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MASS COMMUNICATION,
DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Understanding communication
1.3 Mass communication
1.4 Types of Mass communication
1.5 Mass Communication in Day to Day lives
1.6 Pandemic and Mass communication
1.7 Functions of Ma ss Communication
1.8 Theories of Mass Communication
1.9 Background of Mass Communication
1.10 Methods of Mass Communication
1.11 Control over Mass Communication
1.12 Effects of Mass Communication on Stakeholders
1.13 Development Communication
1.13.1 Meaning of Development Communicati on
1.13.2 History of Development Communication
1.13.3 Definition of Development communication
1.13.4 Development communication in India
1.13.5 Development communication possible steps
1.13.6 Development Communication from International Perspective
1.14 Summary
1.15 Questions
1.16 References
1.0 O BJECTIVES
1. To understand the meaning, types, uses of Mass communication and
its impact.
2. To learn about development communication and its associated uses
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2 1.1 INTRODUCTION
Irrespective of whichever occupation as student’s you may enter, there
would be some angle or dimension of communication required. In this
chapter we are going to learn about two topics related to communication,
i.e. Mass Communication, Development Communication.
Communication has been practiced since ol den times, the forms have
changed but the art exists. In the hunting gathering society human beings
interacted with each other through sounds, signs. As society moved from
simple to complex, the forms of communication also changed. Mass
communication is a product of that of Industrialization, modernization and
even transition in the society.
1.2 UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION
Communication is defined as the interchange of meanings between
persons using a shared set of symbols.The term "communication" comes
from the Latin word "communicare," which means "to give, to distribute,
or to make common." It is also a method for individuals or organisations
to communicate meaning and knowledge via the interchange of data,
ideas, and viewsi.
All of us have been communi cating right from childhood, through
expression, gestures, voices, body language both verbal and non verbal.
Communication solves problems between nations or miscommunication
can also lead to war between nations. Even today a charismatic leader with
good c ommunication helps in building international relations of the
country. Communication helps in maintaining healthy maintaining
relationships. If a individual speaks fluently in a language like English it
becomes easy to get jobs specially as Trainer, Custom er Service
professional etc. Even while hiring individuals there are group discussion
held to observe the communication skills, leadership, and
initiative,speaking skills of an individual. In other words, good
communication is essential skill set for organ izations and society.
1.3 MASS COMMUNICATION
Mass communication as viewed by Littlejohn and Foss is “the process
whereby media organizations produce and transmit messages to large
publics, and the process by which those messages are sought, used,
unders tood, and influenced by audience” .
According to McQuail mass communication is, “only one of the processes
of communication operating at the society -wide level, readily identified by
its institutional characteristics”
In lay person’s words, mass communica tion is the public transmission of
messages from an entity to a large number of users via media or
technology -driven channels, often at a cost or price (like advertisement,
subscriptions etc). This sender could be some media organization which munotes.in

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3 could be big ger or smaller in size and the audience could be also from
different age groups and locations (Berger)ii
1.4 TYPES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
There are generally four types of Mass Communication which is generally
used-
1. Print Media – This could include newspap ers, Magazines, Pamphlets,
Book, Novels, Journals, Monographs or any other printed material
which is circulated to convey some information or maintain as a
record. This form of print media can be even used as a record to
produce in the court as evidence to o.
2. Broadcast Media – This includes movies, television, radio, pagers.
3. Outdoor and Transit Media – This includes hoardings, posters, Bill
boards, Banners. Example of this would be visible on highways, traffic
signals near boards or even cycle pullers with boards about an
advertisement.
4. Digital Media/ New Media – Social media platforms have brought
about massive change in the communication – Some examples include
platforms like YouTube, website, mobile applications, video sharing
platforms, online radio, p odcasts, e -books etciii.
1.5 MASS COMMUNICATION IN DAY TO DAY LIVES
All of us know the feeling of losing a phone, or the value we attach to it. It
has becomea extension of us like a body part, in other words a member of
our life. Today, cheaper the cost of device, greater access and usage of
mass communication among large scale population. people. We have now
reached in a stage where one could call to another country individual for
free and speak on live video through platforms like Zoom, Google meet
this wa s not possible few before. Earlier the situation was as such that one
individual home only had a phone or a phone booth and people used to
wait in queues to communicate through that. There was even time limit of
30 second to three minutes and the call coul d get disconnected. Now,
companies give free plans, cheap plans and the communication has now
moved from conveying information to that of speaking about random
things. People who are in love even speak whole night over phone. This
change in behaviour is du e to the communication accessibility.

Check Your Progress
1. Define Mass Communication
2. According to you, how can we restrict the heavy usage of screen time.

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4 1.6 PANDEMIC AND MASS COMMUNICATION
The pandemic of Covid 19 is the best example as to how mass
communication can influence our lives. When there was no interaction to
the outside world, it was technology which was consumed heavily to
connect and even to feel like human. People listened radios,
communicated their feelings via radio, some RJ even host ed shows from
their homes, Teachers and students attended classes via home. The
younger generation like nursery kids, 1st standard kids also attended
classes via online. This has its own consequence where the children’s now
know the uses of mobile phones a nd constantly want to play games or are
inclined towards instant actions, gratification etc. Let us now look into
some of the functions of mass communication.
1.7 FUNCTIONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION
1. To spread out information to larger audience, whether local or
international or interstate.
2. To provide entertainment to audience – like through songs, films, TV
shows.
3. To make aware individuals about their rights, schemes,
4. To provide bias free, propaganda free news to people.
5. To play a neutral role and raise v oice against what is wrong or unjust
in the society – whether it may be people, politician or government or
any powerful person.
6. To provide platform to exchange information. Let us now, look into
some of the theories of Mass Communication.
1.8 THEORIES O F MASS COMMUNICATION
The early theories were based on assumptions that mass media have
enormous and direct influence upon society, but subsequent research
showed that there are no such direct cause and effect relationship between
the two.
There are several theories related to Mass Communication, let us look into
few of them -
 The interactive perspective views mass media as both shapers and
reflections of society .iv
 The psychological perspective blamed an individual's psychological
process for his reaction to media messages. The key principles that
emerge from this viewpoint describe how selective exposure and
selective perception limit the breadth of direct impact of people's mass
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5  The two -step and multi -step flow of information theories dismiss the
direct influence of mass media. This is due to numerous other factors
such as interpersonal channels, opinion leaders, and audience social
relations that may come between mass media and audiences and dilute
the media messages and desired effects.
 The sociological approach to mass communication studies places more
emphasis on viewers, who are seen as manipulating the media rather
than the media manipulating them.
 The theory of uses and gratifications posits that people choose media
in their own unique way.
 The media dependency theory and agenda -setting explain how
audiences chose media in order to avoid being dominated by them.
 The normative theories of mass media underline the restrictions and
restraints that are imposed on mass media in order to func tion within
current political and economic conditions, ultimately reducing their
impact.
 According to Marxist views, media have class angle to it. Referring it
as "class media" that work under class control and serve the ruling
class's economic and ideolog ical goals. Finally, cultural and semiotic
theories reveal that communication occurs through the transfer of
meaning rather than the delivery of message.
1.9 BACKGROUND OF MASS COMMUNICATION
The technology of modern mass communication is the result of many
different types of inventions and discoveries, some of which (for example,
is the printing press) began before the Industrial Revolution. The newest
means of mass communication, particularly broadcasting, was developed
by technological inventiveness in th e nineteenth and twentieth century’s,
without which the current near -global dispersion of printed words,
pictures, and sounds would have been unthinkable. Before public
communication in its current form could occur, the steam printing press,
radio, motion pictures, television, and sound recording —along with mass
manufacturing and distribution systems —were madev.
The mass communication has brought about massive change among the
lives of people. Sending and receiving information has now become
instant. Let us look into some of the methods used in mass
communication.
1.10 METHODS USED IN MASS COMMUNICATION
As mass communication deals with human beings. Depending upon the
situation the methods vary from one location to another. Yet there are
several methods wh ich is commonly used. These methods are content
analysis of texts,(literature) fieldwork which could include different
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6 interviews, in -depth interviews, case studies, survey etc. It also incl udes
anthropological methods like ethnography.
1.11 CONTROL OVER MASS COMMUNICATION
 Control over mass communication can be viewed both directly and
indirectly and it takes place at multiple levels – group, individual,
political, capitalism etc. Here Dire ct control refers to sponsorship of
advertisement in the media like television, newspaper etc. If a
particular company is giving advertisement in a media agency or house
the same media would not report anything negative about that
company as that would lea d to loss of income.
 Indirect control includes lack of any freedom of press, writing against
the rule, government, policies and this could invite punishments.
Raising voice against the government could also get individuals
arrested on some or other charge s on false case. Harassment also
occurs when any posts are written in social media like twitter,
YouTube, blogs etc.
 The control over media can be at a very base level like a reporter feels
that there exists truth however, the editor does not want to take
chances, or invite violence or charges hence avoids it. Media houses
are also driven by ideologies – so something which is against one’s
ideology they fail to report, and those topics which favoursones
ideology is reported.
 Mass communication is also at times controlled by political groups –
as for them it becomes easy medium to communicate to the larger
audience.
 Marxist historian Gramsci pointed out the role of Hegemony through
which the dominant groups ideas are conveyed to that of the working
class th is takes place through that of control over mass
communication.
 At individual level too control exists whereby audience decides/
chooses what he/she wants to read or listen too. He/she controls or
let’s access to the piece of information into self.
1.12 EFFECTS OF MASS COMMUNICATION ON DIFFERENT
STAKEHOLDERS
Mass communication affects both the young, old, children’s in different
manner. It can influence political decisions through opinion, discussion or
even excessive coverage of people who are in the vo ting age groups can
alter decisions. It can also influence choice of clothes, food, taste of music,
in other words, consumer behaviour. Let it be smaller decisions or larger
decisions like career choice can also be influenced through that of mass
communica tion. Mass communication has the power to influence larger
audience due to its wider reach in the societies. This can be irrespective of
class, gender, caste or location too. With pandemic and online classes, munotes.in

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7 students know how to use mobile phone, as a res ult, we are entering into a
generation which has access to technology at a younger age. There are
also new forms of mass communication with that augmented reality,
artificial intelligence emerging which would impact the society massively
in the coming year s. Let us now look, into the second topic in the chapter,
Development communication
1.13 DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
1.13.1 Meaning of Development Communication
The practise of using communication processes, methods, and concepts to
effect positive social c hange is known as Development Communication.
Development communication is also the use of communication to aid in
the advancement of social development. Information dissemination and
education, behaviour change, social marketing, social mobilisation, media
advocacy, communication for social change, and community engagement
are all examples of development communication approaches. Erskine
Childers characterized it as "a discipline in development planning and
implementation in which more adequate account is t aken of human
behavioral aspects in the design of development programmes and their
aims."
Development communication uses strategic communication to help solve
social problems in developing cultures. Information dissemination and
education, behavior change, social marketing, social mobilization, media
advocacy, communication for social change, and community engagement
are all examples of development communication approachesvi.
Recognizing the power of communication as a catalyst for social
progress is what development communication is all about. It is also the use
of existing communication technologies and uses theories for result -driven
methods for societal improvement. Development Communication can also
be defined as purposeful communication aimed at a spe cific target
audience that allows information to be translated into action, which results
in an improved quality of life.
Development communication can also be closely related to the principles
of Sustainable Development (which can be defined as the enhanc ement of
a community via the use of information and technology, as well as the
community's ability to maintain the produced ideal state without harming
its environment and resources).
Development communication can also be seen as the exchange of
informatio n with the goal of achieving an agreement on a course of action
that takes into consideration everyone's interests, requirements, and
capabilities. As a result, a social processvii.

