myers theory lecture

Theories of mass society and their influence on mass communications theory.

What is “mass society”?

Mass communicationstakes place within mass society.


Mass society is more than just lots of people.

A mass society is more complex and more interrelated than a simply massive society. We can classify different types of mass societies by their structure and by their function.

For instance, some (Toffler, 1980) sociologists say we are currently in an Information Society (or Age).

What does this mean and how do sociologists make these distinctions?

One way to describe mass society is to measure the type of labor most common and the type of goods most commonly produced by members of that society.


http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/context/infoage.html

Theories of mass society and their influence on mass media theory.

Daniel Bell. 1973.

The coming of post-industrial society.

One of the first detailed descriptions of an information-based society was by

At first, the Information Age was being described as a “Post-Industrial” Age (just as the first automobiles were described as “horseless” carriages).


In the coming century, the emergence of a new social framework of telecommunications may be decisive for the way in which economic and social exchanges are conducted, the way knowledge is created and retrieved, and the character of the occupations and work in which men engage.

Daniel BellThe Social Framework of the Information Society, 1980.

As mass societies evolve, mass communication plays an increasingly vital role in sustaining social structures.


Industrial Age [late 1700s]

But if we are currently in an Information Age, what came before?

Information Age [mid 20th century]

Agricultural Age [early BCs]

Hunter/Gatherer Age [prehistory]

Each of these “ages” distinguishes mass society by the type of human labor required for survival.

Even more fundamental than measurements of social labor and production, however, are our basic assumptions about how and why mass society exists.

Four common sets of assumptions about the origin of mass society – or paradigms (Kuhn, 1962) -- describe how mass society is formed and how mass society is sustained.


Paradigms of mass society

• Structural functionalism

• Social conflict

• Social evolution

• Symbolic interactionism


See DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach (1982)


• Structural functionalism• Social conflict• Social evolution• Symbolic interactionism


Each of these paradigms answers these questions…

• What is the origin of mass society?• What is the current role of mass communications

in mass society?• What is the future of mass society?

…very differently.

Structural functionalism


Comte (1798- 1857)Durkheim (1858 – 1957)

Structural functionalism


What is the origin of mass society?Mass society is a collection of specialized partsworking together for the common good. [“organic” analogy]

What is the current role of mass communicationsin mass society?

Mass communications unifies mass society, promotinga common set of values and beliefs. [enculturation]

What is the future of mass society?Mass society can be analyzed as an integrated system;and mass society can be improved over time,increasing social harmony and satisfaction. [optimistic]

Social conflict


Marx (1818 – 1883)Marcuse (1898 – 1979)

Social conflict


What is the origin of mass society?Mass society is forcibly imposed by one social group onanother society group. [dialectical opposition]


Mass communications is a weapon of oppression,maintaining the status quo. [false consciousness]

What is the future of mass society?Mass society cannot overcome its oppositional originsand must rise and fall in a cyclical pattern.

[pessimistic Frankfurt School]

Social evolution


Darwin (1809 – 1882)Spencer (1820 – 1903)

Social evolution


What is the origin of mass society?Mass society is a natural adaptation to contextual changesin the physical environment. [systems analysis]


The role of mass communications dependson the fundamenta characteristics of mass com hardware.[technological determinism]

What is the future of mass society?Unpredictable, requiring a laissez-faire social policy.[neutral]

Symbolic interactionism


G. H. Mead (1853 – 1931)

Symbolic interactionism


What is the origin of mass society?Mass society is a collection of smaller societiesand consensual groups. [“bottom-up” design]


Mass communications functions no differently thancommunications in other human contexts(interpersonal, small group, etc.). [semiotics]

What is the future of mass society?Whatever can be negotiated; free will is paramount.[subjective, humanistic]


• Structural functionalism• Social conflict• Social evolution• Symbolic interactionism


In the early 20th century, theories of mass society – particularly structural functionalist sociologies – were being combined with fashionable theories of human psychology (behaviorism) to formulate the first theories of how and why mass communications affected large groups of people.


Behaviorism

Pavlov (1849 – 1936)Skinner (1904 – 1990)


Behaviorism

• Pavlov’s dogs classical conditioning

• Stimulus-Response (S-R) mechanisms (many “instinctive”) govern behavior.• The right sort of stimulus will have a strong, immediate, direct, and involuntary response. (a “knee-jerk” reaction).

• Skinner operant conditioning

• Consequences can modify subsequent behaviors• Complicated behaviors can be “conditioned” through reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.


