The Relationship Between Media And Societal Institutions Essay

It is known to all that organized religion has noticeably shaped every aspect of human identity for numerous years. In fact in today’s society, freedom of religion is declared as a fundamental right which allows individuals to practice without interference. However, despite its growing popularity, many scholars believe that the line between healthy and unhealthy religion has increasingly blurred. For instance, James W. Jones in his text, Terror and Transformation: The Ambiguity of Religion in Psychoanalytic Perspective” describes healthy religion as one that allows the individual to grow and mature (Jones 2002). On the other hand, Jones explains unhealthy religion as one that allows the devotee to be in a state of submission. This debate is especially relevant for the film “Jesus Camp”, where unhealthy religion can be easily observed. With that in mind, this paper aims examine the film Jesus Camp using Jones’s ideas on religious idealization. First, following an overview of Jones’s ideas from his text, the film Jesus Camp will be used as an illustration of an unhealthy religion. Ultimately after analyzing the film, it will be argued that the religious idealization depicted in this movie as unhealthy rather than mature.

In the second part of the book titled The Shifting Balance of Civilizations, the author expands upon the idea that due to modernization cultures become increasing similar. The author begins with an explanation on the decline of Western power and influence in the world. He also explains that religion has an increased role in politics throughout the world. According to the author, major religions around the world "experienced new surges in commitment, relevance and practice by erstwhile casual believers." The author stated, People "need new sources of identity, new forms of stable community, and new sets of moral precepts to provide them with a sense of meaning and purpose." This ideas reinforced the authors beliefs and views that religion can and will meet the needs of people, and religion was the byproduct of increased communications among different societies and cultures. One of the most interesting chapters of this part is chapter five where the author discusses how

Firstly, Steve Bruce (1995, 1996) attributes the development of a range of religious institutions, including sects and cults, to a general process of modernization and secularization. He believes the weakness of more conventional institutionalized religions has encouraged some people to consider less traditional alternatives. As modern societies

In our society today, control is maintained by the authorities through regulation. In North America, major regulatory systems comprise two main systems of expertise. One is the criminal justice system, which is concerned with what will we do about crime and deviance. The other is the academic system of expertise, which is concerned with why crime and deviance exists. Academic expertise is the type of discourse deployed in the article by Michael Conlon to show, with ostensible authority, that maternal smoking during pregnancy is “linked” to adult criminal behaviour.

As we know the media plays a large role in society, it has a tremendous impact on our cultures, businesses, and relationships. The media is not responsible for telling you what to think, but what to think about. The media cannot independently dictate what specific type of views a person should have, but the media can influence our opinions in a major way. People tend to believe that we derived our attitudes, beliefs, and opinions from social structures including: religious entities, schools, family, and culture. However, mass media creates meaning and continuously shapes the way society views particular topics, ideas, and people. The way ethnic groups are portrayed, marketed and viewed through the lens of the media, serves as a how-to guide for particular audiences to treat them. Specifically, African American males who are portrayed in the media receive a negative connotation. From the media’s perspective black males are portrayed as a stereotypical prototype which translates over into real life. The problem with this is, people tend to attribute the media’s representation of African American males and characterize them base off of generalized assumptions. This topic is important because minority groups are the only ones traumatically affected indirectly and directly by the blatant misrepresentation and lack thereof positive representation of minority groups particularly, African American men.

Throughout history, humans have practiced their wide ranges of beliefs and spread their religious views and it has become intertwined into our daily lives. We see it everywhere we go and with the media today it can be so easy to share our views of religion but also give a negative connotation to others. Public discourse on the media, especially talk shows on the topic of religion can cause heated debates as everyone is trying to prove themselves right, but without scholars of religion to keep in check for misconceptions and offer a new fresh perspective. Media has made us aware of our surroundings and other perspectives but at the same time it will also cause us to be ignorant and create negative connotations of words like Terrorism and Muslim to become interchangeable with each other. Newly invented religions don’t draw much attention to the media due to its sheer size but when group suicides take place, then it becomes a media frenzy. Public discourse on religion can be an argument of baseless information, informative or shed light on a new perspective.