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8 Check Your Progress
1. Discuss the effects of mass communication on differ ent stakeholders
2. Define Development Communication
1.13.2 History of Development Communication
The concept of development communication may be traced back to
initiatives undertaken in various parts of the world throughout the 1940s,
but its broad use arose from challenges that occurred in the wake of World
War II. The growth of the communication sciences as an academic
discipline began in the 1950s, with Daniel Lerner, Wilbur Schramm, and
Everett Rogers among the most significant supporters.
According to Manyozo (2006), the history can be divided into six different
schools , like the Bretton Woods school, Latin American, Indian, Los
Banos, African, and participatory development communication schools.
The World Bank, has also taken interest in promoting this field through its
Development Communication division and in June 2008 it has
also published the Development Communication Sourcebook. A resource
addressing the history, concepts, and practical applications in this
discipline, reflects the growing inte rest in these types of applications.
1.13.3 Definitions of Development Communication
Nora C. Quebral created the term "Development Communication" in the
year 1972, and she defines it as, "the art and science of human
communication which is linked to a soc iety's planned transformation from
a state of poverty to one of dynamic socio -economic growth that makes
for greater equity and the larger unfolding of individual potential."
The World Bank defines development communication as "the integration
of strategic communication in development projects" based on a thorough
grasp of indigenous realities.
1.13.4 Development Communication in India
In India still 70 percentage of the population resides in villages.
Traditionally radios have been used to communicate. It has saved people
through weather reports, health warnings etc. specially in remote villages,
where there are no proper roads even today. Radios help in conveying
important announcements, schemes from the government to the people.
Even today, Mann ki Baat a radio program, addressed by the Present
Prime Minister - where discusses the areas about which people of the
country have to work together like Swatch Bharat Abhiyan , volunteering,
water conservation, Fit India, exams or women empowerment,
environment rela ted issues and other stories. There are also people given
opportunities express through radio their own lives storiesviii. In a diverse
country like India, communication of schemes for social development
becomes very important, here the current mediums of com munication like
Television, Radio, Newspapers helps. Important social issues are munotes.in

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9 communicated through competitions, plays, role play, drawings, banners
to children’s in remote schools. Community Radio, is still an important
part of villages which talks abo ut village priorities, issues, songs, festivals,
important decisions related to the village and even plays devotional songs.
These radios are run by villagers.
Let us look into development communication with an example of
HIV/Aids programs as to how these programs are handled. Periodically
there are baseline sample surveys being conducted, there are content
developed as form of textbook, banners, pamphlets, video clips,
documentary and there is periodic evaluation on the annual impactix etc.
1.13.5 Developm ent Communication Possible steps.
1. Initial Assessment of the situation, audience.
2. Designing a strategy to communicate
3. Building the discussion themes for communication
4. Preparing communication methods, materials for communication.
5. Going to the field and c ommunicating
6. Feedback/ Evaluation of the feedback.
1.13.6 Development communication from International Perspective
As discussed earlier, globally too the importance of development
communication has been realized. There are several initiatives taken by
international forums for enhancement of communication let us look into
some of them -
1. The International Programme for the Development of Communication
(IPDC) is a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) programe which focuses on promoting the
growth of mass media in poor nations.
2. The United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, adopted
and proclaimed Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as Resolution 217 A. (III). Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of boundaries, it stated.
3. In 1977, UNESCO established the I nternational Commission for the
Study of Communications Problems, also known as the MacBride
Commission and named for its Chairman, Sean MacBride. The
Commission was granted three years to conduct investigations and
report to UNESCO.
4. The report Many Voi ces, One World was later delivered to the Belgrade
Assembly in October 1980. As a result of the findings, UNESCO
established the International Programme for Communication
Development (IPDC). According to the program's website, it "exists to
strengthen the means of mass communication in developing nations by
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10 community media, and modernising news agencies and broadcasting
organisations."
5. At its General Conference in Paris in November 1987, UNESCO called
for the continuation of its major plan, Communication in the Service of
Man, in which it reaffirmed that "it is essential gradually to eliminate
existing imbalances in the field of communication, in particular by
fostering the development of infrastructures, training of people, and
strengthening of production and dissemination capacities in developing
countries, and to encourage a free flow of information."
6. At the UN General Assembly's June 2004 session, it was "decided to
maintain the Com mittee to Review United Nations Public Information
Policies and Activities," with a mandate that included "promoting the
establishment of a new, more just, and more effective world
information and communication order intended to strengthen peace and
intern ational understanding and based on the free circulation and wider
and more balanced dissemination of information, and to make
recommendations." The goal was to protect more independent local and
indigenous media.
Check Your Progress
1. Do you think through development communication we can solve
international issues?
2. Discuss the different steps in development communication.
1.14 SUMMARY
In this chapter we began with understanding the concept of mass
communication. Mass communication as viewed by Little john and Foss
is “the process whereby media organizations produce and transmit
messages to large publics and the process by which those messages are
sought, used, understood, and influenced by audience” . The chapter also
discusses the different types of media available like that of Print Media,
Broadcast Media, Outdoor and Transit Media, Digital Media/ New Media,
Broadcast Media, Outdoor and Transit Media and Digital Media/ New
Media. The chapter also has discussion on who controls media whether it
is cap italists, sponsors, government, decision makers like editor, reports or
even the audience.
The second section of the chapter is about development communication.
Nora C. Quebral created the term "Development Communication" in the
year 1972, and she defines it as, "the art and science of human
communication linked to a society's planned transformation from a state of
poverty to one of dynamic socio -economic growth that makes for greater
equity and the larger unfolding of individual potential." In India still 70
percentage of the population resides in villages. Traditionally radios have
been used to communicate. It has saved people through weather reports,
health warnings etc especially in remote villages, where there are no munotes.in

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11 proper roads even today. Thus, Deve lopment communication is something
which is carried out to improve the society or solve a social issue.
1.15 QUESTIONS
1. Write a note on types of mass communication and discuss about mass
communication and control.
2. Discuss the theories of Mass communicati on
3. Write a note on communication
4. Discuss history of Development communication
5. Discuss the definitions of Development communication and the
International forums which talks about Development communication
1.16 REFERENCES
ihttps://www.mba -notes.com/2020/06/Definition -of-Communication.html
ii https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introductiontocommunication/
chapter/defining -mass -communication/
iii https: //leverageedu.com/blog/types -of-mass -communication/
iv https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7164/1/Unit -3.pdf
v https://www.britannica.com/topic/communication/The -psychology -of-
communication
vi https://www.igi -global.com/dictionary/building -knowledge -without -
borders/7411
viiServaes, J. (2003). Approaches to development communication . Paris:
Unesco.
viiihttps://www.mygov.in/campaigns/mann -ki-baat/
https://www.caluniv.ac.in/academic/JMC/Study/DC.pdf
ixWilkins, K. G., & Mody, B. (2001). Reshaping development
communication: Developing communication and communicating
development. Communication Theory , 11(4), 385 -396.


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12 2
FOLK CULTURE - MEDIA AND SOCIETY,
MASS CULTURE MEDIA AND SOCIETY
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Traditional forms of communication
2.3 Meaning of folk
2.4 Meaning of Culture
2.5 Folk Culture – Media and Society
2.6 Folk Culture and Education
2.7 Folk Culture a nd Tourism
2.8 Folk Culture and Social media.
2.9 Folk Media and election
2.10 Mass culture
2.11 Mass culture Media
2.12 Mass Media and Education
2.13 Mass Cultural Products
2.14 Social Media as Mass Culture
2.15 Difference between folk and Mass Media
2.16 Future of Mass Culture
2.17 Summary
2.18 Questions
2.19 References
2.0 OBJECTIVES
 To understand the meaning of folk culture and Mass Culture.
 To look into the interaction between folk culture and mass culture
media forms.
 To learn about the problems associated with this interaction and the
future of these forms.

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13 2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses two main topics. The first topic is folk culture as a
media form and its implications in society. The second section focuses on
mass culture as a media form and its effects on society. Folk can b e
associated with the earliest forms of communication . Mass culture has to
be viewed as a form of system which is used by large scale people, either
as consumption or producer. It is contemporary and constantly changing
and evolving. We will also look into how these two forms interact with
each other. These topics are included for you in the syllabus; as sociology
students, we are expected to observe and study social change. Media
brings about massive social change. It helps in societies' transition. We are
also living in an age which is called as Information Age. Hence studying
these topics becomes very relevant.
2.2 TRADITIONAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION
In Venice, there used to be a wall where the news was written in the olden
times. To read that news, one had to pay a few coins. This was before the
invention of the printing press. In other words, the exchange of
information is not somet hing new but old and ancient. Let us now look
into the first main topic of the chapter, folk culture and media and society.
Before understanding that let us begin with the basics like understanding
the meaning of folk.
2.3 MEANING OF FOLK
Folk culture is generallyassociated with the being original, authentic, pure
and more connected to the roots of the community. Before we learn about the interaction between folk culture, media and
society, we need to understand how information exchange has been
practiced in olden times. Traditionally the Toom Toom (Dhool) has been
used to convey information, where one man would hit (play) the
instrument and say that the king has passed on these messages. In India,
even in our mythological stories, we had gods/ characters who used to
pass on information from one kingdom to another . Even in the grand
temples- which have huge complexes generally are the storehouse of
information. The walls of temples have inscriptions written in different
local languages. These inscriptions have details about how much land
was given to whom, the ration details, the stories, myths of that land.
There have been instances in the traditional Indian society where the kings
awarded the artists with pieces of lands who composed beautiful
songs, poetries. These scholars used to travel from distant places to share
their artworks. We have also used palm leaves to record information. Even
Pigeons were used to carry information about war plans or to convey
information about enemy countries approaching near the borders to
another kingdom to seek support. Pigeons were also used to carry notes of
marriage proposals or love letters. Notes written on palm leaves have been
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14 Alan Dundes is seen as the father of Folklore. He is one of the prominent
scholars in the field who has contributed to a large extent to the grow th of
the discipline. One of his important books is titled, 'The meaning of
folklore.'According to him, folk is often associated with peasant or rural
people; it is also connected with the past. Yet, he points out that even
urban people have folklore it do es not fade away or die out; however, folk
is always created or recreated depending upon the situation. He also adds
that 'folk' can be seen as 'any group of people whatsoever who share at
least one common factor. It does not matter what the linking factor is-it
could be a common occupation, language, or religion but what is
important is that a group. that have some traditions that it calls its owniHe
also points out that there are different types of folklore. For example –
Folktales, legends, myths, ballad s, festivals, folk dance and song, rhymes,
food recipes, traditional names, sounds. ( Dundes, 1965:2 -3). Let us now
look into the meaning of culture.
2.4 MEANING OF CULTURE
According to the British Anthropologist Edward Tylor, Culture can be
called as " the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member
of society " (1871, p. 1). The uniqueness of culture is that it evolves, is
human -specific, and is learned from one generation and passed on to
another generation. In other words, it is cumulative. It keeps on evolving
with time.
2.5 FOLK CULTURE – MEDIA AND SOCIETY
The term folk itself is a debatable term; what can be called folk today may
not be folk tomorrow. If societies hav e completely been modernized
through the use of technology, infrastructure, can we say then that they do
not have something called as folk culture at all with them? Or none of
their practices deserve to be called a Folk. The roots of the emergence of
folk culture are invoking the gods, remembrance, ancestor worship, labor
who work in the fields, mothers singing a lullaby for their children. Later
on, these forms are being used to further communicate to a wider
audience. The traditional folk media forms are basically people’s
performances, which are performed live. The strength of these forms of
media is that it is rooted in the social and cultural fabric of the villages. It
can be used for multiple forms like awareness to convey development
messages. The fol k media has played an important role even in the
freedom struggleii. The beauty of a country like India is that every state
would have its own folk-art forms like Maharashtra has Lavani, Powada,
in Kashmir we have Ruf (Rouf), which is performed at the onset of the
spring season. In States like Tamil Nadu, there is Villu Pattu (Bow Song)
which is used to sing praises of folk heroes and has been used by NGOs to
spread awareness. There are folk art forms everywhere in India to give
some examples – Yakshagan, Na utanki, Katha -Kirtan, puppet shows. In a
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15 and carried from one generation to another. Let us now look into the
different aspects of folk culture within our society.
2.6 FOLK CULTU RE AND EDUCATION
In India, we have several folk media forms like Nukkad Natak – which
means Street play. This is, even today, is used widely. These forms are
even used by students who are NSS volunteers (National Social Service
Scheme) who use it to sprea d out the social message related to dowry
practices, Aids campaigns, use of plastics, etc. Especially students stay in
villages as camp every year for nearly ten days and they form groups and
perform in villages. Some colleges even offer courses in Bachelo r's in
Folklore, Master's in Folklore, Ph.D. in Folklore. UGC NET/SET exams
are also held for folklore as a discipline upon clearing which one can
become an Assistant Professor. There is scope for research,
documentation, field studies on this subject too. The Ministry of Culture
awards several scholarships, Museums in different parts of India and even
UNESCO provides grants in these areas. This shows the importance of
discipline. To understand the present reality, one has to learn about the
past. This is o ne of the most important reasons because of which even the
colonial scholars documented several folk literatures, documented
narratives, recorded oral historical stories, myths, practices and even
translated them into their own languages.
2.7 FOLK CULTUR E AND TOURISM
Folk Art forms, drawings, songs, lyrics are used as cultural symbols for
tourism purposes. One could also see the tourism advertisements like
Incredible India; where celebrities are included in the advertisement.
During uncertain times like pandemic local tourism has been more
encouraged. The uniqueness about tourism is that it helps generate
revenues directly to the local population residing in a given area. If there is
a religious site, then people often visit those areas to perform rituals ; as a
result, the locals are employed throughout the year. When foreigners visit
the country for site seeing and experiencing the local culture, that too adds
revenue. So, it is the folk form that brings people to the country which
they can't find back in their own homes. Hence preserving these forms,
which are symbols of the past, is crucial in the present times. Thus,
through folk culture the tradition of the country is communicated to the
non-local audience’s via performances.
Check Your Progress
1. Expl ain the traditional forms of communication
2. Discuss the meaning of culture
2.8 FOLK CULTURE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
At present, people are uploading folk art forms into the platforms like
YouTube, Facebook. Several art forms which were closed for other munotes.in

