A2 SOCIOLOGY
Download
Report
Transcript A2 SOCIOLOGY
MASS MEDIA AND IDEOLOGY
Key words
Dominant ideology
Ideology
Ideological State Apparatus
Is the one that justifies the social
Refers to a set
of key
ideas, values
and
advantages
of
the
powerful,
wealthy
and
Known
as
agencies
which
spread
the
beliefs thatgroups
represent
the outlook
and
influential
in
society
and
justifies
dominant
ideology
and
justify
the power
justify
the
interest
of
a
social
group
the disadvantages
of those
lack
of the dominant
socialwho
class.
wealth, influence and power.
A visual example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16uuS47djWw
What do you think ?
What is the link between the
mass media and ideology ?
An introduction
Media scholars believe that media text articulate
coherent if shifting ways of seeing the world,
These texts help to define our world and provide
models for appropriate behaviours and attitudes
such gender roles stereotypes.
Key questions ....
What defines success according to the mass media ?
How is success achieved according to the message
presented to us through the mass media?
What qualifies as a criminal activity according to the
mass media?
What are the underlying messages in media content and
whose interest do they serve ?
An introduction ...
Most ideological analyses of the media products
focus on the content of messages – the stories they
tell about the past or the present – rather than the
effects of such stories.
This topic will be focusing on the media messages
which are transmitted through various mediums.
Ideology is a term which is rather complicated as its
meaning varies depending on the context in which it
is used.
E.g. For the Marxist ideology means the belief that
systems in society help justify the actions of those in
power by distorting and misrepresenting reality,
This example emphasises the importance of
terminology clarification when looking at this topic.
Ideology and the mass media
In this context the aim of scholars is to
What
is the
view
of
Britain
by
the rest
of be
the
discover
the
underlying
ofand
the
Read
through
your
givenimages
section
world
?in 10 minutes
society
they provide
ready
to feedback
So what is ideology in this
context?
System of meaning that helps to define and explain
the world and that makes value judgement about
that world,
Ideology is related to concepts such as worldview,
belief systems and values which refers not only to the
beliefs held about the world but also to the basic
ways in which the world is defined,
Ideology in this context is not just about politics but
has a broader and more fundamental connotation.
How do we go about analysing
mass media ideology?
1. We need to move the interest away from the
specific activities of individuals which might be
depicted in a newspaper, movie or a hit song,
2. We need to find the fit between the images and
words depicted in a specific media text,
3. We finally having depicted this fit need to find ways
of thinking about even defining social and cultural
issues.
Have a think ....
Watch the following video and using the lyrics can
you identify any social or cultural issues which are
represented ? How does the video represent those of
Afro-Caribbean descent ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha80ZaecGkQ
What do you think?
Is this a real representation of everyone of an Afro-
Caribbean descent?
Is this what we would like to believe to be a real
representation of people of an afro-Caribbean
descent ?
Key questions ....
1. Which aspects of whose reality do we define as
most real ?
2. Those that are the most visible?
3. The most powerful?
Answer
Ideological analysis aims to asks what these images
tell us about ourselves and our society
Mass media and politics
Politicians view the mass media as a facilitator and
sometimes a source of social problem...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgG5W7VVR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HMCpI8nFUs
What do you think?
How has the media in the case of
Nick Griffin acted as a facilitator
and a cause of problem ?
In a nutshell,
As seen in the videos virtually all forms of mass
media are targets often attacked by politicians for
misrepresentations of their personalities.
Media sell both products and ideas, both
personalities and worldviews; the notion that mass
media products and cultural values are
fundamentally intertwined has gained broad public
acceptance.
Research into mass media and
ideology
Research on the ideology of media has included a
debate between those who argue that media promote
the worldview of the powerful—the “dominant
ideology”—and those who argue that mass media
texts include more contradictory messages, both
expressing the “dominant ideology” and at least
partially challenging worldviews.
What do you think?
Think back to the previous statement ....
Which side of the argument do you side
with and why?
Hunter (1991) _ Dominant Ideology
versus Cultural Contradictions
Stresses the ways in which media—advertising, news,
letters to the editor, and opinion commentary—provide
the principal forms of public discourse by which cultural
warfare is waged. The morality of abortion,
homosexuality, or capital punishment is debated, often in
very polarized terms, in the mass media, as cultural
conservatives and cultural progressives alike use various
media technologies to promote their positions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWwF3EnMBWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWOUVpMRfs0&NR
=1
Hunter (1991)
The media is not simply a conduit for carrying
competing messages,
They are more than just the battlefield on which
cultural warfare takes place,
disseminate - circulate: cause to become widely known;
"spread
Much of
the substance
of the
contemporary
information";
"circulate
a rumour";
"broadcastculture
the
news"
wars is about the acceptability
of the images the
mass media disseminates.
Hunter (1991)
These struggles over morality and values often focus
on the implication of our popular media images and
the apparent lesson they teach about society.
Reading Task
Read through pages 159 to 164 (not including
theoretical roots of media ideology) and put together
as et of notes which summarise the topic.
Feel free to ask me for help if you need it