Lesson 9

1. Lesson 9 Social Psychology and Mass Media / Popular Culture

2. Chapter Outline • What is the mass media? • How does it affect individuals? • Symbolic interactionism • How it is used: social class reproduction • Mass Media and Identity construction/maintenance • The link between music, identity, self, and the life course • The concept of self • The concept of identity • Music as a symbolic resource for biographical work

3. What is the Mass Media? • The Mass Media are those channels of communication (TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet) that enable a source to reach and influence a large audience. • the mass media are often the vehicle through which popular culture is delivered to people. • the mass media are one of the dominant agents of socialization we encounter. • What messages do we learn from the mass media?

4. Class Discussion • How are you personally influenced by the mass media or popular culture more generally? • Do we simply follow what we see on tv?

5. Does violent tv make us violent? Research is inconclusive Research indicates that violent people watch violent media. Are these related and if so, how? Causation is not correlation (in other words, do violent people prefer violent media or does violent media make people violent?) How does TV viewing effect us?

6. The Bobo Study • Albert Bandura’s classic 1963 study that children will copy what they see in media: • Model beats up the bobo doll either, in person, on tape, cartoon or no exposure (control) • live condition: 20 violent acts • On film 15 violent acts • Cartoon: 10 violent acts • Control: 5 violent acts • What does this experiment presume though?

7. Is TV Violence the Same as Real-World Violence? • Are these three situations examples of violence? • 1) Wile E. Coyote drops an anvil on Road Runner’s head, who keeps on running; • 2) A body is found on Law and Order (Or your favorite police show, let’s say Dexter) • 3) A shooting at a party leaves one person dead and another near death after waiting thirty minutes for an ambulance. • One is real, the others are not. • Context matters!

8. Real and Fake violence • What about studies purporting to show a link between brain activity when viewing violence in media? • What is missing? • Does media violence mean the same thing as real life violence? • What about viewing pornography and the brain activity that would manifest?

9. Media as an Agent of Socialization • Even though the link between media and direct behavior is inconclusive, it would be a mistake to conclude the media has no effect on us. • The American mass media plays a major role in teaching Americans to buy and consume goods and other values. • What else does it teach us? • How does the mass media differ from other agents of socialization (like family, peers and schools)?

10. Gender • What does the media teach us about how to be male and how to be female? • What does it teach us about male/female interactions? • The Male Gaze is the idea that women are portrayed in art, in advertising, and on screen from a man’s point of view, as objects to be looked at.

11. Gender and the Media • According to the reflection hypothesis the media only give the pubic what it expects, wants, or demands. • In other words, the media content mirrors the behaviors and relationships, and values and norms most prevalent in society. • However, far from passively reflecting culture, the media actively shape and create culture. • Ex: the nightly news – how much news can fit into 22 minutes?  they set the agenda for public opinion. “The way the media choose themes, structure the dialogue, and control the debate—a process which involves crucial omissions—is a major aspect of their influence.”

12. Gender and the Media • In addition to their role as definers of the important, the media are also the chief sources of information for most people, as well as the focus of their leisure activity. • Evidence indicates many media consumers (esp. heavy TV viewers) tend to uncritically accept media content as fact. • Although there’s always intervening variables (e.g. kinds of shows, and behavior of real-life role models), the media do influence our worldview, including personal aspirations and expectations for achievements, as well as our perceptions of others. • Symbolic annihilation refers to the media’s traditional ignoring, trivializing or condemning of women.

13. Prominent Messages in TV • Women are less important than men. • Fewer women than men on prime-time TV (39% of all major characters) • Characters played by women tend to be younger and less mature than male characters and therefore less authoritative. • 65% of female prime-time characters are in their twenties and thirites12% are in their forties and 22% of male primetime characters are in their forties. • Young female characters are typically thin and physically attractive. • In general males are given more leeway in their appearance. 46% of women on TV compared with just 16% of men are thin or very thin.

