Mass Media Concepts

The mass media interperts the views of the majority of the people, the working class, to have their greatest influence on individuals over time. Through continiouslly observing, the media can have an influence on personal values and beliefs. It plays a significant role as it illustrate social comparison that eventually leads to the change of peoples way of thinking. Luois Althusser explains that the "representation of the structure of every society as an edifice containing a base (infrastructure) on which are erected the two 'floors' of the superstructure, is a metaphor..." like a building, society is build the same way. Is the base of the superstructure, the idea to which the media advertices to a widespread audience. Throughout time it has gained so much power that its impact begins to shape a person view and mentality of the things that sorounds us.

political scientist argues that the bodies that now make up the state are a “formless mass”.

Power of the masses that is positive proves a long term goal that is beneficial to society, while negative power may have a long term goal which ultimately doesn’t have any benefit. This is proved throughout Lord of the Flies and other historical events showing how the power

This elite is not an aristocracy argued Mills. It is not a political ruling group based upon a nobility of hereditary origin. There is no obvious compact basis in a small circle of great families whose members can and do consistently

Since its early days, the media have always had a hand at molding who we are as a society. It is an extension of our culture and who we are. It has been a conduit of knowledge and information from person to person. A consistent attribute of media is the desire of the elites to control it and a resistance from people that want more freedom from such influences. Today, it is all around us, affecting most, if not all, of our daily lives. It influences how kids grow up in our society. It creates ideals that we want so much to achieve; labels us in order to promote the consumer culture. Being filled with media all the time, it can affect our society in a way that most people would think are negative. It can be a source of unrealistic expectations, a distorted look on reality, a distorted image of beauty and a reason health to deteriorate, be it physically or mentally. The media is a blessing for us, but one must be careful with it for it will always be accompanied with things that can have a negative effect on us.

a collective, an expression of the collective’s conception of itself and its role in history.

Let us face the facts, mass media and popular culture need each other to coexist. Furthermore, in today's society the mass media serves the interest of popular culture. Moreover, it is the vehicle of free speech in a diverse, multicultural society. In addition, mass media refers to communication via radio, televisions, movie theaters, television, newspapers, magazines, and, etc; thereby, reaching out to the larger audience. On the contrary, popular culture can refer broadly to common aesthetic or life practices, in both the statistical and qualitative senses. However, therapists have used the term more precisely to designate a particular form of common culture that arises only in the

The major developments in the evolution of mass media in the last century were newspapers, magazines, and radio. In the 1940’s these were the major developments that were used the most. This were where people got all information on media. Everyone always looked for the newspapers in the morning for information around their area about updates and media information that was needed or what interested them. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that television came into the big picture and people were able to get updates on the news, ad campaigns, celebrity gossip, world news updates became available. Television became the main source of resources for the mass media. In 1960’s the first satellite was released it allowed access to worldwide news. Satellites are still used today for information from NASA, and throughout worldwide for communication. Developments for mobile phones to computers to the internet. The process continues to increase and get faster every day. There is always new ways to improve, and the people who work on these are always trying to find the newest way of improvement. The growth of mass media continues to grow as centuries continue to get further and further into the future. New technology is always being evaluated and presented more than it has in the last century. The drive to get better, and faster is used by many. This is their mission for the future and in today’s world. People want to be informed on what is going on around

The Mass Society refers to the overall belief C. Wright Mills held in relation to the type of society he believed we live in. Mills began The Power Elite with a bold statement saying, "The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday words in which they live, yet even in these rounds of job, family, and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern" (Mills, 1956, p.3). This opening sentence helps describe the attitude and beliefs of the entire

Karl Mannheim claimed that the earliest stage of democracy was focused on freedom and rationality. However, with a shift to mass politics, he claimed that it could lead to a dictatorship. Due to “urbanization, transportation, and the mass media,” the lower class could enter the political sphere (Colins and Makowsky 207). However, it had a negative effect because politics could no longer be considered intellectual, but based on the emotions of the lower class. Thus, instead of solutions based on reason for a problem, the solutions were “simplistic” (Colins and Makowsky 207). Another threat to democracy was interdependency. The government, transportation, and media become centralized and it brings a large amount of people together. Thus, when there is either a conflict or crisis everyone is affected. Lastly, a concentration of power can threaten democracy. When there is a concentration of power, the

In this globalization era, the internet or the virtual world has becoming more complicated and has the potential by showing more effective platform of various collaborative activities which includes academic and education purposes. The intention and the desire regarding the uses of internet world are all about the uses of the internet.

With this analysis of mass and mass society, one can make clear connections between Bransom’s (1961) work on defining mass society and Gramsci’s (1971) work on his concept of hegemony. First, the ideas Bransom’s (1961) presents that mass society’s focus is to bring down the established primary group is similar to the ways Gramsci (1971) talks about the working class within a hegemonic system. Under Gramsci’s concept, the ultimate goal is for the working class to be conscious of how their function within the state and to ultimately work to subvert the ruling class ideology. His notion that organic intellectuals rise to bring social awareness to others in their community is similar to Bransom’s (1961) highlighting the importance of small occupational groups and family

The ability to manipulate perception when it comes to social movements or collective action is key. Not just for those on the outside looking in, but those who are participating as well. It not only determines what a social group will do to invoke change, it will also affect how a society will agree or disagree with the change. This manipulation of perception is best defined as framing, and is more than just labeling something as good or bad. Pulling from the articles read from this week the most convincing conceptualization of the term “framing” was the argument that it consisted of three elements, with the first being the diagnosis of something as problematic and need for alteration, followed by a proposed solution that specifies what needs to be done, and finally a call to rational engagement in corrective action. (Snow & Benford 1988) The first point highlighted the importance of contention when it comes to collective action. Problems within any given society are prevalent at all times, however, not until there is a call for a change does collective action occur. Contention rests in the need for a change, whether or not opportunity is the catalyst for contention is debatable, however the conceptualizing of “framing” laid out by Snow and Benford also brings into question whether or not collective action is a choice rather than a response. In the each of the three steps mentioned above there has to be a framing. There has to be a framing of a situation as problematic and

Herbert Blumer and his overview of collective behavior and social movements give a description of how individuals and groups act and react to certain scenarios such as provocation or neglect. Blumer’s main idea in is work is to look at two different types of collective behavior: elementary collective action and social movements.

Mass media is a media intended for a large audience. It may take the form of broadcast media, as in the case of television and radio, or print media, like newspapers and magazines. Internet media can also attain mass media status, and many media outlets maintain a web presence to take advantage of the ready availability of Internet in many regions of the world. Some people also refer to it as the “mainstream media,” referencing the fact that it tends to stick to prominent stories which will be of interest to a general audience, sometimes ignoring controversial breaking news. Many people around the world rely on this form of media for news and entertainment, and globally, it is a huge industry.