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16 commu nities are available freely. There are also sacred rituals which were
practiced secretly earlier are now uploaded by people. There could be
several reasons for this - one of them is to keep it as a record. Second, it is
to gain recognition which has been de nied for generations to the folk
forms. The social media is constantly changing - the ways in which people
learn, share, participate, and engage with one another. People now adopt
technologies to complement and supplement traditional means of
vernacular ex pression. As a result, the digital interaction between folk and
new media forms has also increased. There is now what we witness is
virtual folk culture available and creatediiiPopular artists are using folk
songs, and then further they are imitated by Insta gram users to make reels,
youtube shorts – Some examples are the song – Kacha Badam, Assame
Song – Genda Phool. However, the song's original creators – the folk
artists at times do not receive any direct benefit like monetary or their
living conditions do not change many a times .
2.9 FOLK MEDIA AND ELECTION
Folk as a media form is still widely used during elections, rallies,
campaigns as it appeals to the people. Even in political speeches, folk
proverbs are used to describe the opposite party's flaws and to explain
one's own party greatness. Politicians tend to use folk as it is what the
locals speak and think. It is a language of people and hence it tends to
have greater appeal among the audience. Folk songs, folk symbols, and
heroes are used in rallies, posters, etc. It shows the mixture of both
technology and that of the tradition going together.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain Folk Media and Education
2. Discuss folk culture and Social Media
2.10 MASS CULTURE
Mass culture is the cultural items that are ma ss-produced and sold to a
large number of people. For example - Films, television shows, popular
novels, newspapers, magazines, popular music, leisure products, home and
living products, apparel. These forms are often mechanically produced. In
other words, here, the goal is profit -driven and it also follows commodity
trade rules. The principle used here is also that of homogenization. These
are products tend to cater to a mass audience. The mass culture has taken a
new form or has been impacted immensely du e to globalization. Scholars
like Adorno, Horkheimer have used the terms like culture industry to
explain the psychological effects of mass culture on individuals.'iv
2.11 MASS CULTURE MEDIA
Here mass refers to large scale. The aim is to capture a wider au dience.
This kind of media or form focuses on a larger audience than a specific
niche group. Mass culture media is also a form that has emerged with
industrialization and mechanization in the Western World. One of the munotes.in

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17 earliest beginnings could be seen with that of the invention of the
machines printing press. It brought about a social change in the system
where everyone has access to the cultural product and could be seen as a
consumer. It has both positive and negative effects. Negative effects
include it could harm the traditional form of media and build a
consumerist, capitalistic -driven society where the few people in power
tend to control the minds of a large population. In today's time, the mass
cultural -based media has a higher influencing power globa lly. For
example, the first things one wakes up and reads are newspapers, watching
a mobile for news, or hearing it on fm. So, the interaction between mass
culture and that of the audience is very close and real. The impact of mass
media can also be seen w ith the number of channels we have today. Data
shows that there are 915 satellite television channels in India as of 2021v.
The mass cultural media resulted from Westernization, Industrialization,
which led to the growth of consumerism among people. Media was now
used heavily for leisurevi. The Frankfurt School and Cultural Studies as a
discipline have written about Mass Culture in detail. The Mass culture
results in creating products for mass consumption through mass
production via mass distribution in the post-industrial societyvii. This cycle
originated in the Western countries and then it got passed on to the
developing countries too. For example, the reality shows that began in the
West like America Got Talent have been spread out in India and in
different regional languages.
2.12 MASS MEDIA AND EDUCATION
In India, since the late 2000s, there have been new Bachelor’s courses
launched like Bachelors in Mass Media, Advertising. Traditionally there
were few courses like Bachelor’s in Commerce, Arts, Science with their
respective specializations. However, due to increasing opportunities in the
field, new courses emerged which are in demand among the students.
These courses' emergence also conveys the requirement of trained
individuals in the job market. These students get employed in traditional
journalism platforms like newspapers and television, but they are also
employed in OTT platforms and even develop their own content via
YouTube and other social networking sites.
2.13 MASS CULTURAL PRODUCTS
The Mass m edia can impact a large set of audience. There are different
forms of mass cultural products like books, newspapers, magazines,
music, radio, movies, television, electronic games, entertainment industry,
internet, social mediaviii. In today's time, in every h ousehold, a television
set one can find. If not television, then there would be a mobile phone,
radio. If not these, then still they would have aspirations to buy one. The
mass culture -based media is more economically driven; it's fast, it's
competitive. I t runs at times based on ratings as the market drives it. It
works on the principle of fight or thrives – sensationalism, relevance,
timing; these factors play a very important role in the mass culture -based
media. In today’s time, a television news channe l has also played a role of munotes.in

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18 communicator of the news with entertainment. The traditional news
channel has also started making use of memes, Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram posts – as they have also been consumed on a large scale.
Twitter handles have now beco me a quick and easy communication
platform for world leaders, Indian leaders, politicians, business people,
etc. This shows how the change in the form of communication and
expression.
2.14 SOCIAL MEDIA AS MASS CULTURE
Let us understand the reach of social media through a simple example –
Once in Mumbai, there was some incident of train derail that had taken
place. I was traveling that day and was in Mumbai Central. In Mumbai
Central, I went to a coconut seller to get a drink. During interaction, he
showed me his WhatsApp chat and said, look, people from Dubai and
Gulf have sent the Mumbai train videos. They know more than us. We can
understand how the informal sector worker also uses social media through
this example. As it has become a mass culture produc t. One of the reasons
for this is the easy user interface and the human mentality to follow and
share things. The speed at which these media platforms operate is
immense and even fake news can also spread out very quickly.
The usage of tik tok itself reve als how simple video -making platforms can
grow and influence individuals rapidly. The point to note here is the way
the minds and habits of individuals are affected by individuals. I.e., heavy
online consumption, posting personal videos online, let it be n ew clothes
makeup. It creates behavioral transformation in individuals and affects
even children . Behavioral changes like the need for instant recognition,
instant gratification, living more on the virtual artificial world than in the
real world. It impact s children who spend more time inside the home with
devices than outside playing in the sun. Mentally and physically, it affects
the individuals.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain the Mass cultural products
2. According to you, what is the future of Mass Cultu re.
2.15 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOLK AND MASS
MEDIA
The uniqueness about folk is that people identify themselves. One
connects it with one's identity, family, roots, culture, home. This is at
times is carried and practiced for generations . Nations identify w ith the
folk forms and practices and even take steps to preserve them through
museums, sponsoring festivals, scholarships, educational assistance to the
artists, students etc. The factors that influence here are preservation and
are associated with traditi on and custom. This is different from the mass
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19 On the other hand, monetary, data, motives, popularity are the factors that
make a cultural product to last or end. There are also criticism that internet
availability at a low price mobile phones consumption has reduced the
demand for folk media forms. The audience is now tuned for immediate
consumption and a large variety which is available at their fingertips
through a press of a button or swipe.
The mass c ulture also destroys or affects the livelihood of the folk culture
dependents. For example – With the increase in television, the folk artist's
demand has reduced. The folk-art forms do not have a climax every three
minutes, unlike in a serial, to retain t he attention. Sensationalism is not
used in folk forms. The television channels of the state have reduced
compared to that of the private players; as a result, the showcase of folk
media forms has reduced. Yet folk forms are used even today in all life
cycle rituals from birth to marriage to death. They represent the culture of
humans and of the past. Yet the artists are marginalized and find it
difficult to meet their daily expenses.
2.16 FUTURE OF MASS CULTURE
With the emergence of augmented reality, pla tforms like Metaverse, NFTs
will being used heavily. With time it would be heavily consumed
products. The usage of robots in different mechanisms also reflects the
changes emerging. Print media is now facing competition with that of
digital media. There ar e also new channels emerging as an independent
website and growing through subscription model via platforms like
YouTube. In Western countries, there are newspapers houses shut down as
the revenue has declined due to the emergence of digital forms of media .
This portrays that mass culture faces constant competition and they have
to change according to the audience's tastes and demands.
2.17 SUMMARY
In this chapter, we began with understanding the meaning of folk. Alan
Dundes, father of folklore in his book , 'The meaning of folklore,' dundes
notes folk as often associated with peasant or rural people; it is also
connected with the past. Yet, he points out that even urban people have
folklore it does not fade away or die out; however, it is always created or
recreated depending upon the situation. He also adds that 'folk' can be seen
as 'any group of people whatsoever who share at least one common factor.
It does not matter what the linking factor is -it could be a common
occupation, language, or religion, but what is important is that a group that
have some traditions that it calls its ownix. He also points out that there are
different types of folklore. For example – Folktales, legends, myths,
ballads, festivals, folk dance and song, rhymes, food recipes, tradi tional
names, sounds. In India, there are several forms of folk-art forms like
Yakshagan, Lavani, Villu Pattu (Bow Song), Kathakali, Puppet shows etc.
Every state is rich with folk forms. These forms are used as a tool for
communication during elections, f or creating awareness on social issues
like pollution, corruption, plastics, Aids, etc. The folk media forms have munotes.in

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20 wider appeal as local knowledge is passed on from one generation to
another.
The second section of the chapter focuses on understanding mass culture.
Mass culture is produced through industrialization and a mechanization -
based society. Television, radio, internet is an example of mass culture.
The mass culture media is driven by demand and sensationalism,
television and it is also an impact of globalization. The future of mass
culture is through augmented reality like metaverse, NFT. We also looked
into comparing both folk media forms and that of the mass culture where
both have started interacting. However, the mass culture has negatively
affec ted the livelihoods of folk artists.
2.18 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the meaning of Folk and its influence on society
2. Discuss mass culture as a media form and its future
3. Explain the difference between folk and Mass culture as Media
2.19 REFERENCES

i https://www.library.illinois.edu/sshel/specialcollections/folklore/
definition/
iihttps://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7263/1/Unit -3.pdf
iiiBlank, T. J. (2012). Folk culture in the digital age: The emergent
dynamics of human inter action. University Press of Colorado.
ivmass culture. Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2 Mar. 2022, from
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.201108031
00138730
vhttps://www.statista.com/statistics/1177588/india -number -of-satellite -tv-
channel s/
viJacobs, N. (1960). Introduction to the Issue “Mass Culture and Mass
Media.” Daedalus, 89(2), 273 –277.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20026570
viiZhen, L. I. U. (2016). Relationship Between Mass Media and Mass
Culture: Frankfurt School and Cultural Studies S chool. Canadian Social
Science, 12(1), 23 -28.
viiihttps://www2.palomar.edu/users/lpayn/115/GC115 -Understanding -
Media -and-Culture -An-Introduction -to-Mass -Communication. pdf
ix https://www.library.illinois.edu/sshel/specialcollections/folklore/
definition/


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21 3

APPROACHES AND PERSPECTIVES
FUNCTIONAL, CRITICAL, POLITICAL
ECONOMY AND SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIONISM

Unit Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Perspectives on Media
3.2.1 Functionalist Perspective
3.2.2 Critical media theory
3.2.3 Marxism and Po litical Economy
3.2.4 Social Constructionism
3.3 Summary
3.4 Questions
3.5 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES
● To introduce the learners to various approaches related to media
● To elaborate on various perspectives related to media
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The term "media" comes from the Latin word "medium," which refers to
the means of communication in modern civilization. The job of the media
is to provide the people with the necessary and balanced information.
Various forms of media have been made available to the masses of the
world throughout the last few decades. A network society is a late -modern
society (Castells, 1997). A person's relationship with media and
technology can take many forms. Technology is diverse, ranging from
simple to complex. We see media everywhere and on every device we
own. Individuals are connected in a complicated system of interaction via
emails, social networking sites, and a variety of applications used for
instant messaging using portable devices.

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22 3.2 PERSPECTIVES ON MEDIA
3.2.1 Function alist Perspective
The functionalist school of thought holds that every component of society
is interconnected and contributes to society's overall functioning. The
media, according to the functionalist viewpoint, is a commercial product
that entertains, i t socialises individuals, and it teaches future groups
standards, morals, and ideologies. Individuals are also kept informed about
cultural standards in the event of major national events through the media.
The media, according to the functionalist viewpoi nt, should be used to
teach what is right and suitable for society as a whole.
Merton’s Contribution
According to Merton, the functions of mass communication can either be
manifest or latent.
The visible and intentional effects of the media are known as manifest
functions. Latent functions, on the other hand, refer to the undesired or
difficult -to-observe, or those which are unintentional with hidden effects.
To take an example, Components of the media's manifest functions
include selling items and promo ting demand for products, resulting in
profit for enterprises. Spreading political rumours, misinformation, and
confusion is an example, because there is no feasible way of making the
funds required to conduct a thorough inquiry thanks to the Digital.
On the other side, latent media functions refer to the maintenance of the
status quo through the reinforcing of gender or racial prejudices, as well as
the marginalization of different subgroups. As a result, functionalism
explains why the status quo is freque ntly preserved.
As an example, function as the people's watchdog when it comes to
political failures and corruption.
Functions of Media
1) Environmental Surveillance : One of the media's most essential
functions is to keep track of everything that happens in the globe and
to inform human society.
The media is responsible for providing information and covering a wide
range of topics that are important to the public.
The media contributes to social order by providing directions on what to
do.
In times of cr isis, it is necessary to do so in order to reduce public
confusion.
1) Environmental Surveillance: One of the media's most essential
functions is to keep track of everything that happens in the globe and to munotes.in