Our society holds the key main ingredients to the era of modernity. This huge array of advancements from the internet, television, mobile devices and even newspapers all have one thing in common: they are controlled and manipulated by norms and values (Diamond, 2010, pg. 5). When referring to modernity, the changes that religion has done to our society, for better or for worse, will be discussed. These involve any forms of change and modernism that changes the general public’s perception. One thing for certain is that the religion has the power to project any information, any way they see fit. This is especially the case when it deals with political, racial and biased topics that are very sensitive in nature (Ungerleider, 2011. pg. 24). In essence, religion is one of the most powerful things that exist because of the controlling dynamics of information (Chan, 1994, pg. 54). They can curve political agendas, promote racial class subcultures, and create public opinion with regards to any social issues. Depending on the

Religion, as described by French Sociologist Émile Durkheim, connotes a “unified system of beliefs and practices, relative to sacred things” (Durkheim, 1965). The word ‘unified’ suggests religion plays the role of a peace keeper, presenting individuals with a shared sense of understanding through the rituals, as well as the belief in a higher power or God. Within a contemporary society, religion is arguably playing a different role to that which it played during the early 20th century, a time throughout which Durkheim’s sociological influence and research was prominent. Contemporary, postmodern societies are far more likely to use and exploit religion in a varying way, for many reasons - technological advances and media takeovers, not to

The three main sociological perspectives of structural functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactions, aid sociologist in gaining a broader understanding for purposes of this paper –religion (as a primarily social rather than theological or psychological phenomenon) and the effects on societies. In looking at how religion functions in social structures, social systems, and small group interpersonal interactions sociologists could formulate a better understanding of religion 's role in society and the human experience. The sociologist looks at the individual agency, and how that connects to a specific societal location or setting. Specifically, in the case of religion a sociologist could study the power religion holds over people and societies, and the influence religion has on educational or political institutions. Understanding the cultural universals of religion and the differences in how individuals and societies experience religion could aid in understanding society, social forces and human behaviors.

The media and its influence on the public, has grown in this Century with the grown of

In modern times, media and technological advancements have changed how religion is spread and provides new outlets in which a religion can be taught. In a video that Steven Ramey critiqued about the spread of religion, it became apparent that many smaller religions were marginalized as the video only showed the spread of five world religions. Ramey even states “The narrative that the animation follows applies the assumptions, interests, and labels of today back in time to construct the origins of each religion”. The video is a great demonstration of how many

The idea of mediatisation is slightly harder to explain, however, as it is a concept which is an “incomplete and still unfolding historical project” (Livingstone 2009, p. 6). It should be also highlighted and noted that the concept differs from that of the term mediation. Mediation emphasises the complexity of the social space and the diversity of transformations which arise (Couldry 2008, p. 3), exploring the impact that media has upon the contemporary society as a whole. Thus, it focuses on examining the fundamental influence of media on the community. Comparatively, mediatisation, as asserted by Hepp, Hjarvard and Lundby (2015), endeavours to build a theoretical framework that will allow an examination into the role of media in transforming social and cultural interaction, and shift communicative methods. The theory also emphasises on the role of media and how its logics impact culture and society. Thus, whilst mediation

The media is undoubtedly a significant and influential aspect in modern day society. As a means of communication in a world very much advanced in technology, the media touches all types of people through various forms such as the radio, newspapers, televisions etc. The question remains: what information is left unbiased and untarnished? The people within society must sort through the many bits of information fed to them and unfortunately, in most cases, all bits of media is taken as the whole truth. The ways in which media impacts society to a great extent are through the facts it chooses to reveal, as recently seen in the case of the Tamil war in Sri Lanka. The tone in which it is presented such as the

Sociological prospective on religion explains the functions of religion perform, the inequality and other it can buildup and maintain and the role it plays in our daily life.

The Role of Media in the Society Media has always played a huge role in our society. For a long time media was one of the methods of controlling people and leisure. In ancient times when there was no newspapers and television, people used literature as source of information, some books like "the Iliad", and different stories about great kings, shows those people the information about them. Nowadays media is one of the main part of our lives and our society, because we use word media, to combine all sources of information. Average man is spending 4 hours a day on watching TV and reading newspapers.