form of interaction but there is fewer clues given as to what is 'real'. The third type is mediated quasi-interaction, which is the sort of relations created by mass media such as television, and is a one-way form of communication. Giddens sites people who shout at the TV as an example of this. The individual is shouting but obviously nobody will return the communication. Thompson believes that mediated quasi-interaction is the type of interaction that has come to be most dominant, similar to Baudrillard's view. This has changed the balance of public and private aspects within our lives. Contrary to Habermas, there is an extension of what becomes public and this increases debate and opens minds to becoming more critical, not less. As with all of the studies outlined above there is very little empirical research to bolster such theories. Katz and Lazarsfeld on the other hand conducted empirical studies that found that media did have some influence upon the public.
Katz and Lazarsfeld proposed a theory for the 'two-step flow of communication' whereby ideas and opinions are transmitted
'from radio and print to opinion leaders and from them to the less active sections of the population'
Initial studies of the 1940 presidential election campaign in the USA found that the media had negligible effects on the decision of the individual. Katz and Lazarsfeld studies women who had changed their vote opinion. When asked why they had done such a thing they stated that their key influence was 'other people'. The opinion leaders are the people who have such an influence and on the attitudes of the the people who had changed their vote. Opinion leaders are not people that meet the traditional view of what an influential person is as they are found across the social/economic strata. When these opinion leaders were questioned themselves it seemed that the media was influential upon them. Therefore, the media influences 'opinion leaders' and they, in turn, influence other people, transmitting the media through their personal opinion. Studies conducted in factories and amongst American soldiers during the war found that social relationships are important factors in the transmission of opinion and persuasion to that view. Katz and Lazarsfeld, during these studies, identified that 'primary groups' such as co-workers or fellow men of your regiment, have a significant impact upon decisions that you take, often forming group opinions that are strictly adhered to. As well as strong social relations with the 'primary group' individuals are also likely to seek out media which is held in esteem with the 'primary group' and in doing so they will also be more receptive to such media in a bid to be accepted and be seen as one of the group. These studies demonstrate that media can influence people, even if it's through the indirect 'two-step' process as outlined above. Despite the positive aspect that empirical research was conducted, a major flaw of all previously discussed theories, this study into voting behaviour was conducted using only females which could seriously confound any theories which are based on this research. A further limitation of the study is that it focuses on changes of opinion (voting plans) but failed to look at what made people form the opinions that they did in the first place. Failure to take into account the long-term consequences of the complex nature of the media could also mean that they have underestimated the influence of the media to a significant degree. Further empirical research by McCombs and Shaw have supported the view that the media do have an influence but taking the view that its influence extends purely to agenda setting.
In 1972 McCombs and Shaw identified significantly high correlations between issues that were addressed by the media and those that the public believed were important. Residents of a North Carolina town, Chapel Hill, who yet to decide which way they would vote in the preceding election of 1968. They found correlations of 0.967 between voters personal judgements of what were the key issues of the campaign and what the media were emphasising as key issues. This very strong correlation indicates that the media exerted considerable influence over the voters and what they considered to be relevant. The conclusions of McCombs and Shaw are parallel to those of Cohen who stated that the press
'May not be successful much of the time in telling readers what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about'
A major flaw with such a theory is causality. Causation alone doesn't demonstrate that the media is shaping opinions. In fact, it could even be the complete reverse whereby the public opinion shapes the medias coverage, as these issues would always prove to be popular. It is also true that the Presidential candidates, prior to the last few weeks of campaigning may have covered big issues that are in the media later on in the campaign when the race really starts hotting up. Presidential campaigns span months and so to say that the issues that the media raise are the sole influence upon voters would seem naïve. The 1968 river of blood speech made by Enoch Powell set race onto the political agenda in the same way that the terrorist attacks upon New York have put terrorism on the agenda. These demonstrate that the media do not set the agenda in every case.
Nonetheless Miller study of voters in the run up to the 1897 British election saw the result being determined by the floating voter. Miller examined voter intentions a month before the election to see whether the propaganda that was printed in the run up to the election would have an effect. He found that the people who had been floating voters had been affected and as a result caused a swing that secured a victory for Mrs Thatcher. Although one can never be sure that it really was the medias influence that caused the swing to the right, if we are to accept that it was then one could say how the media basically moulded public opinion to their interests and secured a their desired result. When the margins are small then media influence can be crucial to determining which direction the result will go.
It would seem that none of the evidence or proposals discussed above have enough credibility for me to conclude that the media really do have the power to shape public opinion. The critical theories of the Frankfurt school appear to be blinded by their Marxist ideology and unable see past the capitalist aspect of the media industry. More modern theories such as Thompson and Baudrillard propose new and novel concepts to explain media influence but still fail to substantiate such claims with conclusive empirical support. Of the empirical studies outlined, none of them go far enough to address the issue at hand. This is an intrinsic problem to such an question, no matter what research is conducted one can never know for certain what influences what and to what extent. Correlation might be indicative but that is really as far as we can take such issues. As subjects living within the realms of the media perhaps we are, as Adorno and Horkheimer believe, manipulated by the mass media making us unable to see the problems because of the brainwashing effects. Nevertheless we should remain cautious of anyone who purports that the media really do shape public opinion as it would seem that there is no possible way to substantiate such claims.
Bibliography
-
Adorno, T.W. & Horkheimer, M., "The Culture Industry:Enlightenment as Mass Deception" in Dialectic of Enlightenment, Verso, 1997
-
Giddens, A. Sociology, Polity Press 1997
-
Katz, E. & Lazarsfeld, P.F. Personal Influence, The Free Press, 1965
-
McCombs, M.E. & Shaw, D.L., "The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media" in Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 36 Issue 2 (Summer, 1972)
Giddens (3rd ed.) P.379
Adono & Horkheimer P.128
Ibid P.167
Baudrillard 1989
Giddens P.379
Katz & Lazarsfeld P.3
Cohen, Quoted in Mc Combs&Shaw 1972
acidicburn83. Thus, we can say that whilst this represents a progression, in the end we have come no closer to any "real" knowledge.