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Approaches and Perspectives
Functional, Critical, Political
Economy and Social Constructionism
23 inform human society. The media is responsible fo r providing information
and covering a wide range of topics that are important to the public.
The media contributes to social order by providing directions on what to
do. In times of crisis, it is necessary to do so in order to reduce public
confusion.
For example, the media's responsibility in natural disasters, wars, and
pandemic is to inform the public and promote awareness by informing
people about what's going on and how they can help. It is possible to
survive a disaster if there is appropriate supp ort from Media.
2) Correlating various aspects of society : This function is concerned
with how the media selects specific aspects of society. News and its
interpretation have an impact on how society perceives and reacts to it.
People's opinions on politic al issues, events, public policy, and other
topics are influenced to some extent by how the media portrays them.
In their debates and presentations, they frame and portray the topic. The
media's coverage of the Vietnam War, for example, influenced public
opinion. Many Americans who began to oppose sending troops into a lost
war. Hitler made use of the media in his anti -Semitic propaganda
campaign.
3) Cultural Transmission: The ability of the media to educate the many
norms, regulations, and ideas that repre sents the people and secure their
transmission across generations is referred to as cultural transmission. It
also helps us socialise by allowing us to pass on our values, beliefs, and
customs to the next generation. Indeed, media socialises and resocializ es
us throughout our entire lives. All forms of media instruct us on what is
good and desirable, as well as how to speak, conduct, and react to
situations. Television shows, for the most part, represent the society in
which they are transmitted and help pe ople comprehend their cultural
heritage. Children's television shows are created to promote positive
behaviours and moral standards. For example, Mythological serials, Epics
contribute to the transmission of cultures across generations.
4) Entertainment: The entertainment value of media is an obviously
visible function of the medium. The power of the media to help people
relieve stress is referred to as this popular function of the media. The
media can have both b eneficial and harmful consequences. Content of
poor quality is frequently criticised, but other advantages include assisting
people in experiencing new situations, arousing emotions, and assisting
them in achieving their goals. The way people spend their f ree time
demonstrates how vital this functi on is. From gaming on the internet to
exploring different applications, this t echnology provides new and
fascinating opportunities for people to communicate and create a new
social network for themselves. They keep themselves occupied.
For instance, telev ision allows individuals to watch events that they would
not otherwise be able to see or not be able to take part in. Further, the
online mode, vitual meetings has created a scenario where the person is no munotes.in

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24 longer required to be physically present to witne ss an event but rather can
attend the same from the comfort of their own physical place.
5) Commercial: Since each and every family spends a significant amount
of time in television viewing or browsing the net , different commercial
organisations and corpor ate houses have sprung up to capitalise on this
trend. They find it most convenient to attract customers in order to
promote product sales (Nielsen 2012).
The media is widely regarded as the most effective me ans of product
marketing and promotion.
Firms co llect data from viewers and target them accordingly, advertising
have appeared on billboards, public transportation, cinemas, and
educational institutions. Sponsorship deals are received by the institution
to help them arrange their events.
6) Life -Changin g: Many forms of technology, like media, entertain and
inform us. We'll have a place to sell our wares and mingle. Many forms of
technology, like media, entertain us, provide a platform for
commercialization , and allow us to socialise. Some research, for example,
implies that the Obesity is linked to a decline in regular activity as a result
of increased usage of electronic devices. Some sorts of technology, a
hidden function of society's media dominance Without a question, one of
technology's most visibl e functions is to transform our lives, sometimes
dramatically. Both for the better and for the worse.
Functionalist theory explains social practices and institutions in terms of
the ‘needs’ of the society a nd of individuals (Merton, 1957). Society is
regarded as a systematic system of interconnected working pieces or
subsystems, each contributing to the continuity and order of the whole.
One of these networks might be thought of as the media. It is said that
organised social activity necessitates the maint ainance of a more or less
accurate, consistent, supportive, and full picture of society and the social
environment. The media achieves unanticipated gains for society as a
whole by consistently responding to the needs of individuals and
institutions.
Accor ding to the theory, media is fundamentally self -directing and self -
correcting. While the formulation is apolitical, it is more likely to be seen
as a means of maintaining society as it is rather than as a sou rce of major
change, as it suits pluralist and v oluntarist conceptions of social life's
fundamental mechanisms. It also has a conservative bias, as the media are
more likely to be seen as a means of maintaining society as it is rather than
as a source of m ajor change. Although functionalism in its early
manifestations has been largely abandoned in sociology, it lives on as a
media approach in new forms (e.g. Luhmann, 2000), and it continues to
play a role in framing and solving media research issues. It is still helpful
for some descriptive purposes, and it provides a language for
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Functional, Critical, Political
Economy and Social Constructionism
25 This phrase has the advantage of being generally known and widely
disseminated by the tools of mass communications th emselves and their
viewers. Identifying media's societal functions . As per Lasswell (1948),
the main functions of communication . today were environmental
surveillance, correlation of the elements of society in responding to their
environment, and transmissi on of cultural heritage. Wright (1960)
expanded on this basic framework to include amusement as a fourth
essential media function in order to explain several o influences of media
disintegration (Mendelsohn, 1966). This may be part of the transmitted
cultu re, but it also serves to provide individual re ward, relaxation, and
stress relief, making it simpler for people to deal with real -life issues and
for civilizations to prevent breakdown (Mendelsohn, 1966).
We can identify the following collection of basic notions about media
tasks (functions) in socie ty with the addition of a fifth item, mobilisation –
aimed to reflect the broad application of mass communication to political
and corporate propaganda:
Information : Information on current occurrences in societ y and
throughout the world, Indicating power relationships, Facilitating
advancement, innovation, and adaptation, Correlation Defining,
interpreting, and commenting on the significance of events and data,
Supporting established authority and standards, Soc ializing, Constructing
a consensus, Creating priority lists and indicating relative status,
Continuity Recognizing subcultures and new cultural changes while
expressing the prevailing culture, Creating and maintaining a shared set of
values, Entertainment Providing pleasure, diversion, and a way to
unwind.We can't give these things a broad ranking or declare anything at
all about their comparative frequency of occurrence. Because one function
overlaps with another and the same content might serve many funct ions,
the relationship between function (or purpose) and precise content of
media is not exact.
Studies of media content have also revealed that mainstream media tends
to be conformist and supportive of dominant values rather than critical.
This support ta kes a variety of forms, including avoiding f undamental
criticism of key institutions such as business, the justice system, and
democratic politics; providing differential access to the'social top; and
symbolically appreciating those who find success accord ing to the
approved paths of virtue and hard work, while symbolically punishing
those who refuse or deviate.
Dayan and Katz (1992) contend that big social events (public or state
ceremonies, major athletic events) should be shown on television events)
that frequently draw large audiences from around the world to offer social
cement that might otherwise be lacking.
One of the repercussions of so -called "media events" is that they elevate
prominent persons and topics in society. Another is about social relat ions:
'We have seen communitas and camarader ie arise from traditionally
atomized – and often highly split – communities with nearly every event' munotes.in

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26 (1992:214). Given these findings, it's not surprising that study on effects
hasn't found much evidence that the media, with all of their focus on
crime, se nsation, violence, and deviant behaviour, is a substantial cause of
social, or even individual, crime and disorganisation. The more one
believes in a functionalist media theory, the less reasonable it becomes to
assume societal disintegrative effects. None theless, in circumstances of
obvious injury, this theoretical approach can be used. Every social system
is vulnerable to failure or error, and the term "dysfunction" was coined to
describe outcomes that appear to be bad. Because the media lacks a clear
objective in society, they are more prone to malfunction than other
institutions and are more difficult to fix. However, the question of whether
something is functional or not is almost always debatable on subjectiv e
grounds. For example, while critical media might serve as a vital
watchdog, they can also undermine authority and national unity. This is
functionalism's fundamental and irreversible flaw.
3.2.2 Critical media theory
The development of critical theory by philosophers connected with the so -
called " New Left" can be traced back to critical media theory. In the 1920s
and 1930s, it was known as the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt School's
critical theory was neo -Marxist and Hegelian in nature, and it establishe d
powerful critiques of positivist, mainstr eam social science and philosophy.
As a result, the Frankfurt School's approach to analysing the emerging
20th century "mass media" established a firm foundation.
The forms of political economy of the media that a rose in their wake are
arguably the most di rect theoretical offspring of Frankfurt School critical
theory (via the latter's critique of industrialised culture).
In the 1960s and 1970s, however, rival Marxist interpretations began to
question what they saw as the Frankfurt School's and political eco nomy
approaches' economism, reductionism, and determinism. The Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham
in the United Kingdom was at the forefront of this movement. The
Birmi ngham School developed structural and cultu ral Marxism based on
the work of Althusser and Gramsci in particular.
Furthermore, the CCCS pioneered semiotic and ethnographic strategies to
critical media studies, drawing on theorists such as Roland Barthes and
Clifford Geertz, and resulting in media au dience ideas that diverged
significantly from those of the Frankfurt School and political economists.
The Birmingham School's critical media theory was closely associated
with feminist theory and politics, as well as critical race theory, during the
late 1 970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s; it also engaged in
dialogues and debates with poststructuralism, postmodernism, post -
Marxism, and postcolonialism, and spread internationally under the
abridged title of "C ultural Studies." Though not contrary, crit ical media
theory differs from film theory in that many film theorists reject the
designation of cinema as a "medium of communication," and many critical
media theorists also reject (at least for a long time) the engagement with munotes.in

