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Soc. 118 Media, Culture & Society

Explore the historical evolution and significance of media in society. From the rise of mass media to the digital age, understand how media influences social relations, structures, and individual agency. Discover the role of media in shaping culture, socialization, and the construction of reality. Uncover the intersecting dynamics between mass and interpersonal communication and the transformative power of media on personal lives and institutions.

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Soc. 118 Media, Culture & Society

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  1. Soc. 118Media, Culture & Society Chapter One: Media and the Social World

  2. OVERVIEW • The Importance of Media • The Rise of Media • Timeline of the History of Media • Sociology of the Media • The Sociological Perspective • Socialization • Structure and Agency • Social Relations and the Media • Video: “Consuming Images”

  3. The Importance of Media • Consider media usage in the U.S. • “multitasking”—using more than one form of media at a time • Approximately 7 hrs./day of leisure time • 4½ hrs. spent with media • Imagine life without media • Impact on personal lives and social institutions • Taking a media “blackout” • Difficult to overestimate the importance of media in modern life

  4. Multitasking

  5. The Rise of Mass Media • Media • Plural form of medium (meaning “middle”) • Mediates communication (messages) between sender and “receiver” • Reader • Term used instead of “receiver” or “audience” • Reading messages implies active interpretation • “Texts” • Media messages or products • Could be print or image or sound • The “social construction of reality” • We must negotiate the meaning of reality • Example of tattoos • Different readers will make different interpretations about meaning of texts

  6. What is the Mass Media? • Mass —vs.— Interpersonal Communication • Mass media • Reaches relatively large audience of anonymous readers • Personal communication (mail, phone) • Single, intended known recipient and sender • Forms of Mass Media • Print • Sound recording • Film • Broadcast (radio, TV) • Radical change in the mode of distribution • Internet • Digitization • “Old Media”—vs.—“New Media” • Blurring the lines between mass and personal • Interactive • Narrowcasting

  7. Timeline of the History of Media Available at: www.cedmagic.com/history

  8. 75% of Americans have Internet access • Access by age and gender: • 77.6% of kids 2 to 17 • 75.0% of young adults 18 to 24 • 75.6% of men 25 to 34 • 77.0% of women 25 to 34 • 80.2% of men 35 to 54 • 81.7% of women 35 to 54 • 63.4% of people 55 and older

  9. Sociology of the Media • Social Revolutions • The agricultural revolution • Invention: domestication of plants and animals • The industrial revolution • Invention: steam engine • The information revolution • Invention: computer microchip

  10. Sociology of the Media • The Sociological Perspective • Culture Shock • The impact of a new place on outsiders or foreigners • Make the familiar strange • We are like “fish in water” • How to see the world in which we are immersed • The Sociological Imagination • To see the connections between “private troubles” and “public issues” • Understand the role of media in individual lives by placing them in larger social context • Links the “micro” and “macro” levels

  11. Sociology of the Media • The process of socialization: • Learn and internalize the values and norms of our culture • Values: ideas about good and bad, right and wrong • Norms: the expectations for behavior based on values • Continues through life course • Especially influential in youth • Develop identity through “looking-glass self” • Imagining how others see us • Agents of socialization • Family • School • Peers • Media • Media plays a role in socializing us into our culture

  12. Sociology of the Media • Structural Constraint and Human Agency • Structure • Describes recurring patterns of social behavior (social structure) • Exerts constraint on action • Limits agency • Agency • Indicates independent action • Intelligent, capable, creative behavior • Reproduces and maintains social structure • Potential to create social change • Examples: • Family • Education

  13. Social Relations and the Media • The media in the process of social relations • Mediating our relationships with various social institutions • Mass media and social relations • Relationships between institutions (Ch. 2, 3, 7) • How does the economy and politics affect the media industry? • How does the media affect those and other social institutions? • Relationships within an institution (Ch. 4) • How does the structure of the media industry affect media personnel? • How do industry personnel affect media products? • Relationships between institutions and individuals (Ch.8) • How does the media affect readers? • How do readers interpret and use media?

  14. Video Presentation“The Public Mind: Consuming Images”

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