Eras of Media Theory
There are four main eras of media theory. The four eras are mass society, scientific perspective, limited effects and cultural criticism. Theories are constructed within media technology eras. These theories came about due to changes in society and politics.
Era of Mass Society
This era of theory started in the latter part of the 19th century. Media was seen as influential but negative. This era is characterized as a time in which people were worried about the power that media had to influence average people. People feared that media would ruin the value of society.
Theories that came about during this time are :
There are three types of propaganda.
Messages were most effective when there is economic and political turmoil because humans need to be comforted. In short, the current state of the environment makes people succumb to propaganda effort.Lippman was in agreement with the theory posed by Lasswell.
Lippman believed that a quasi-governmental bureau should be created and they should evaluate information distributed. They would provide the elites with this information to determine what messages would be disseminated.
The theory of the magic bullet also known as the hypodermic needle theory states that the media has direct effects on audiences that are immediate and effective.The magic bullet theory was popular during the 1940s and 1950s. This was because people listened to the radio and watched television a lot. A prime example of this theory at work was the radio broadcast of H.G Wells “War of the Worlds.” People believed that aliens had landed and were taking over the planet. As a result, people fled their homes and looked for refuge. This example proved that media has the power to manipulate the minds of audiences that are passive and easily influenced.
Era of Scientific Perspective
This era of theory is characterized by Paul Lazarfield escaping Germany to go to the United States during the time of Nazism and Hitler. The era emphasized the use of scientific research and experiments that are carefully conducted in order to prove that media was not as powerful as thought in the previous eras. This era emphasized that people can resist media influence in multiple ways.
The limited-effects theory was born in the era of scientific perspective. Lazarfield fled Germany because of the Nazi takeover and came to the United States. He was a leader in the field of mass communications. He challenged the conclusions of Lasswell and Lippman. He made the conclusion that the media is not strong enough to completely change people’s attitudes and opinions. The limited effects theory states that media only reinforces trends seen in the media and that the influence of the media is dependent on individual differences.
Lazarfield conducted a study during the presidential campaign of 1940. This battle was between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie. He conducted an experiment in a small Ohio town to see what influenced people to vote the way they do. Lazarfield created four groups of voters. The early deciders were people who never changed their candidate decision, converts were people that initially chose a candidate but later voted for the other, waverers were people who decided on one candidate, switched to another candidate but in the end voted for the first choice. Crystallizers were people who did not make a decision until election time. He used detailed questionnaires and surveys during his experiment which was a first. He concluded that the media played a small role in convincing people to vote a certain way. People were mostly influenced by the thoughts of those around them. People that interpreted the messages from the media and passed their thoughts on to others were gatekeepers. Gatekeepers were also opinion leaders because they passed information on to those that followed them. Opinion followers were those that got their information from the opinion leaders. The relationship made up part of the two-step flow theory. The two-step flow theory states that opinion leaders interpret messages from the media based on their values and pass it on to opinion followers.
Era of Limited Effects Theory
The limited effects era came about in the 1960s. Limited effects theory was widely supported over mass society theory. At this point, researchers thought there was nothing more to research. Some considered the mass communications field to be dead. However, the communications discipline grew because students started attending journalism schools in numbers never seen before.
Elite pluralism and social cognitive theory are notable theories from this era. The theory of elite pluralism states there is not a dominant class that makes all the rules but rather different interest groups hold power at different times to influence laws.
The social scientists C. Wright Mills is best known for his work on this theory.These groups include unions, civil rights groups, activists and professional associations. These lower level interest groups compete amongst each other for policy control. Interest groups have specific area in which they dominate and area they struggle to be influential in. The theory of elite pluralism came about when Lazarfield wanted to look further into his research about what makes people vote the way they do. He wanted to find out if there was really a democratic government in the United States or if the highly praised political system was a cover up for a class of citizens that make all the rules.
Era of Cultural Criticism
The era of cultural criticism is characterized by the creation of cultural studies in Britain. British cultural studies focused on how mass media promote hegemonic cultures. Hegemonic cultures are cultures that are forced from the outside onto people and it only serves people in elite positions. It looked at how powerful elites retain power. Culture is the behavior that members of a group learn. Social scientists became increasingly interested in culture theories during the 1950s and 1960s. Theories of culture intended to provide explanation on how the media changes culture and the consequences that result. An example of a cultural theory is the political economy theory. The political economy theory is a macroscopic theory of culture because it is concerned about society as a whole and not just individuals. Microscopic theories focus their attention on individuals and not society. The political economy theory studies the powers that power elites have over the institutions that run countries. A bank is an example of such institution
References
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_press>. "Positivism & Post-Positivism." Positivism & Post-Positivism. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php>. "Positivism & Post-Positivism." Positivism & Post-Positivism. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php>. "The Power Elite." 30 Nov. 2013 <http://blue.wths.net/faculty/desecki/AP%20Government/Reading%20on%20Elitism%20and%20Pluralism--edited-2013.pdf>. Ramberg, Bjørn, Ramberg,. "Hermeneutics." Stanford University. 09 Nov. 2005. Stanford University. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermeneutics/>. Severin, Werner J., and James W. Tankard. Communication theories: Origins, methods, and uses in the mass media. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2001. Shahid, Sharon. "Back to the Future of the Penny Press." Washington DC News Museum. 11 Feb. 2009. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.newseum.org/news/2009/02/back-to-the-future-of-the-penny-press.html
There are four main eras of media theory. The four eras are mass society, scientific perspective, limited effects and cultural criticism. Theories are constructed within media technology eras. These theories came about due to changes in society and politics.
