This document summarizes Richard T. Schaefer's chapter on sociological perspectives of mass media. It discusses the functionalist, conflict, feminist, and interactionist views on how media socializes people, enforces norms, promotes consumption, and influences behavior. It also examines how media concentration affects the industry and debates around media violence and policy initiatives.

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SOCIOLOGY
Richard T. Schaefer
The Mass Media7

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7. The Mass Media
• Sociological Perspectives of the Media
• The Audience
• The Media Industry
• Social Policy and Mass Media

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
– The media:
• Socialize us
• Enforce social norms
• Confer status
• Promote consumption
• Keep us informed about our environment
• May act as a narcotic
• Functionalist View

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Media increases social cohesion by presenting
common view of culture
– Provide collective experience for members of a
society
– Socializing effects can promote religious as well as
patriotic exchanges, uniting believers around the
world
– Socializing effect of media means programming can
easily become controversial
• Functionalist View
– Agent of Socialization

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Media reaffirm proper behavior by showing
what happens to people who violate societal
expectations
– Conferral of Status
• Singles out one from thousands of other
similarly placed issues or people to become
significant
• Functionalist View
– Enforcer of Social Norms

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Media advertising
– Supports economy
– Provides information
– Underwrites cost of media
• Functionalist View
– Promotion of Consumption

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
Figure 7-1. Number of Hours per Week Spent with Media,
1997—2008 (projected)
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC 2003:166-167 for 1997; 2004:184-185 for all other data

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
Table 7-1. Status Conferred by Magazines

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Surveillance Function: collection and
distribution of information concerning events in
the social environment
– Dysfunction: The Narcotizing Effect
• Narcotizing Dysfunction: phenomenon in
which the media provide such massive
amounts of information that audience becomes
numb and fails to act on the information
• Functionalist View
– Surveillance of the Social Environment

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
– Gatekeeping: how material must travel
through a series of checkpoints before
reaching the public
• Conflict View
• Ethnicity
• Social class
– Conflict theorists emphasize that the media
reflect and even exacerbate many of the
divisions of our society and world,
including:
• Gender
• Race

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Dominant Ideology: set of cultural beliefs
and practices that help to maintain powerful
social, economic, and political interests
• Mass media serve to maintain the privileges
of certain groups
• Stereotypes: unreliable generalization
about all members of a group that do not
recognize individual differences within the
group
• Conflict View
– Dominant Ideology: Constructing Reality

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
• Globalization projects the dominating reach of the
U.S. media into the rest of the world
• Media cultural exports undermine the distinctive
traditions and art forms of other societies and
encourage their cultural and economic
dependence on the U.S.
• Conflict View
– Dominant Ideology: Whose Culture?
Nations that feel a loss of identity may try to
defend against the cultural invasion

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
– Feminists share conflict theorists’ view that
the mass media stereotype and
misrepresent social reality
• Women underrepresented
• Perpetuate stereotypical views of gender
• Emphasize traditional sex roles and normalize
violence against women
• Feminist View

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
– Interactionists especially interested in
shared understandings of everyday
behavior
– Examine media on micro level to see how
they shape day-to-day social behavior
– Scholars increasingly point to mass media
as source of major daily activity
• Interactionist View

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
Figure 7-2. The Internet Explosion
Source: National Geographic 2005:21

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Sociological Perspectives of the
Media
Table 7-2. Sociological Perspectives
on the Mass Media

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The Audience
– Mass media distinguished from other social
institutions by necessary presence of
audience
– Identifiable, finite group or a much larger,
undefined group
• Who Is In the Audience?

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The Audience
– Increasingly, media market themselves
to a particular audience
– The role of audience members as
opinion leaders intrigues social
researchers
• The Segmented Audience
Opinion leader: someone who, through day-
to-day personal contacts and communication,
influences opinions and decisions of others

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The Audience
– Response often influenced by social
characteristics:
• Occupation
• Race
• Education
• Income
• Audience Behavior

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The Media Industry
– Handful of multi-national corporations
dominate publishing, broadcasting, and
film industries
• The Media’s Global Reach
– Mass media have begun to create global
village in terms of communication
– Internet key to creating truly global network
• Media Concentration

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The Media Industry
Figure 7-3. Media Penetration in Selected Countries
Source: Bureau of the Census 2004a:870

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Social Policy and Mass Media
• What effect does movie and TV violence have
on audiences?
• Does violence in the media lead people,
especially youth, to become more violent?
• Media Violence
– The Issue

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Social Policy and Mass Media
• We spend great deal of time with the media
• Does watching hours of mass media with
violent images cause one to behave differently?
– Some studies linked exposure to media violence to
subsequent aggressive behavior
• Media Violence
– The Setting
It is important to recognize that other factors besides the
media are also related to aggressive behavior.

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Social Policy and Mass Media
• If function of media is to entertain, socialize,
and enforce social norms, can violence be part
of that message?
• Even if viewer does not necessarily become
more violent from watching violent images,
there could be desensitization
• Media Violence
– Sociological Insights

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Social Policy and Mass Media
• Conflict and feminist theorists are troubled that
victims depicted in violent imagery are often:
– Women
– Children
– Poor
– Racial minorities
– Citizens of foreign countries
– Physically disabled
• Media Violence
– Sociological Insights

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Social Policy and Mass Media
• Interactionists especially interested in finding
out if violence in media may then become script
for real-life behavior
• Media Violence
– Sociological Insights

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Reluctance to pass laws regarded as censorship
Social Policy and Mass Media
• Policymakers responded to links between
violence depicted in media and real life
aggression:
– Public statements of support for family-oriented,
less-violent media content
• Media Violence
– Policy Initiatives

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Social Policy and Mass Media
Figure 7-4. Violence on Prime-Time Television, 1998—2002
Source: Parents Television Council 2003