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Approaches and Perspectives
Functional, Critical, Political
Economy and Social Constructionism
27 television that sparked muc h of critical media theory and helped to birth
the field of television studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Although critical
media theory in general and broadcast studies have incorporated some
types of psychoanalysis to some extent, neither has been as engulf ed by
psychoanalytic techniques as film theory has been for many years (perhaps
due to the specificity of the cinematic apparatus).
3.2.3 Marxism and Political Economy
Even if Karl Marx only understood the press b efore it became a true mass
medium, the Mar xist legacy of media critique in capitalist society is still
relevant. Murdock and Golding (2005) identified many varieties of
Marxist -inspired media analysis that have merged into today's 'critical
political econ omics.' The issue of power lies at the hear t of Marxist views
of the media. While they have always been diverse, they have always
underscored the fact that they are ultimately tools of domination by and
for a ruling class. The founding source is Karl Marx' s German Ideology,
which states: "The class that controls the means of material production
also controls the means of mental production, so that, in general, the
conceptions of those who lack the means of mental production are
subservient to it." Murdock a nd Golding (1977:15) cite this source.
Acco rding to Marxist theory, there is a clear link between capitalist
possession and the propagation of discourses that affirm a class society's
validity and value. In modern times, evidence of trends toward greater
concentration of media ownership by capitali st entrepreneurs (e.g.
Bagdikian, 1988; McChesney, 2000) as well as much correlative evidence
of conservative tendencies in the content of such organised media (e.g.
Herman and Chomsky) supports these views. In th e twentieth century,
revisionist versions o f Marxist media theory focused more on ideas than
on material structures. They focused on the ideological implications that
the media represents the interests of a ruling elite by 'reproducing'
exploitative connections, manipulating , as well as legitimisin g capitalism's
domination and workers' subordination category . This process, according
to Louis Althusser (1971), operates through a 'ideological state.'
apparatuses' (in effect, all means of socialisation), whi ch, in comparison
to'repressive state,'
The capitalist state's apparatuses (such as the army and police) allow it to
survive without resorting to violence direct retaliation. This tendency is
related to Gramsci's (1971) concept of hegemony. Marcuse (1964) saw the
media, together with other aspects o f mass production processes,
as'selling' or imposing a full social structure that is both desirable and
oppressive. Overall, Marxist theory's message is clear, yet many questions
remain unsolved. How can the med ia's dominance be opposed or resisted?
What i s the status of media that aren't clearly owned by capitalists or
under state control (such as independent newspapers or public
broadcasting)? In the Marxist tradition, critics of mass media either use the
weapo n of exposing propaganda and manipulation (e. g. Herman and
Chomsky, 1988; Herman, 2000) or aspire for some sort of collective
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28 Political economy theory is the most important current heir of Marxist
theory.
Political -economic Theory is a socially critical approach that focuses on
the relationship between economics and society. Media industries'
structure and dynamics, as well as their ideological content. Therefore, the
media institution must be viewed as an integral part of the economic
system, with tight ties to the go vernment. The loss of independent media
sources is one of the repercussions.
Concentration on the most profitable markets, risk avoidance, and lower
investment in less profitable markets are the responsibilities o f the media
(such as investigative reportin g and documentary film -making). But , We
also notice a lack of concern for the environment, smaller and poorer
potential audiences, as well as a frequently politically biased range of
news. The approach's fundamenta l strength is its ability to make
empirica lly testable assertions about market determinations, despite the
fact that market determinations are so many and complex that empirical
testing is difficult.
It's not easy to make a demonstration. While the focus o f the approach is
on media activity as an economic process that leads to, there is a political -
economic approach to the commodity (the media product or content).
What commercial media sells to their customers is almost always assured.
This viewpoint is more difficult to apply to internet ads, part icularly the
search engine as a primary advertising platform (Bermejo, 2009; and see
below, p. 402). In the case of the Internet, the political economy method is
currently being used. Fuchs (2009) expands on Smythe's theories, arguing
that the key to the O nline business is the commercialization of free access
platform users, who serve as customers for advertising and publicists
while also producing material at no cost to network providers and site
owners. The distinct ion between mass communication and incre dibly
popular websites like Myspace and YouTube is not always evident.
Several advances in media business and technology, as well as the fall
from grace of a strictly Marxist approach, have considerably expanded the
relevance of political -economic theory. First, there has been an increase in
media concentration around the world, with ownership power
concentrated in fewer hands and mergers between the electronic hardware
and software industries becoming more common (Mu rdock, 1990;
McChesney, 2000; Wasko, 200 4). Second, there has been an increasing
convergence between telecommunication and broadcasting (Melody,
1990; Sussman, 1997), resulting in a developing worldwide "information
economy." Third, under the guise of 'der egulation,' 'privatisation,' or
'liberal isation,' there has been a fall in the public sector of mass media and
direct public control of communications (particularly in Western Europe)
(McQuail and Siune, 1998; van Cuilenburg and McQuail, 2003). Fourth,
the problem of information inequality is wo rsening rather than improving.
Second, there has been a growing convergence between
telecommunications and television (Melody, 1990; Sussman, 1997),
resulting in a global "information economy" forming. Third, there h as
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Functional, Critical, Political
Economy and Social Constructionism
29 of communications (especially in Western Europe) under the name of
'deregulation,' 'privatisation,' or 'liberalisation' (McQuail and Siune, 1998;
van Cuilenburg and McQuail, 200 3). Fourth, rather than improving, the
problem of information inequality is getting worse.
The term 'digital divide' refers to disparities in access to and use of
sophisticated communication technologies (Norris, 2002), but it also
encompasses discrepancie s in the quality of prospective use. The
fundamental premises of political -economic theory haven't changed in a
long time, although the range of applications has expanded dramatically
(Mansell, 2004).The main propositions of critical politica l-economic
theory Control and logic in economics are crucial. The media structure is
prone to monopoly. The globalisation of media ownership is progressing.
Audiences and content are both commodified. True variety is dwindling.
Opposition and alternative voices are pushed to the margins. The public
interest in communication is put on the back burner in favour of private
interests. The advantages of communication are not dispersed equally.
3.2.4 Social Constructionism
The publication of Berger and Luckman's book The Social Construction of
Reality spawned a bro ad and important trend in the social sciences, which
became known as social constructionism (1967). In truth, the conceptual
roots are far deeper, as evidenced by Blumer's (1969) symbolic
interactionism and Alfred Schutz's phenomenological sociology (1972) .
The idea of society as an objective reality pushing on individuals is
challenged in this work by the alternative (and more liberating) view that
society's structures, forces, and ideas are made by hum ans, constantly
recreated or reproduced, and open to d ebate and change. In the idea
of'reality,' there is a general emphasis on the options for action as well as
choices. Human actors must create social reality and give it meaning
(interpretation). These b road concepts have been expressed in a variety of
ways , depending on other theoretical notions, and they mark a
fundamental paradigm shift in the human sciences in the late twentieth
century.
The overall notion that mass media impact what most people consi der to
be reality is, of course, an ancient one that i s rooted in propaganda and
ideology theories (for example, the media's role in establishing a "false
consciousness"). The unquestioning, but never -ending promotion of
nationalism, patriotism, social con formity, and belief systems by the
media could all be considered examples of social construction. Later
critical theory advocated for the possibility of contesting and resisting
such ideological impositions on the media as a very effective reproducer
of a selective and biased view of reality.
Apart from the i ssue of ideology, there has been a lot of focus on social
construction at work in relation to ideology , to news, entertainment, and
popular culture in the mass media, as well as in the shaping of public
opinion. In the case of news, media scholars have co me to the conclusion
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30 selective construct made up of fragments of factual information and
observation bound together and given m eaning by a specific frame, angle
of vision, or perspe ctive.
News genre criteria and news processing algorithms are also in action. The
processes through which events, people, values, and ideas are first defined
or understood in a certain manner and given significance and priority,
usually through mass media, leading to the (personal) building of broader
representations of reality, are referred to as social construction.
There are multiple parts to the critique of the prevailing paradigm, and
what follows i s a composite picture constructed from various voices that
are not always in agreement. There is a line of critique that is separate
from normative objections in terms of theory and methodology. The basic
transmission model does not function in practise fo r a variety of reasons:
signals simply do not reach in tended receivers; messages are not
comprehended as they are sent; and there is always a lot of 'noise' in the
channels distorting the message. Furthermore, very little communication is
truly unmediated; what escapes the mainstream media is usually filtered
through other channels or through personal interactions. All this
undermines the notion of powerful media. Early notions of the media
as a hypodermic syringe or ‘magic bullet’ that would always have the
intended effect were swiftly shown to be quite inade quate (Chaffee and
Hochheimer, 1982; DeFleur and Ball -Rokeach, 1989). It has been clear for
several decades that mass media simply do not have the direct effects once
attributed to them (Klapper, 1960). In fact, it has always been difficult to
prove any su bstantial effect.
In general, the 'alternative paradigm' is based on a distinct perspective on
society, one that does not accept the current liberal -capitalist system as
just, inevitable, or the most tha t humanity can aspire for in its fallen state.
It als o rejects the rational -calculative, utilitarian paradigm of social life, as
well as the commercial model as the sole or best way to operate the media.
There is an alternative philosophy that is idealist and occasionally utopian,
but there is no worked -out model of an ideal social order. Nonetheless,
there is a sufficient common ground for rejecting the concealed pluralism
and conservative functionalism ideologies. Since the early twentieth
century, there h as been no shortage of loud opponents of the media,
particularly in relation to commercialism, low standards of truth and
decency, monopolistic control, and much more. Socialism or Marxism, in
some form or another, was the original ideological motivation f or a well -
grounded alternative. Fixed meanings conta ined in media content that lead
to predictable and observable impact were dismissed. Instead, we must
consider meaning to be constructed and signals to be decoded in light of
the social circumstances and t he interests of the recipients. Second, the
economi c and political nature of mass media organisations and structures
has been reexamined on a national and international scale. These
institutions can no longer be regarded at face value; instead, their
opera tional strategies, which are far from neutral or no n-ideological, can
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Functional, Critical, Political
Economy and Social Constructionism
31 As the critical paradigm has evolved, it has shifted from a focus on
working -class oppression to a broader understanding of various forms of
oppression, particularly in reg ard to youth, alternative subcultures, gender,
and ethnicity. Third, these shifts have coincided with a shift toward more
"qualitative" study, whether in the areas of culture, discourse, or the
ethnography of mass media use. This is frequently referred to as a
linguistic turn because it reflected a revital ised interest in investigating the
relationship between language and society (sociolinguistics) as well as a
belief that reality's symbolic mediation is really more significant and
available to research th an reality itself. It is linked to the above -mentio ned
aim in exposing hidden ideological meanings. This has opened up new
avenues for learning and reconnected the forgotten paths of sociological
theories such as symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, w hich
stressed the role of individuals in expressin g and building their own
personal environment (see Jensen and Jankowski, 1991). This is part of a
larger trend in cultural studies that allows us to see mass communication
in a new perspective. The cultural studies tradition, according to Dahlgren
(1995), "confronts the prevailing paradigm's scientistic selfdelusion," but
there is an unavoidable tension between textual and socio -institutional
study. The communication ties between the First and Third Worlds ha ve
also promoted new ways of thinking about mass communication,
especially in light of changing technology.
For example, the relationship is no longer viewed as a question of
transferring progress and democracy to 'backward' countries in an
informed manner . It can be viewed in the same light as economic and
cultural dominance.
Finally, while theory does not always lead in a critical direction, the 'new
media' have prompted a reevaluation of past ideas about media influence,
but that's because the model of o ne-directional mass communication can
no longer b e upheld.
3.3 SUMMARY
In the above unit we have looked at the perspectives related to Mass media
by looking at various schools of thought. It is now very much clear how
mass media serves its various functio ns towards the society and its
subjects from Func tional, Critical, Political Economy and Social
Constructionism point of view. It is important to note that the media plays
an important function and is not just the source of entertainment, but a
legitimate source of “infotainment” for the society provided , it works
ethically.
3.4 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the approaches and perspectives of Functional/
Critical/Political Economy and Social Constructionism on media
2. Write Short Notes on any of the perspectives menti oned above munotes.in

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32 3.5 REFERENCES
● Escote, Alixander (Ap ril 2008). Limited Effects Theory.
http://www.socyberty.com/Sociology/Limited -Effects -Theory.112098
● CliffsNotes.com (July 200 8). The Role and Influence of Mass Media.
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/topicArticl
eId-26957
● Media and Society: A Critical Perspective, Thi rd Edition Arthur Asa
Berger
● Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality William A.
Gamson, David Croteau, William Hoynes and Theodore Sasson