14. Sexism in Advertising • Sexism in advertising can be very subtle. • Killing Us Softy • Gender stereotyping is also prevalent. • Ex: Occupation • Sexually exploitative use of women had increased in ads since 1970. • Emphasis on youth = denigration of the elderly (particularly women) • Rarities in ads: Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, gay and lesbians or people with disabilities. • Average American sees more than 37,000 ads just on TV a year!

15. Consumerism • Consumerism propels the insatiable belief that we need what we do not have • A fundamental frame of reference for relating to oneself, to others, to the environment as a whole • The principle socializing force behind this way of being in the world is television and advertising

16. Themes Media help Promote • Shopping completes us • Average adult – 48 new pieces of clothing a year, child – 70 new toys • We can all live like celebrities • No longer the Jones’, we evaluate our consumption relative to reference groups that live financially beyond our own means. • Americans carry $2.56 trillion in consumer debt, up 22% since 2000 • Average household’s credit card debt is $8,565 up 15% from 2000 • Ironically, this doesn’t make us any happier by only highlighting existing disparities between the middle and upper classes.

17. Themes Media help Promote • Our self-worth is determined by our looks and cultural norms of sexual attractiveness • Airbrushed images of perfected bodies normalize an unattainable expectation of beauty. • Girls’ self-confidence begins to fall at adolescence

18. Cultural Hegemony and Consumerism • Brands matter • Connote status • McDonald’s coffee beats Starbuck in unbiased Consumer Reports taste tests. • Why then do we choose one over another? • Ramones t-shirts have outsold their cds and records 10 to 1 • Cool hunters

19. Class Distinction Through Purchasing • cultural capitalare the tastes, habits, expectations, skills, knowledge, and other cultural dispositions that help us to gain advantages in society. This cultural capital either helps or hinders us as we become adults. • Cultural capital is embedded in our habitus, a schema for our class preferences • As people move up the economic ladder they also tend to move up the taste hierarchy • Are you an NLU?

20. The Self, Life Course and Music • Genetic factors play only a minimal role in the psychosocial development of a person • Our socialization takes place instead through various interactions throughout the life course • Music plays an important factor throughout the life course for self and identity development

21. Identity • The self is a process, and identities are shapes the process takes throughout the life course. • Identities are therefore typifications of the self • A social identity is assigned to an individual by other people • A personal identity is constructed by an individual in relation to how he/she views him/herself in relation to others • A situational identity is a momentary identity which changes from social setting to setting

22. The life course • A life course is a temporal trajectory of individual experiences. • It is rather difficult to identify fixed life stages. • Interactionists examine how individuals assign meanings to their progression through life: • The life course is therefore about the becoming of self. • How does media facilitate this?

23. The becoming of self • Music provides a set or symbolic resources for the definition and reinterpretation of identities. • In other words through music we continuously self ourselves into being.

24. Experiences of self • Experience of self, in relation to music, common in the lives of baby boomers show that; • Musical resources for self-construction are increasingly available through electronic media • Music serves to shape and convey feelings of love and intimacy • Music facilitates parenting • Music serves as tool for the moral development and political involvement of self

25. How do we use Media? • To create an identity • What information is on your facebook profile? • How does what we like define us? • I’m a starbucks drinker, or a Harry Potter fan, etc. I’m a Mac, I’m a PC. • To create unity and community • How do you feel when the national anthem is played? • Or take me out to the ball game at a baseball game? • Or when someone makes a reference to a movie you get?

26. Meaning comes from interaction • Remember the basic symbolic interaction premise, something's meaning comes from how it is used and interpreted by those who use it. • How do we use mass media? • Bonding experiences over the fight? • The collective effervescence felt at a concert or sporting event

27. Discussion / Exercise • Music serves an important function in biographic work and the development of self and identity • How important is music in the lives of adult figures you know? • How do musical tastes change throughout the life course? • Write down your favorite 5 artists/songs and why you like them.

28. How punk music is used: Different Punk Identities