Era of Mass Society
This era of theory started in the latter part of the 19th century. Media was seen as influential but negative. This era is characterized as a time in which people were worried about the power that media had to influence average people. People feared that media would ruin the value of society.
Theories that came about during this time are :
- the propaganda theory and
- magic bullet theory.
There are three types of propaganda.
- White propaganda is when an organization or government deliberately prevents bad information from being released. This form of propaganda pushes out good information to take the attention off of bad things that are happening.
- Black propaganda is when false information is purposely put out.
- Grey propaganda is the dissemination of information that may or may not be false or true. Authors of this type of propaganda do not make attempts to find out if the information is true.
Messages were most effective when there is economic and political turmoil because humans need to be comforted. In short, the current state of the environment makes people succumb to propaganda effort.Lippman was in agreement with the theory posed by Lasswell.
Lippman believed that a quasi-governmental bureau should be created and they should evaluate information distributed. They would provide the elites with this information to determine what messages would be disseminated.
The theory of the magic bullet also known as the hypodermic needle theory states that the media has direct effects on audiences that are immediate and effective.The magic bullet theory was popular during the 1940s and 1950s. This was because people listened to the radio and watched television a lot. A prime example of this theory at work was the radio broadcast of H.G Wells “War of the Worlds.” People believed that aliens had landed and were taking over the planet. As a result, people fled their homes and looked for refuge. This example proved that media has the power to manipulate the minds of audiences that are passive and easily influenced.
Era of Scientific Perspective
This era of theory is characterized by Paul Lazarfield escaping Germany to go to the United States during the time of Nazism and Hitler. The era emphasized the use of scientific research and experiments that are carefully conducted in order to prove that media was not as powerful as thought in the previous eras. This era emphasized that people can resist media influence in multiple ways.
The limited-effects theory was born in the era of scientific perspective. Lazarfield fled Germany because of the Nazi takeover and came to the United States. He was a leader in the field of mass communications. He challenged the conclusions of Lasswell and Lippman. He made the conclusion that the media is not strong enough to completely change people’s attitudes and opinions. The limited effects theory states that media only reinforces trends seen in the media and that the influence of the media is dependent on individual differences.
Lazarfield conducted a study during the presidential campaign of 1940. This battle was between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie. He conducted an experiment in a small Ohio town to see what influenced people to vote the way they do. Lazarfield created four groups of voters. The early deciders were people who never changed their candidate decision, converts were people that initially chose a candidate but later voted for the other, waverers were people who decided on one candidate, switched to another candidate but in the end voted for the first choice. Crystallizers were people who did not make a decision until election time. He used detailed questionnaires and surveys during his experiment which was a first. He concluded that the media played a small role in convincing people to vote a certain way. People were mostly influenced by the thoughts of those around them. People that interpreted the messages from the media and passed their thoughts on to others were gatekeepers. Gatekeepers were also opinion leaders because they passed information on to those that followed them. Opinion followers were those that got their information from the opinion leaders. The relationship made up part of the two-step flow theory. The two-step flow theory states that opinion leaders interpret messages from the media based on their values and pass it on to opinion followers.
Era of Limited Effects Theory
The limited effects era came about in the 1960s. Limited effects theory was widely supported over mass society theory. At this point, researchers thought there was nothing more to research. Some considered the mass communications field to be dead. However, the communications discipline grew because students started attending journalism schools in numbers never seen before.
Elite pluralism and social cognitive theory are notable theories from this era. The theory of elite pluralism states there is not a dominant class that makes all the rules but rather different interest groups hold power at different times to influence laws.
The social scientists C. Wright Mills is best known for his work on this theory.These groups include unions, civil rights groups, activists and professional associations. These lower level interest groups compete amongst each other for policy control. Interest groups have specific area in which they dominate and area they struggle to be influential in. The theory of elite pluralism came about when Lazarfield wanted to look further into his research about what makes people vote the way they do. He wanted to find out if there was really a democratic government in the United States or if the highly praised political system was a cover up for a class of citizens that make all the rules.
Era of Cultural Criticism
The era of cultural criticism is characterized by the creation of cultural studies in Britain. British cultural studies focused on how mass media promote hegemonic cultures. Hegemonic cultures are cultures that are forced from the outside onto people and it only serves people in elite positions. It looked at how powerful elites retain power. Culture is the behavior that members of a group learn. Social scientists became increasingly interested in culture theories during the 1950s and 1960s. Theories of culture intended to provide explanation on how the media changes culture and the consequences that result. An example of a cultural theory is the political economy theory. The political economy theory is a macroscopic theory of culture because it is concerned about society as a whole and not just individuals. Microscopic theories focus their attention on individuals and not society. The political economy theory studies the powers that power elites have over the institutions that run countries. A bank is an example of such institution
References
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_press>. "Positivism & Post-Positivism." Positivism & Post-Positivism. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php>. "Positivism & Post-Positivism." Positivism & Post-Positivism. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php>. "The Power Elite." 30 Nov. 2013 <http://blue.wths.net/faculty/desecki/AP%20Government/Reading%20on%20Elitism%20and%20Pluralism--edited-2013.pdf>. Ramberg, Bjørn, Ramberg,. "Hermeneutics." Stanford University. 09 Nov. 2005. Stanford University. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermeneutics/>. Severin, Werner J., and James W. Tankard. Communication theories: Origins, methods, and uses in the mass media. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2001. Shahid, Sharon. "Back to the Future of the Penny Press." Washington DC News Museum. 11 Feb. 2009. 12 Dec. 2013 <http://www.newseum.org/news/2009/02/back-to-the-future-of-the-penny-press.html
Comments
Post a Comment