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33 4
SOCIAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
4.0 Objective
4.0 OBJECTIVES
● To examine the role of mass media in social change
● To analyze mass media through the lens of various theories and assess
the effects critically
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Mass media is created with the aim of mass communication. The
information is given out by one source which is intended for public
consumption. While one of its aims is to entertain and attract the viewer, it
also bec omes a tool of spreading social and political messages. It
programmes the perception of the viewer and shapes the decisions made in
their everyday lives. The individual is bombarded with information
promoting not only which products to buy but also the gen eral perspective
of the public about what is desirable and undesirable. Mass media can be
an effective catalyst in social change because of its ability to reach a large
population.
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Theories of mass media
4.2.1 Development Communication Theory
4.2.2 Social Learning theory
4.2.3 Social Marketing Theory
4.3 Functions of Mass media
4.4 Dysfunc tions of mass media
4.5 Impact of mass media on society
4.6 Conclusion
4.7 Summary
4.8 Questions
4.9 References
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34 Mass media can incorporate various means of communication like
newspapers, magazines, billboards, television, radio, films, video games,
social media, etc. People spend an average of 25 hours a week watching
television, and find time apart from that to engage in listening to the radio,
watching cinema, reading the newspaper and magazine, or browsing
through social media. While on one hand, these are the mediums that the
individual is actively engaging with; others like billboards and
advertisements, subtly relay messages in the form of passing images or
short videos. The effects of media are often challenging and aim to target
gullible audiences.
4.2 THEORIES OF MASS MEDIA
Over the years, sociologists have been analyzing the influence of mass
media and have come up with several theories such as: normative, socio -
scientific, and c ritical communication theories to address the topic.
Previously, media was thought to have a direct influence on all aspects of
behaviour of the individual and therefore, society at large.
4.2.1 DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION THEORY
The Development Communicat ion Theory is rooted in the idea of media
being used to develop a nation or to help the people who are accessing the
content without any ulterior motive. It attempts to communicate without
manipulation and stimulates genuine response. Daniel Lerner’s ‘The
Passing of Traditional Society’ (1958) and Wilbur Schramm’s ‘Mass
Media and National Development’ were the pioneering texts on the
subject. This theory uses scientifically curated content for social change.
The development of this theory is based on the id ea that the Third World
countries aspire to follow the First World countries and match their
development with regards to their technology in the form of their political
systems, heavy industries, capital intensive technology, etc. Thus,
development was lin ked with Westernization and constant comparison
was made concerning modernisation of the developing countries.
The definition of development has been changing as it is seen that the First
World corporations, while providing the developing nations with the
necessary technological gadgets and information, are bartering these for
socially engineered messages and propaganda to control the culture of the
developing countries to benefit their own. This system is criticized for
cultural imperialism and glorificat ion of the colonizers through the use of
media. In this regard the term ‘dominant paradigm’ was coined by Everett
Rogers in 1978 to identify the practice of the superiority of the Western
legacy which was broadcasted through all media. The legacy includes the
Industrial Revolution in North America and Western Europe; colonialism
in the developing world like Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and
Asia; capitalism; and the quantitative tradition of American social science.
This theory was criticized for its short -sightedness by Rogers Everett in
1978. He argued that the dominant paradigm falsely depended upon the
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Social Change and
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35 the other hand, the dependence on the studies provided by the American
Social Science Research reduced the developing countries to mere
numbers instead of assessing other areas to understand the standard of
living. Having understood that mass media had a fairly limited and
indirect reach than what was previously assumed, Ro gers redefined
development as “a widely participatory process of social change in a
society, intended to bring about social and material advancement… for the
majority of people.”
Later, Robert Hornik in his article published in the ‘Journal of
Communicatio n’ reevaluated all the relevant information and posed three
questions. The first was about the role played by communication in the
development process, second aimed at the conditions that make a
communication project a success or a failure, and the third a bout the
specific applications in development communication. Hornik drew
examples from development projects in several developing nations making
it geographically diverse. It mapped out how development projects either
function or dysfunction in different s ociocultural environments. At the
same time, Hornik found that communication worked as a catalyst,
organizer, motivator, and equalizer for social change. Complementing this,
it was recognized that development strategy was only as effective as the
strategy to make changes in resources and environment.
4.2.2 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
The basic yet powerful idea that people learn from observation drives
social learning theories. This notion has been accepted as common
wisdom for years, and it has been used in fi elds such as education and
training. When applied to the mass media, however, this premise becomes
more problematic and difficult to verify, as media scholars cannot agree
on what behaviours people learn from the media, to what extent, and under
what circu mstances. There are a few instances where viewers, particularly
younger ones, closely mimic a scenario from a television show or a film.
One of the most concerning types of imitation is ‘copycat crime’ where a
fictional crime inspires similar events to be imitated in real life. The
majority of people, on the other hand, will selectively replicate pictures
and actions they encounter on television.
Albert Bandura, a social psychologist, argued for an indirect and complex
view of how people model their behavio ur on pictures they acquire from
society in his book 'Psychological Modeling: Conflicting Theories' (1971).
Humans gain symbolic pictures of acts and behaviours, which they adapt
and subsequently use to motivate their own conduct. Bandura categorizes
the m ethods of achieving social learning into three types: Observational
learning, inhibitory effects, and disinhibitory effects.
1. Observational learning - It is the most straightforward form of social
learning. It is founded on the notion that people may learn h ow to perform
a behaviour by witnessing it. Apprenticeship, for example, originated
based mostly on observational learning in occupational training. The
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36 2. Inhibitory effects - It work s on the idea that if someone witnesses
someone being punished for acting in a certain way, that person will learn
not to act in that way. In other words, inhibitory effects cause people to
avoid behaviours that they associate with punishment.
3. Disinhibito ry effects - When it comes to disinhibitory effects, the
opposite is true.
It's likely that if someone is rewarded for destructive activity, others will
follow suit. This is why some television reviewers have been particularly
upset by shows that glorify vi olence and do not punish those who do it.
Because it recognized that social learning is not a rote process of direct
imitation, but one in which numerous influences affect both observation
and response, social learning theory has had a lasting impact on ef forts to
induce social change through the mass media.
4.2.3 SOCIAL MARKETING THEORY
In 1971, Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman introduced and coined the term
"Social Marketing Theory" in a paper published in the Journal of
Marketing. The authors argued for the use of consumer marketing
strategies to address social issues and presented the conceptual
groundwork for their approach. As marketing has been so successful in
persuading people to buy certain things over others, the same strategies
should be useful i n persuading people to adopt specific behaviours that
will lead to improved physical and mental health, and eventually to
widespread societal change. Social marketing theory is an interdisciplinary
endeavour that needs collaboration between researchers fro m several
traditional fields.
Two audiences are targeted at the same time in social marketing
initiatives. Considering social problems are caused by behavioural
changes, social marketing strategies focus on individuals and groups who
will benefit from chan ging their behaviour. Second, because social
problems have socioeconomic roots, social marketing initiatives are aimed
at policymakers with the authority to enact policy changes that would
improve the likelihood of social marketing campaigns succeeding.
Three concepts guide the organisation of social marketing efforts. First, a
campaign must be consumer -oriented in order to be successful. This
implies that the target audience is considered as an active participant in the
process of social transformation. Se cond, the campaign should be built on
a social exchange of values and ideas between the organisers and the
target audience. This discussion is centred on the crucial concept of
voluntary conduct in social marketing. Third, campaigns should have a
long-term strategy that extends beyond immediate and short -term success
indicators. Monitoring, feedback, and evaluation mechanisms should be
included. With its underlying capitalist premise, social marketing has been
criticized for encouraging a consumer approach to social change.
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37 4.3 FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA
The functions of mass media are as follows:
1. Information: There is a constant circulation of information about
our immediate environment and the globe at large. Traffic jams are often
reported via the radio channels, being prepared for the weather through
TV reports, and other news about topics that can affect us personally like
the stock market and hostility brewing between political parties.
2. Entertainment: Media provides an escape from the grind of
everyday life and its challenges. It has the ability to immerse the viewer
into an alternate reality which is devoid of the troubles of the real wor ld. It
allows a brief yet temporary moment of relief for individuals to
rejuvenate.
3. Correlation: Media allows comprehension of the information
provided through context. It aids in upholding societal norms; in
socializing children; and it also aims to prov ide a framework for
interpretation of events.
4. Proximity: It has the ability to bridge the distance between two
societies. Technology allows media to be accessed simultaneously by
anyone anywhere in the globe. For example, when one views a live sports
matc h, there is a feeling as if one were a part of the crowd at the stadium
where the match was being played.
5. Continuity: Media has the ability to assert the dominant culture and
common values. It makes emerging social developments visible and
behaves as a wat chdog of society.
6. Consumer behaviour: Advertising is used as a tool to inform the
public about the products and services companies have to offer. They have
the ability to sway consumer decisions with the aesthetic or emotional
appeal of their commercials. Brand visibility through various platforms
usually translates into brand acknowledgement and loyalty, converting
their presence into large profits for the company.
7. Mobilization: Mobilization of the population can take place when
there is a need to direct the behaviour of society. It can be used to rally the
public for war, to encourage certain moral values, or to make specific
political decisions during the times of elections. This can be done very
directly though public campaigns or it can also be done th rough subliminal
messaging with moral endings for TV serials or movies.
4.4 DYSFUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA
1. Authenticity: Authenticity of the information that is broadcasted is
usually compromised as channels are funded by big corporate agencies
and political p arties which use these mediums for their own agendas. This
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38 2. Vulgarization: Mass media can be viewed as an agent that threatens
and smothers creativity and diminishes the standard of cultural products.
Hence, the local languages and indigenous aspects are often at stake with
trends that generalize and typecast specific characteristics of the culture.
Eg. The vulgarization of indigenous languagesand folk songs through
popular cinema and songs.
3. Sensationalization: Production of fake or fabricated information
usually made to raise the T.R.P. (Television Rating Point) leads to
sensationalizing the presented content to hook the audience. This pattern is
visible all over mass media, but especially with news channels who
repeatedly display violence, or the scripting of ‘reality’ shows in the name
of entertainment. Journalism also seems less focused on reporting
important news and gets fixated on sustaining celebrity culture and gossip.
4. Hyper -reality: Hyper -reality represents an exaggerated yet
extremely engaging and realistically detailed world. It blurs the line
between simulation and reality because it becomes effortless to immerse
oneself in it. It feels real but is far from r eality. Sociologist John
Thompson came up with the concept of ‘mediated -quasi interaction’
referring to a limited and narrow form of social interaction. Eg. Video or
chat messages that engage and allow social interaction but it may not be
necessary to know the person personally or in a comprehensive manner.
5. Addiction: Spending long hours accessing mass media without
caution can also lead to addictions directly and indirectly.
6. Safety: The numbers of cybercrimes are on the rise with creation of
fake identit ies and profiles, leaking or selling of personal information
without consent, access to the deep web for devious business, etc. Hatred
in the form of nationalism is easily spread through sometimes fake and
doctored content. Content showcased can affect the mental health (eg.
watching tragic news stories every day, leading to depression) and
decision -making skills of individuals, especially those who do not have
the ability to be critical of the content presented in front of them (eg.
children watching super hero movies and imitating the stunts)
Check Your Progress
1. Mantion any 4 Functions of media
2. What is Social Marketing ?
4.5 IMPACT OF MASS MEDIA ON SOCIETY
Violent entertainment has become much more widely available as a result
of technological advancements. The economic rivalry for viewers,
especially young viewers, has placed a focus on violent media images.
There was a substantial rise in violent crime not long after television was
introduced into American homes. Some academics and observers believe
there is a link between the two. Social learning theory emphasizes the
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39 that has the intention of harming another person. This aggression
especially with regards to constant viewing of violence may or may not
intend to hurt the person on whom the act is being practice d upon.
Children can learn about the origins and causes of many emotions through
observing media characters' emotional experiences, and they frequently
feel empathy for them. Although there is no study on the long -term impact
of media exposure on children 's emotional skill development, there is
plenty of evidence that it can contribute to children's concerns and
anxieties. Both fictional and news television can create long -term
emotional distress in youngsters.
Sexualization of bodies in the media can affe ct impressionable young
minds. Children are propelled into being an adult with the unnecessary
sexualization of mostly female bodies in video games, films, TV, and song
depictions. This unrealistic representation has led to an increase in body
dysmorphia a mongst young adults and plastic surgeries are becoming
more common than ever to meet the mainstream standard of beauty. The
media that we consume mirrors and sometimes even reinforces sexism.
Stereotypes for women such as submissive, unintelligent, emotion al,
dependent, weak, receptive, timid, and a sex object find their places in
movies, television, and even in children’s content. On the other hand,
showing men as dominant, rational, intelligent, brave, and sexually
aggressive offers a skewed idea to the a udience about their own role
within society. This portrayal is not only found in television but also in the
porn that is widely accessed by the population.
Other effects include fears or phobias being triggered, multitasking
leading to a short attention sp an, little separation between truth and
fantasy, and incorrect role models. The use of media without caution can
cause issues of blunting of emotional response, increase in apathy and
even depression. It can also explain the influence of fad diets on physi cal
health, such as the substitution of energy drinks, juices, green tea, or cereal
for regular food due to advertising claims of weight loss.
4.6 CONCLUSION
Radio, television, popular music, and the Internet are the most powerful
persuasion tools. These m ediums are hugely influential and have a lot of
potential for constructive societal change. It's understandably tough to
draw the line between treating people as consumers or citizens in efforts
aimed at achieving constructive social change. Media and soc ial change
theories have a lot of potential, but they also have a lot of drawbacks. In
order to move beyond prior models of social change, research has pushed
for more interactivity, transparency, and context sensitivity in the use of
media for social chan ge. Even if the media's influence is indirect and
difficult to track, measure, and comprehend, the media remains a crucial
tool to use in ongoing attempts to improve people's quality of life.
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40 4.7 SUMMARY
Mass media can be an effective catalyst in social c hange because of its
ability to reach a large population.
Over the years, sociologists have been analyzing the influence of mass
media and have come up with several normative, socio -scientific, and
critical communication theories to address the topic.
The Development Communication Theory is rooted in the idea of media
being used to develop a nation or to help the people who are accessing the
content without any ulterior motive.
The basic yet powerful idea that people learn from observation drives
social lea rning theories
Social marketing theory is an interdisciplinary endeavour that needs
collaboration between researchers from several traditional fields.
Radio, television, popular music, and the Internet are the most powerful
persuasion tools. These mediums are hugely influential and have a lot of
potential for constructive societal change.
4.8 QUESTIONS
 Discuss the functions and dysfunctions of mass media.
 Explain in detail the ‘Development Communication Theory’.
 Examine the ‘Social Learning Theory’ and ‘ Social Marketing Theory’.
 Critically analyze the impact of mass media on society.
4.9 REFERENCE
 Mehraj, Hakim Khalid, et al. “Impacts of Media on Society: A
Sociological Perspective.” Http://Www.ijhssi.org/,
https://jogamayadevicollege.ac.in/uploads/15868 41455.pdf.
 Kraidy, Marwan M. “Social Change and the Media.”
ScholarlyCommons, https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/328/.

