media theories

Media theorie

s

• Effects theory (Hypodermic Syringe, Innoculation) – what the media does to audiences

• Uses and Gratifications – what audiences do with the media

•Reception theory (Nationwide audience, Dallas, Seinfeld, etc) – what audiences do to the media

Effects Theories

• Mass media/mass communications make people powerless to resist messages the media carries

• Consumers are ‘drugged’, ‘addicted’ or ‘hypnotised’

• Effects theories taken up with protection of young, link between violence and the media

Effects Theories

Historical stuff

• Frankfurt School: Marxist German intellectuals reacting against Nazi propaganda and US advertising – suggested the power of big corporations and the state to control how we think

• Rise of TV in the 50’s and 60’s – fear of danger to children

Effects Theories

Historical Stuff

• Influence of behavioural scientists (think of Pavlov’s dogs) – media may reinforce attitudes through repetition

• Bobo doll experiment (1963) – Bandura and Walters – children imitate adult treatment of doll seen on film

Effects Theories

• Moral panics: Concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility

• Two step flow:

Media Text

Effects Theories

• Moral panics: Concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility

• Two step flow:

Media Text

OpinionLeaders

Effects Theories

• Moral panics: Concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility

• Two step flow:

Media Text

OpinionLeaders

MediaConsumers

Effects Theories

• Moral panics: Concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility

• Two step flow:

Media Text

OpinionLeaders

MediaConsumers

1

Effects Theories

• Moral panics: Concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility

• Two step flow:

Media Text

OpinionLeaders

MediaConsumers

1 2

Effects Theories

What’s wrong with effects theories?• The problems with violence are often

social/psychological not to do with the media• The media can often be positive rather than

harmful• Criticism of the media using the effects model is

often politically motivated• There is not real grounding of research and

theory for this model.

U&G

• Users of the media use media texts to satisfy certain needs

• Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

U&G: Denis McQuail (1987)

• Information: finding out about the world; seeking advice; satisfying curiosity; education; gaining security though knowledge

• Personal Identity: reinforcement of personal values; models of behaviour; identifying with valued other; gaining insight into oneself

• Integration and Social Interaction: gaining insight into circumstances of others; identifying with others; basis for conversation with others; substitute for real life companionship; helping to carry out social roles; enabling connection with family friends and society

• Entertainment: escapism; diversion; relaxation; cultural or aesthetic enjoyment; filling time; emotional release; sexual arousal

U&G: James Lull (1990)

Structural• Environmental: background noise; companionship; entertainment• Regulative: keeping time; part of pattern of daily life

Relational• Communication Facilitation: experience illustration; common ground;

conversation starter; anxiety reduction; agenda for talk; value clarification

• Affiliation/Avoidance: physical/verbal contact/neglect; family solidarity; family relaxant/conflict reducer; relationship maintenance

• Social Learning: decision making; behaviour modelling; problem solving; value transmission; legitimization; information dissemination; education

• Competence/Dominance: role enactment; role reinforcement; substitute role portrayal; intellectual validation; authority exercise; gatekeeping; argument facilitation

U&G: Richard Kilborn (1992)

• Part of routine and entertaining reward for work• Launchpad of social and personal interaction• Fulfilling individual needs – a way of choosing to

be alone or of enduring enforced loneliness• Identification or involvement with characters• Escapist fantasy• Focus of debate on topical issues• Kind of critical game involving knowledge of

rules or conventions of the genre

U&G: Problems

• We may not have choice about what we watch

• Neglects any aspects of effects theories

• Neglects socio-economic factors

Reception Theory

• Often as opposite to Effects theories

• Sees media consumption as active not passive

• Suggests media texts are polysemic

• Research examines social, cultural, economic, gender, sexuality as influence on the reading of media texts

Reception Theory

Active

versus

Passive

Reception Theory

Reception Theory

versus

Effects Theory

1Reception Theory

Nationwide Audience

David Morley 1980

• Different social/economic groups watched same TV programme

• Interviews reveal different readings of same text

Nationwide Audience

• Dominant (Hegemonic) reading: reader shares the encoded meanings of the text

• Negotiated reading: reader shares some of the embedded ideologies but not all

• Oppositional (counter-hegemonic) reading: where the reader does not share the programme’s code and rejects the preferred reading

Nationwide Audience

• Members of the same subculture will tend to decode texts in similar ways.

• Individual readings of texts will be framed by shared cultural formations and practices.

2Reception Theory

Watching Dallas

Ien Ang 1985

• Different social/cultural groups watched same TV programme

• Interviews reveal different readings of same text

Watching Dallas

• Importance is the pleasure derived from ‘Dallas’ as entertainment

• Independent of ideas about mass culture

Watching Dallas

• Readers saw characters as either realistic or unrealistic

• All saw characters as ‘genuine’

• ‘Emotional Realism’

• May see the programme as lowbrow but accept that it is entertaining.

3Reception Theory

Leibes and Katz on Dallas (1984)

• International cross cultural groups watched Dallas

• Retell the story

• The retelling was shaped by cultural background although there were similar patterns amonst all groups

4Reception Theory

Watching Seinfeld

Lori Yanish 1995

• Canadian and Dutch viewers’ reactions to Seinfeld

• Dutch viewers associated American comedy with low class television

• Media as cultural imperialism

5Reception Theory

Madonna

John Fiske 1989

• Does Madonna exploit the music industry or does the music industry exploit Madonna?

Modes of Address

How a text is constructed to make us feel that it is specifically aimed at us

The ways in which texts built to appeal to particular audiences (Skins, any children’s programme, The Sun)