MASS SOCIETY
Nazi power
In the US, a free enterprise broadcasting system was put into place – The Federal Radio Commission – later called the FCC
Assumptions of Mass Media
Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people. (Davis, 1976)
Also known as the direct-effects assumption – the media, in and of themselves, can produce direct effects.
Stresses the negative influence the media has and how vulnerable the average citizen is to the manipulative power of the media
Assumptions of Mass Media
Once people’s minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad long-term consequences result – not only bringing ruin to individual lives, but also creating social problems on a vast scale (Marcuse, 1941)
Major social problems linked to media – prostitution, gambling, deliquesce, urban violence
Housewives watch too many soaps and read trashy romance novels
Teenage girls hate their bodies because of fashion magazines
Assumptions of Mass Media
Average people are vulnerable to media because they have been cut off and isolated from traditional social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation (Kreiling, 1984)
In the past, villages protected each other and shielded them from ugliness
Traditional values of pre-TV America
Media charged with stripping and replacing the social institutions in a folk community
Assumptions of Mass Media
The social chaos initiated by media will inevitably be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order (Davis, 1976)
Predicated on the thought that mass society is chaotic and highly unstable
In times of chaos, demagogues arise and promise average people that their problems can be solved by joining extremist political movements
Totalitarianism eliminates individuality
As these extremist movements gain power, they place heavy pressure on the traditional elites
The lead demagogue receives the most power and eventually leads in a totalitarian state
Hitler is
In the US, a free enterprise broadcasting system was put into place – The Federal Radio Commission – later called the FCC
Assumptions of Mass Media
Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people. (Davis, 1976)
Also known as the direct-effects assumption – the media, in and of themselves, can produce direct effects.
Stresses the negative influence the media has and how vulnerable the average citizen is to the manipulative power of the media
Assumptions of Mass Media
Once people’s minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad long-term consequences result – not only bringing ruin to individual lives, but also creating social problems on a vast scale (Marcuse, 1941)
Major social problems linked to media – prostitution, gambling, deliquesce, urban violence
Housewives watch too many soaps and read trashy romance novels
Teenage girls hate their bodies because of fashion magazines
Assumptions of Mass Media
Average people are vulnerable to media because they have been cut off and isolated from traditional social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation (Kreiling, 1984)
In the past, villages protected each other and shielded them from ugliness
Traditional values of pre-TV America
Media charged with stripping and replacing the social institutions in a folk community
Assumptions of Mass Media
The social chaos initiated by media will inevitably be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order (Davis, 1976)
Predicated on the thought that mass society is chaotic and highly unstable
In times of chaos, demagogues arise and promise average people that their problems can be solved by joining extremist political movements
Totalitarianism eliminates individuality
As these extremist movements gain power, they place heavy pressure on the traditional elites
The lead demagogue receives the most power and eventually leads in a totalitarian state
Hitler is