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41 5
POWER AND INEQUALITY
Unit Structure
5.0 OBJE CTIVES
● To understand the notion of power and inequality vis -à-vis media
● To examine the effects of the power and subsequent inequalities that
impact various aspects of human life
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The mass media has shown to be an effective vehicle for bri nging about
change. It has facilitated human evolution into a futuristic society never
before imagined by humans. Having unrestricted access to knowledge has
facilitated social mobility. While it is a strong tool, it is also heavily
influenced by elite per spectives and frequently depicts the dominant
paradigm. When the authority to control what content is viewed by the
general population slips into the hands of a small group of people, often
wealthy individuals, imbalance can result. The public on the recei ving end
of this transaction is transformed into 'the other,' resulting in disparities on
multiple levels.
Over the centuries there have been different forms of communication
inequalities. Many forms of inequality have survived the transition from
the tra ditional to the digital regime, some have diminished or decreased in
important. In the world of digital media, some types of inequality are
aggravated (eg. Power held by a small number of actors worldwide) and
some are new such as, big data, surveillance and social scoring, 5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Understanding Power
5.3 Understanding inequality
5.4 Access to Media
5.5 Different Approaches to inequality
5.6 Conclusion
5.7 Summary
5.8 Questions
5.9 References
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42 algorithmic filtering and selection. Increasing inequality in the media and
as a result of media poses the risk of endangering social cohesion, creating
exclusion and marginalization. In this section we will discuss power and
inequali ty in media and through media.
5.2 UNDERSTANDING POWER
Here, social power is defined as a social relationship between groups or
institutions that involves a more powerful group or institution (and its
members) controlling the actions and thoughts of a wea ker group. Such
authority usually implies privileged access to socially valuable resources
like force, wealth, income, education, or position. Media power is usually
symbolic and persuasive, in the sense that it has the ability to influence the
minds of re aders or viewers to some extent, but not their actions directly.
Whatever the news media's symbolic strength, at least some media users
will be able to resist such manipulation. This implies that media mind
control is most effective when media users are un aware of the nature or
implications of such control and change their minds of their own free
choice, such as when they accept news items as true or journalistic
perspectives as legitimate or accurate. Such a study of social power and its
symbolic component s demands a departure beyond a narrow social or
political view of power.
The term "media power" frequently connotes power abuse —that is,
various sorts of illegitimate or otherwise inappropriate exercise of power,
as defined by specific standards, norms, or values. Manipulation, for
example, is commonly regarded as a negative type of media power
enactment, because mediated information is slanted or obscured in such a
way that the audience's knowledge and opinions are shifted in a direction
that is not always in its best interests.
5.3 UNDERSTANDING INEQUALITY
Since the beginning of public communications, inequalities have been an
unpleasant companion of the media and communications. Traditional
media has been criticized for being biased, promoting hegemonic i nterests,
consolidating much too much power in the hands of powerful industrial
corporations, and generating information gaps among their varied
audiences. Journalism has contributed to gender and race discrimination in
newsrooms, as well as the acceptance of informal news selection standards
that favour those in power, overshadowing their position as a watchdog in
democracies.
Most of these inequalities remained and new ones arose during the digital
regime around the time of the emergence of the Internet as the primary
distribution platform in the late 1990s. Knowledge gaps have morphed
into digital divisions, advertising revenues have shifted to social
networking sites, posing a challenge to traditional news journalism, and
global corporate monopolies hav e outperformed both media businesses
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43 surveillance, big data, etc. are causing new types of inequalities that
follow conventional patterns of class, gender, money, and education.
Inequal ity exists in a variety of forms, but the most prominent is wealth
distribution and poverty. Pierre Bourdieu has categorized different types
of inequalities referring to the following capitals.
1. Economic capital - associated with access to financial resourc es
2. Social capital - associated with social relations and institutionalized
networks that encourage socialization.
3. Cultural capital - referring to skills and knowledge gained through
education, intellect, style of speech, or attire.
Oftentimes, individuals w ho are at a disadvantaged position in the society
wish to improve their social standing, this is called ‘social mobility’.
Economic capital is primary for this shift in the individual’s position. In
today’s world, access to technology at affordable rates a nd to information
has allowed this movement. Although, in Third World countries the
picture looks grim as the poor can barely make ends meet, let alone pay
for an internet connection. The portrayal of the poor and marginalized
within media is also often st ereotyped with respect to darker complexions
or from the disadvantaged communities or castes, while in reality, the
picture may be very different. This stereotype is further deepened with the
showcasing of the “lack of effort” or “loose morals and drunkenn ess”
narrative.
People of colour, the differently abled, migrants, women, and the
LGBTQ+ individuals are often stereotyped due to marginalization.
Scholars have observed that a majority of directors in Hollywood are male
and make films that are racially i mbalanced. All humans are equal under
the law, according to fundamental rights and freedoms. This is the
foundation of democratic constitutions; international diplomatic relations
are based on this idea; and the third estate (judiciary) is primarily base d on
notion of equality. The contrast with our everyday lives, on the other hand,
could not be more conspicuous. Individuals are regularly discriminated
against because of their gender, skin colour, ethnicity, social status, class,
money and income, and a variety of other factors that threaten their
fundamental right to equality.
Check Your Progress
1. What is Power?
2. What are the Categ ories of Inequalities as per Bourdiuas?
5.4 ACCESS TO MEDIA
Access is another significant concept in the study of power. In today's
information society, controlling the means of mass communication is one
of the most impo rtant criteria of social power. Indeed, in addition to
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44 assigned social power based on their active or passive access to various
types of public, other influential or consequential discou rse, such as that of
the mass media, scholarship, or political and corporate decision making.
Despite the fact that people consume media, they usually have no direct
influence or control over the content.
By concentrating educational and networking resourc es among those who
are already privileged, the media is guaranteed to increase social
inequality. The 'techno -utopian' view, on the other hand, sees social media
as a solution for inequality, providing poor individuals with increased
access to resources vi a the internet. The concept of the 'digital divide' is
frequently motivated by the belief that new Information and
communication technologies worsen pre -existing disparities in society:
poorer people are excluded, while wealthier people have better access.
Early studies, which focused on internet access, were mostly conducted in
developed nations, and found that, while the vast majority of individuals
had internet access, a significant proportion lacked or had poor
connections. Age, household income, educat ional attainment, English
language proficiency, disability, and rural/urban location were frequently
the barriers that prohibited people from accessing online communication.
Digital divides exceed the dimension of information inequality and expand
more gen erally to impact life chances. The situation is worse in the
context of rural India. Inadequate technical means are the first and a
major block in overcoming the digital divide in India. Difficulties in
accessing technology resulting from inadequate tec hnical means are faced
much more by the rural communities as digital resources are unevenly
distributed. Mere availability of digital resources does not ensure access
to the internet in India. Other factors such as economic disparity also
constraints ac cess to digital resources. Rural communities also lack the
means to gain knowledge to utilize these resources due to absence of a
social support network, especially for women and the aged. In addition,
other social barriers such as caste and class contrib ute toward the lack of
support for the marginalized communities.
5.5 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO INEQUALITY
Ideology: The strategic control of knowledge is an essential element in the
understanding and therefore critical reading of content. Beyond this
knowl edge lies ‘social cognition’ or ‘attitudes’ which consist of socially
shared traditional opinions. Control of attitudes influences judgment in the
same way that control of information influences comprehension.
Acceptance of a war against Iraq, as well as t he Cold War against the
Communists before it, is based on their legitimacy and justification, which
is based on how the enemy and its actions are portrayed in the news,
which explains the pervasive and unmistakable images of 'Evil Empires,'
terrorists, dic tators, unprovoked aggression, and other forms of possible
threat to one's security and legitimate interests.
Caste: Scholars have observed that the media industry in India has
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45 everyday lives and how individuals experience the world. Media may
become a catalyst in inflicting violence over the oppressed castes as it
imposes and shapes dominant discourses regarding popular perception and
culture. Sometimes media, especially cinema and televisi on may be used
as a tool to maintain the status quo and also a medium of resistance and
assertion.
Ethnicity : The press's persuasive power is amplified when its reporting
aligns with the majority of readers' interests. This is especially true in the
United States, Europe, and other Europeanized countries when it comes to
race and ethnic issues. Ethnic and racial conflicts have been a major topic
of news from the Civil Rights Movement in the United States in the 1960s
to urban riots in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Immigration and
integration are two of the most concerning social aspects in contemporary
European politics and media coverage. Discrimination based on ethnicity
and race seems far from eradicated. Minorities are disproportionately
represente d in socioeconomic positions that have been classified as
"underclass." They are often stereotyped and portrayed in news and
popular culture as criminals, enhancing the narrative of the ideal and
perfect elite race.
Gender: Despite financial advancements a nd apparent ideological shifts,
the majority of journalists are men, and women have even less access to
top editorial positions. Women are less reliable as sources and, as a result,
are less quoted, and as news anchors, are less newsworthy. Recent
evidenc es indicate that digital inequalities related to gender in two basic
ways: one is through the gendering of skills and content production
patterns and two, through gendered labour market processes that are
associated with jobs involving technology.
Gender inequality in media and communication organizations has survived
the digital transformation. There are several forms of inequality in access,
skills, life outcomes, life chances and gender. Each new information and
communication technology run the risk o f creating new varieties of social
cleavages with the potential to create new inequalities. Algorithms tend to
reinforce our existing social stratification, with all its injustices. Also, in
case of surveillance technologies, there is a huge power imbalan ce
between those who surveil and those who are surveilled.
Persons with Alternative Sexualities: Queer individuals have for the
longest time been excluded from contemporary discourse. The religious
and traditional bents of most western countries and their opposition to
queerness have influenced their own nations and their previous colonies.
With the contemporary generation asserting their queerness, and also
being the backbone of content creation, have pushed forward the voices of
the marginalized. Due to changing trends of accepting LGBTQ+
individuals for ‘coming out’, a lot of corporates have wished to capitatise
on their new marginalized market (and well -wishers) as a “gay -friendly”
brand. While these brands run campaigns to incorporate everyone
irrespec tive of their sexual orientation, it also sometimes comes across as a
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46 profits. These are the same companies who have low tolerance towards the
LGBTQ+ community and often reject pote ntial LGBT+ employees, but
prefer to use their image to earn millions.
Class: Not only in the West, but around the world, the majority of mass
media are corporate corporations firmly entangled in the capitalist mode of
production. The focus of business new s will be on business elites rather
than workers. Workers' contributions to the economy are assumed and so
overlooked, despite the fact that they may be blamed for recessions.
Unless in exceptional occurrences designated as incidents, exploitation,
health risks in factories, and any other circumstance for which
management or owners could be responsible are overlooked or under
reported. Strikes are frequently portrayed as a public -relations issue, but
not a threat to the economy. The perspective of managemen t is dominant
in the descriptions of the circumstance, interviews, quotes, topics, and
style of coverage in industrial conflicts. Workers are not considered to be
members of the audience. Workers, in general, are little seen, unless in
unfavourable stories of confrontations or news about bargaining with their
leaders.
Global Stratification: Natalie Fenton (2016) in her analysis of the neo -
liberal order in media and communications observes that the traditional
media has always served hegemonic interests. Thi s has resulted in
thrwarting participatory democracy, decision making and has legitimized
social inequality. She argues that this inequality did not vanish with the
advent of the internet. On the contrary, inequalities are on rise ever so
more. The rich nations enjoy far more internet usage than poorer nations.
The developed world is highly wired in which almost all of the wealthiest
nations use the internet, which the developing nations are left far behind.
Researchers who study digital divide attempt t o understand the
relationship between the spread of digital technologies and the varied
factors contributing to the inclusion or exclusion of countries, regions and
people in the digitally mediated world.
5.6 CONCLUSION
It is important to understand wha t inequality means and how it's applied.
There must be a distinction made between two possible outcomes of
media access: the equality that this symbolizes in and of itself, and its
potential impact on broader kinds of inequality. In certain ways, the media
has facilitated equality. A smartphone with access to media by a large
population of low -income individuals in nations like Brazil, China, and
India represents a significant transformation in their life. They now have
sophisticated technologies that are o ften identical to those used by the
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47 Possession of devices, access to media, or even media literacy is no
guarantee of any shift in inequality in real life. The instance of South India
is one of the most straightforward examples of how the globe ha s
impacted media. Highly rigid and hierarchical social structures have
colonized these new mediums and made them reflect such distinctions of
caste and superiority. Media has an impact primarily by emphasizing
varied claims to cosmopolitanism, which can be backed up by acts of
sharing discovery of foreign resources.
5.7 SUMMARY
Media power is usually symbolic and persuasive, in the sense that it has
the ability to influence the minds of readers or viewers to some extent, but
not their actions directly.
Manipulation, for example, is commonly regarded as a negative type of
media power enactment, because mediated information is slanted or
obscured in such a way that the audience's knowledge and opinions are
shifted in a direction that is not always in its be st interests.
Traditional media has been criticized for being biased, promoting
hegemonic interests, consolidating much too much power in the hands of
powerful industrial corporations, and generating information gaps among
their varied audiences.
Knowledge gaps have morphed into digital divisions, advertising revenues
have shifted to social networking sites, posing a challenge to traditional
news journalism, and global corporate monopolies have outperformed
both media businesses and nation -state media regul ation.
Furthermore, algorithmic selection, surveillance, big data, etc. are causing
new types of inequalities that follow conventional patterns of class,
gender, money, and education.
Despite the fact that regular people consume media, they usually have n o
direct influence or control over the content.
Control of attitudes influences judgment in the same way that control of
information influences comprehension.
Ethnic Minorities are often stereotyped and portrayed in news and popular
culture as criminals, e nhancing the narrative of the ideal and perfect elite
race.
Unless women can be portrayed as open forms of conflict or amusing
inadequacies, gender issues have minimal news value.
Workers' contributions to the economy are assumed and so overlooked,
despite the fact that they may be blamed for recessions.

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48 5.8 QUESTIONS
1. Examine power and inequality in media with special reference to
India.
2. Discuss issues of access and various approaches to inequality.
5.9 REFERENCE
 Tuchman, Gaye. Women's Depiction by th e Mass Media - JSTOR.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173399.
 Miller, Daniel, and Elisabetta Costa.9 Inequality - JSTOR.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g69z35.16.
 Van Dijk, Teun a. “Power and the News Meida: By Teun A. Van
Dijk.” Kelsey's Anthology, 8 Apr. 2014,
https://kelseysanthology.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/power -and-the-
news -meida -by-teun-a-van-dijk/.
 Trappel, Joseph (2019) , ‘Inequality, (new) media and
communications’, in Josef Trappel (ed) Digital media inequalities:
Policies against divides, dis trust and discrimination, pp. 9 -30,
Goteborg, Nordicom
 http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:1535713/FULLTEXT01 .
pdf