The structural-functionalist/behaviorist argument then went something like this…

In the Industrial Age, members of society were no longer as homogenous nor as understanding of others as they had been in the Agricultural Age – because of increasing specialization within the workforce. [anomie]

Nevertheless, people with different backgrounds and beliefs still possessed the same basic needs and desires. [instincts]

Therefore, the Industrial Age posed similar problems for people (food, shelter, happiness, etc.), but denied conventional and familiar solutions to those problems (long-standing traditions, a localized culture, advice from elders).


If increasing fragmentation through specialization of the workforce within the Industrial Age was the problem…

…what was the solution?

From the structural-functionalist point of view, the system was the solution.

Or, rather, one particular component of the new Industrial Age was the solution:

Mass Communications.


At the time (early 20th century), there was no established academic field of mass communications. However, there were studies being done on the effects of mass communications (radio and film) messages, such as the War of the Worlds broadcast (Mercury Theatre, 1938) and on the deluge of wartime propaganda during the Great War (WWI) and WWII.

One of the first theorists to offer a unified approach to the study of mass communications was Harold Lasswell (1927, 1948), a political scientist. Lasswell is now commonly associated with one of the first theories of mass communications effects, now called..

The Magic Bullet Model.


Harold Lasswell (a political scientist studying propaganda) conceived the mass communications process as guided by five basic questions…

who ?says what ?to whom ?in which channel ? with what effect ?

These five questions came to serve as key concepts within a structural-functional model of the mass communications process.


who says what to whom in which channel with what effect

Sender Message Receiver Medium Effect

sndr rcvrmsg

medium

effect



The magic bullet is linear, sender-dominated,and effects-oriented.

Based on assumptions of structural-functionalismand behaviorism, the model assumes messages effectsare strong, immediate, direct, uniform, and involuntary.

sndr rcvrmsg

medium

effect



And many early mass communication messagesseemed to confirm these assumptions…

It Happened One Night (1934)

1935


However, mass communications research soon demonstratedthat messages effects were more complicated than predictedby the magic bullet model.

Two “founding fathers” (Schramm, 1985) of mass communication theory introduced important revisionsto the magic bullet model.

Carl Hovland (1912 – 1961)

Paul Lazarsfeld (1901 – 1976)


Individual differences [intelligence, predisposition, etc.]influence mass media message effects.

rcvrs

sndr msg

medium

effect2

The Magic Bullet Model.w/ Individual differences

effect1Carl Hovland


sndr msg

mediumrcvrs

effect2

The Magic Bullet Model.w/ Social categories

effect1

Social categories [education, SES, religion, etc.]influence mass media message effects.

Paul Lazarsfeld


Social relationships [opinion leadership, etc.]influence mass media message effects.

sndr msg

mediumrcvrs

effect2

The Magic Bullet Model.w/ Social relationships[two-step flow]

effect1Paul Lazarsfeld


1920s-1950s Strong media effects (short-term)individual differencessocial categories social relationships

1950s-1970s Weak media effects (obstinate audience)pander theory [giving the audience what it wants]mirror thesis [reflecting the real world]

1970s-today Strong media effects (long-term) meaning theory [cultivation of values, beliefs]modeling theory [“monkey see, monkey do”]


Weak media pander theory mirror thesis

Strong media meaning theory modeling theory


Current models of mass communicationsassume long-term, indirect, and strong effects.

examples

Agenda-settingMcCombs & Shaw (1972)[telling the public what to think ABOUT]

Functionalism: Lasswell (1948) surveillance, correlation,

transmission Wright (1960) entertainment McQuail (1972) mobilization


References

DeFleur, M. L. & Ball-Rokeach, S. (1982). Theories of mass communication (4th ed.). New York: Longman.

Kuhn, T.S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962. ISBN 0-226-45808-3

Lasswell, H. (1927). Propaganda technique in the World War. London: Keegan Paul.

Laswell, H. (1948). The structure and function of communication and society. In Bryson, L. (Ed.) The communication of ideas (pp. 32-51). New York: Harper.

Lowery, S. & DeFleur, M. L. (1995). Milestones in mass communication research: Media effects (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.

McCombs, M.E. & Shaw, D. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.

McQuail, D. (1972). Mass communication theory. London: Sage.

Schramm, W. (1985). The beginnings of communication study in the United States. In E. M. Rogers & F. Balle (Eds.), The media revolution in America and in western Europe (pp. 200-211). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Wright, W. R. (1960). Functional analysis and mass communication. Public Opinion Quarterly,(24), 610-613.

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