This document discusses mass media as a social institution. It defines mass media as communication through print, radio, or television that can reach large audiences. Mass media has become institutionalized through innovations like writing, printing press, radio, television and the internet. In Pakistan, people obtain information from print, audio, visual and online media. The document also discusses sociological perspectives on mass media like functionalism, conflict theory and interactionism. It covers issues like media's impact on children and civic life, and concerns around media power and agenda setting. In conclusion, it provides recommendations that mass media should convey responsible information based on facts to educate people.

1. Mass Media as
Institution
By Atif Nauman (University of Gujrat)

2. Group No. 1
• Atif Nauman 16061561-001
• Kiran Shahzadi 16061561-005
• M.Shiraz 16061561-007
• Summayia Ayub 16061561-010
• Qasim Ali Asgher 16061561-038
• Hira Malik 16061561-047

3. Contents
• Introduction
• Functions of Mass Media
• Impacts of Mass Media
• Mass Media as a Social Institution
• Mass Media in the Pakistan
• Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media
• Mass-Media Issues
• References

4. Introduction
• Mass Media is a medium and means of communication such as print,
radio, or television.
• Also defined as large-scale organizations which use one or more of
these technologies to communicate with large numbers of people.
• Dependent upon innovations in the electronics and chemicals
industries.
• The new technologies formed part of the wider transformation
in popular culture.

5. Introduction
• The mass media have two important sociological characteristics:
i. Very few people can communicate to a great number.
ii. The audience has no effective way of answering back.
• Mass communication is by definition a one-way process.
• Media organizations are bureaucratic and corporate in nature.
• The mass media is an important social institution which provide social
and economic needs of wider social groups.

6. Functions of Mass Media
Mass Media Can Help in Change
• Using mass media, people’s attitudes and habits can be changed. i.e.
For example, all of us have mistaken or wrong notions about various
diseases like leprosy or HIV/AIDS.
Mass Media have made the World Smaller and Closer
• The speed of media has resulted in bringing people across the world
closer. Let us take an example. When you watch a cricket match
between India and another country in England, live on television, you
feel you are part of the crowd in that stadium.

7. Functions of Mass Media
Mass Media Promotes Distribution of Goods
• Mass media are used by the consumer industry to inform people about
their products and services through advertising. Without advertising,
the public will not know about various products.

8. Impacts of Mass Media
Positive Impacts:
• Media provide news and information required by the people.
• Media helps a democracy function effectively.
• They inform the public about government policies and programmes
and how these programmes can be useful to them.
• Media can act as a agent of change in development.
• Media can educate people as an institution.
• Media can change in Positive social change.

9. Impacts of Mass Media
Negative Impacts:
• The traditional culture of acountry is adversely affected by Mass Media.
• This affects the primary objectives of media to inform and educate the
people.
• Media promote violence. Studies have proved that violence shown on
television an cinema have negative effects on children.
• Mass media promote the desirein people to buy and own products that are
advertised through the media but which may not be essential for them.

10. Mass Media as a Social Institution
• Institutionalization of mass media has been driven by a series of
intellectual and technological innovations.
• Include writing and paper, the printing press, radio, television, and the
computer.
• Pakistani People are able to obtain information from a wide variety of
media. These media can be grouped into four categories: print, audio,
visual, and online.
(Source: Encyclopedia)

11. Mass Media as a Social Institution
The Institutionalization of Mass Media:
• With the development of agriculture, trade became more complex.
• Writing made records of trades easier to remember and calculate.
• Paper made writing more portable.
The Printing Press:
• Hand copying of books was a long, laborious, and costly process.
• During the 1450s Gutenberg developed a movable-type printing press that made
books, and hence the skill of reading, more common.

12. Mass Media as a Social Institution
The Information Society:
• A community in which the exchange of information is the main social
and economic activity.
• The computer and the Internet revolutionized communication and
information storage.
The Industrial Age:
• With industrialization, the forces of advertising, urbanization, and
rising literacy led to the newspaper.
• The development of electronic media such as movies, radio, and
television brought entertainment into people’s homes.
(Source: Encyclopedia)

13. Mass Media in the Pakistan
• Pakistani People obtain information from a wide variety of media.
• These media can be grouped into four categories, but some scholars
claim this division is artificial.
• Newspapers, magazines, and
books
• Large but declining audience
• 48 percent read a newspaper
daily; 85 percent read a
magazine regularly; 25
percent read more than 10
books a year
Print Media
• Sound recordings (CDs, vinyl
records, music videos and
MP3s) and radio
• Wide variety of radio formats:
news, talk, classic rock,
religion, etc.
• 99 percent have radio at home
Audio Media

14. Mass Media in the Pakistan
Convergence
• Media convergence: The
idea that the media are
merging and are no longer
separate entities.
• Examples: newspapers
available online, Internet
radio, e-books
Media Consumption
• On average, each American
spends nearly 3,600 hours a
year using media
• Individual usage rates are
affected by age, education,
and income

16. Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media
Functionalist Perspective:
• Media keep track of what is happening, interpret information, transmit
cultural values, and entertain people. These functions support the
stability and smooth operation of society.
• People need to know what is going on around them to be productive in
society.
• Media can consciously or inadvertently help pass on society’s basic
values and beliefs.

17. Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media
Conflict Perspective:
• Media convinces people to accept the existing power structure.
• Knowledge-gap hypothesis: The wealthy and better-educated acquire
new information more quickly, creating a divide.
• Digital divide: Gap between those with access to new technology and
others
• Representation of certain groups in the media might reinforce social
inequality.

18. Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media
Interactionist Perspective
• Mass media shape everyday social interactions. Many people plan
events around media.
• Some consider gatherings to watch television and the like to be social
events. Others think watching television is essentially a solitary event.
• Some see the Internet as a new method of social interaction, while
others view the Internet as a threat to social interaction.

19. Mass-Media Issues
Mass Media and Children
• Watching television is the primary after-school activity for most
students.
• Many worry that seeing violence on television encourages actual
violence.
• Links have been found between large amounts of television viewing
and low test scores.
• Children are targeted by advertisers.

21. Mass-Media Issues
Mass Media and Civic and Social Life
• Some argue that people have become less socially active as television
has become more common.
• Social Capital: Everything that makes up a community
• The Internet may also lead to withdrawal from community life,
although some argue that online communities are taking the place of
face-to-face interaction.

22. Mass-Media Issues
The Power of the Media
• Many feel that the new media wield too much power.
• Spiral of silence: As news media offer repeated opinions, more people
accept these opinions, and people who disagree are less likely to voice their
views.
• Agenda setting: The media do not tell people what to think, but what to
think about.
• Gatekeepers: Media figures decide what the agenda is in a particular story.
• Opinion leaders: Respected individuals are the first to evaluate messages
and their importance.

23. Recommendations/Suggestions
• Correct use of Mass Media.
• Mass Media should be responsible what they conveying.
• Mass Media should convey such information which based on facts and
figures.
• Mass Media can be good institute if Mass media educate people about
social life.
• Use of Mass Media should be restricted for the children.

24. References
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/dictionaries-
thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/mass-media-sociology
• https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/contemporary-
mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media
• https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/contemporary-
mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media
• http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764204267249