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49 6
TRANSMISSION –RECEPTION MODEL
Unit Structure
6.0 OBJECTIVES
● To examine the key tenets of the Reception Theory
● Understanding the reception theory in terms of its achievements and
criticisms
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Mass communication relate t o various aspects of our personal and cultural
lives or social systems. Theories of mass communication attempt
explanations and predictions of social phenomena and explore the way in
which we interact with mass communication, its role in our lives, and t he
effects it has on us. Messages through the media are constantly encoded
and decoded. The producer encodes messages and values into their media
which are then decoded by the audience. However, different audience
members will decode the media in differe nt ways and possibly not in the
way the producer originally intended. In this section we will examine the
transmission of messages through the reception model.
6.2 RECEPTION THEORY
Stuart Hall created the Reception Theory in 1973, which is also known as
the Audience Theory or Reader's Reception Theory. It is based on the idea
that, regardless of the content presented to the audience they will watch
and understand it based on their own life experiences. This implies that
individuals utilize their inherent principles and beliefs learned from their
environment to interpret the content offered to them. As a result, each 6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Reception theory
6.3 Convergence of multiple research traditions
6.4 Construction of Research Canon
6.5 Achievements of Reception Theory
6.6 Criticisms of Reception Th eory
6.7 Conclusion
6.8 Summary
6.9 Questions
6.10 References
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50 person may perceive the same content in a different way. Although the
substance is the same, the emotions, allusions, and links that each
individual access within themselves are influenced by their social
surroundings.
The communication process: Within any communication we observe that
the source or sender of the message encodes their thoughts and sends it to
the intended receiver. The receive r decodes the message to understand it.
Encode: Encoding is when thoughts and feelings are translated into a
medium like writing, speaking, art, music, sign and gestures, to allow the
opposite person to understand something as abstract as a thought, in mor e
concrete ways. The person encoding the message has to take into
consideration if the receiver will fully grasp their message through the
medium, they choose. Writing is the most concrete as it is the only
medium that reduces possibility of confusion or mi sunderstanding
Decode: Decoding is when the person who receives the message has to
understand the content and decode the meaning of signs and symbols (eg.
Alphabets are symbols assigned to a sound). Here, decoding will depend
upon the medium through which the message has been sent. Messages sent
through verbal/non -verbal cues may be differently decoded by the receiver
compared to the intention of the sender. Such distortion can occur when
there is a barrier of age, gender, religion, race, ethnicity, politic al views,
class, culture, mood and emotional state, etc. of the individual receiving
the message.
The communication that takes place between the sender and the receiver
can fit into either of the two models:
Symmetric model : It refers to the equal exchang e of information between
the sender and receiver. It needs active participation on both ends. Eg.A
conversation between two people.
Asymmetric model: It refers to communication where there is unequal
exchange of information as the sender sends information, the receiver
receives the information but the sender does not expect the receiver to
provide any feedback and complete the communication cycle. Here, the
sender is active while the receiver is a passive participant in the
interaction. Eg. Newspapers publi sh content constantly, while the readers
consume the content, they are rarely required to provide compulsory
feedback.
With so many variabilities, there can be a wide range of interpretation of
the message. So, media houses and other platforms use tools su ch as press
releases, advertisements, fan letters and message boards, reviews, etc. to
better understand the social context of their audiences, which can be
divided briefly in three types.
a. Dominant Reader - The message sent by the content is clearly visible
and accepted by this type of audience, requiring no further
explanation. Eg. The child is asked to study by the parent, it is
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51 information. Eg. The threatening appearance of an evil character
portra yed in fictional content.
b. Negotiated Reader - Here, the audience is aware that the actions being
performed in the content are morally questionable, but accept it
anyway because they believe that there is a reason behind it. The
negotiated audience, negotiat e or compromise their personal
convictions with an understanding that there is a greater good in the
act which would otherwise be considered taboo. Eg. The protagonist in
movies/video -games going after the villain’s life.
c. Oppositional Reader - The audience has zero tolerance for what has
been presented because it goes diametrically opposite to their belief
system. The reasons could vary for the content being morally wrong,
emotionally disturbing, unnecessary adult content, violence, hurting
religious sentim ents, political outlook, etc. Eg. Religious content used
for comedy is generally not tolerated.
Hence, through the above theory, it is apparent that the producer of the
content can take into account these varied factors but can never certainly
know the out come of the reactions, as the reactions will keep changing
with time and the social context.
Check Your Progress
1. What is Reception Theory?
6.3 CONVERGENCE OF MULTIPLE RESEARCH
TRADITIONS
Audience reception studies concentrate on the interpretative relationship
between audience and media, as understo od in a broad ethnographic
context. It would be inappropriate to assign any one origin to reception
studies, and even dating their beginnings is dependent on how key models
are identified.
There are several trajectories toward reception studies that conve rged in
the late 1970s as part of a broader social science multidisciplinary
movement. One of them was concerned with the mechanisms of culture
production and reproduction. To merge text and audience studies, Stuart
Hall established the paired concepts of encoding and decoding. 'The
degrees of "understanding" and "misunderstanding" in communicative
exchange depend on the degrees of symmetry/asymmetry (also known as
relations of equivalence) produced between the positions of the
"personifications," encoder/p roducer and decoder/receiver.
There was a shift in focus away from a primary concentration on the
ideological and institutional factors of media texts and toward a role for a
potentially active, but 'disappearing' audience. As part of the criticism of
hege monic theories including the dominant ideology thesis, cultural
imperialism thesis, and political economy approach, this resulted in a
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52 As a result of the shift towards post -structuralism, the dominant 'structural
approach' of textual analysis was dismantled. Eco's theory of 1979 of 'the
Role of the Reader' became an essential text of integrated approach.
Within cultural theory, feminist approaches to popular culture allowed for
a reassessment of the frequently demonized (i.e . feminized) role of the
popular culture audience. As a result, the mapping of good and
bad,'masculine' and 'feminine' genres had to be reconsidered. The focus on
the marginalized audience thus provided a focal point for discussions on
reevaluating or prov iding voice to individuals who had previously been
ignored by normative theory.
6.4 CONSTRUCTION OF RESEARCH CANON
Research canon refers to the traditional collection of texts against which
new texts are compared and measured. The research canon within
audience studies is fairly limited, and its references are often overused to
justify the research done to understand the audience. In addition, one
canon text of reception theory is built upon the knowledge of a previous
text. While the accounting of the pre vious text is essential and has played
an important role in the success of theory, it is also narrow and indefinite,
and underplays the diversity of the studies being conducted. For example,
the feminist audience reception studies are excluded with the fea r of it
being ghettoised or isolated for standing out differently from the
mainstream research undertaken around reception theory.
6.5 ACHIEVEMENTS OF RECEPTION THEORY
While many ambiguous assumptions about the audience have been made
in production, text , and context analysis, it has only recently been
recognised that audiences may not fit these assumptions, and that the
validity of many media theories is dependent on empirical audience
research that is currently being conducted or that will be conducted in the
future. Most crucially, reception studies have brought to light an audience
that has previously been marginalized, disregarded, and presumed about in
policy and theory.
It was previously considered that media impact operates by conveying
meaning in a linear fashion to a passive audience, that audiences are a
homogeneous, uncritical mass. But now, it is proven that audiences
decode in a variety of ways (plural decodings), that their cultural
background is important, and that they frequently disagree w ith textual
interpretations.
6.6 CRITICISM OF THE RECEPTION THEORY
One major criticism of the field has questioned how free audiences are to
interpret texts in different ways. Whereas the audience was once thought
to be at risk of disappearing, it is now the text that is in jeopardy. As a
result of his concerns about excessive or 'vulgar gratificationism,' Fiske J.
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53 asserts that much 'active audience' research loses sight of the text en tirely,
and Ang I. questions the emphasis on difference in interpretation in
relation to the exclusion of observed similarities.
The adherence to mainstream research has confined the theory to be linear
and there is a need to record alternate information. While response of
female viewers for TV serials are taken into account, but not the male
audience; response to TV content is widely researched as opposed to other
mediums like radio, OTT platforms, newspapers, etc; information is easily
available on the re ception of adult audiences but not much on the young
viewers; fandoms have expression of their liking for a certain content but
not much on the boredom of people who view the content. Hence,
diversity has to be incorporated into research findings in order to come at
a text -reader interface in symmetrically varied ways.
It is observed that there is often little to no time for reflection, debate or
verification of the content consumed by the audiences. There is an
involvement with the sentiment of the viewed content. Sometimes, this
can lead to a sensationalized, glorified, simplified, or trivialized version of
important information. On the other hand, others argue that the
information at the very least increases awareness of the given topic. There
is also th e issue of sanitation of content that may seem inappropriate to be
addressed in its raw form, which can sometimes make audiences perceive
critical or horrifying content from a wishful, optimistic, or idealistic
perspective and lose sight of the truth.
6.7 CONCLUSION
Reception theory is complex in terms of comprehension as each mind
perceives reality in its own way. No single tradition or question can bear
the weight of audience research, whether the issue is resistant voices,
contextualized embedded audie nces, or dissimilar readings. A single
person can have mix reaction of being a dominant, oppositional and
negotiated ready when receiving the message. One also cannot seek a
grand system that incorporates all variables and perspectives in a big
scheme be cause such models always tend toward reductionism and
functionalism. The conclusion derived at by the audience will be right for
the moment, but may change as the time goes by.
6.8 SUMMARY
Reception Theory is based on the idea that, regardless of the con tent
presented to the audience; they will watch and understand it based on
their own life experiences.
The communication model consists of the sender who encodes a message
and the receiver who decodes the message.
There are several trajectories toward rec eption studies that converged in
the late 1970s as part of a broader social science multidisciplinary
movement. Eg: structuralist, post -structuralist, and femisnist munotes.in

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54 Reception studies have brought to light an audience that has previously
been marginalized, disregarded, and presumed about in policy and theory.
The research canon within audience studies is fairly limited and one
canon text of reception theory is built upon the knowledge of a previous
text.
There needs to be a non -linear approach to the resear ch being conducted
to include diversity. There can be sensationalization, glorification,
simplification, or trivialization of important information.
Reception theory is complex in terms of comprehension as each mind
perceives reality in its own way.
6.9 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the key features of the Reception Theory.
2. Discuss the convergence of research traditions, construction of
research canon, Examine the achievements and criticisms of the
Reception theory.

6.10 REFERENCE
Livingstone, S (1998): Relations hips between media and audiences:
Prospects for future audience reception studies. In Liebes, T., and Curran,
J. (eds). ‘Media, Ritual and Identity: Essays in honor of Elihu Katz’,
London, UK :Routledge, 1998, pp. 237 -255.
McQuail’s Mass Communication T heory:
https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm -
binaries/67529_McQuail___Mass_Communication_Theory_Chapter_4.
pdf
Commun ication Theory: available at
https://www.communicationtheory.org/reception -
theory/#:~:text=The%20recep tion%20theory%20concept%20po ints,of%2
0the%20text%20or%20screen .

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55 7
THEORIES -AUTHORITARIAN,
LIBERTARIAN
Unit Structure

7.0 OBJECTIVES
● To understand the theories of mass communication
● To examine the forms and impacts on media policy
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Most of the debates concerning media policy in Western democracies are
based on the normative no tions of the press. Scholars observe that the
media has immense information power which has implications for
democracy. Within democratic societies, it is expected that the media has
the responsibility to monitor the government and make it accountable to
its people. The media also acts as a conduit between the public and
political leaders. It becomes the voice of the people and an advocate for
the oppressed groups. Any threat to the media is seen as a threat to
democracy. In countries that do not practi ce democracy, media is used a
tool for propaganda rather than a democratic actor. Authoritarian theory,
libertarian theory, social responsibility theory, and Soviet Media theory
are the 'original' four theories of the press/media. Each applies to specific
set of economic and political circumstances, in other words, they primarily
deal with issues of ownership and control. In this section we will deal with
Authoritarian theory and libertarian theory and examine how these impact
media policies. 7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Sub-groups of Democracy
7.3 Authoritarian theory
7.4 Libertarian theory
7.5 Libertarianism and media policy
7.6 Neoliberalism
7.7 Conclusion
7.8 Summary
7.9 Questions
7.10 References
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56 Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm, who were
communication theorists, laid the groundwork for how we classify media
systems. Their book ‘Four Theories of the Press’, released by the
University of Illinois in 1956, is an important reference for mass
communication theories. The authors of the book highlighted the various
forms of press that they believe could exist around the world. Normative
theories differ from other communication theories. They are sometimes
known as Western mass media theories as they are not founded on
scientific explanations and predictions.
7.2 SUB -GROUPS OF DEMOCRACY
There are two basic subgroups of democracy: minimalist and maximalist.
The minimalist group of media focuses on democracy as a system in
which adult citizens of a co mmunity have the right to vote for a leader of
their choice. The maximalist definition includes social and economic
values such as freedom to receive and give information, freedom of
association, equal opportunities, and press freedom in addition to politi cal
values. The maximalists opine that democracy is a form of governance in
which the people have power, including the right to vote for a leader of
their choice. It is also characterized by equal participation in public
debates through which critical dec ision can be taken. Effectively the
definition of democracy as "governance by the people, for the people, and
of the people" refers to people's ability to participate in governance.
7.3 AUTHORITARIAN THEORY
Plato's philosophy inspired the authoritarian th eory of mass
communication (407 -327 B.C.). When the printing press was established,
the English monarchs employed this strategy by censoring, licensing,
taxing, and passing laws. It is a normative philosophy of mass
communication in which the media is infl uenced and overcome by
national power and authority. However, the media must respect the wishes
of the authorities and act in accordance with their wishes, rather than
being under direct control of the state or ruling classes. The press and
media are unabl e to function independently, and their work is accused of
being censored.
Authoritarian theory is mainly utilized by dictatorship administrations, but
it can be found in both democratic and dictatorial regimes. The media
cannot insult or oppose the majorit y or dominant groups in this context. In
authoritarian doctrine, the media must continue to be subject to the ruler. It
is believed that if national information is spread out, it could pose a threat
to the national security. So as per this idea, in situati on such as wars and
conflicts, the state controls the media as the state is considered larger than
individual rights. These can be internal or external situations. In these
types of situations, democratic administrations also choose this strategy as
the so le alternative. They rationalize the procedure by claiming that it is
necessary to maintain social balance and stability, yet minority viewpoints
are not banned unless they pose a threat to the authorities' power. The
severity with which the Official Secre ts Act is enforced in the United
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57 The press is viewed as a formidable weapon. It is used to consolidate and
enhance the rulers' power. Authorities exert control over the media by
granting certain media rights and licen ses while denying others. Media is
given ambiguous rights, and journalists are harmed if they do not comply
with the censorship guidelines. In extreme cases their license might be
revoked by the authorities.
Sensitive matters are rarely discussed in public or are only mentioned in
news releases. Political censorship, military censorship, religious
censorship, economic censorship, and other forms of censorship exist.
However, unlike Totalitarianism, the philosophy does not promote a
uniform and national cult ure.
Features of Authoritarian Theory
● Government and authorities have complete control over media. Power
is exerted in various forms to establish control.
● Ruled by powerful minorities or the elite of the majorities.
● No power of the media to criticize the rulership or dominant groups
with regards to its administration and policies, thus limiting the
content that can be published.
● Cannot offend the ruling parties in any form. Those who offend are
threatened and punished.
● Licensing and handing out limited rig hts in the form of registration,
allowing cancellation of the license as form of punishment.
● Ownership of media houses by the dominant groups or government.
● Swaying of public opinion using propaganda.
● Media used as an instrument to empower the government.
Strengths:
● Effective in socio -cultural conflict resolution
● Motivates individuals to work for the country
● Prevents irresponsible behavior on behalf of the media
● Can be used to successfully spread intended propaganda
Weaknesses:
● Common man is taken to be gul lible and hence a target which can be
easily manipulated as it encourages brainwashing
● Dominant groups use the media to fulfill their selfish objectives
● Freedom of speech, expression, and access to information is threatened
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58 Examples of this theory in effe ct can be seen in Afghanistan, where the
Taliban regime used an authoritarian strategic plan. Until 2011, the
Burmese media was also forced to follow authoritarianism. Media outlets
that published anti -government stories were penalized and imprisoned.
Versions of the National Security Act and the Official Secrets Act are
found in many developing countries. Due to censorship, many writers
have been imprisoned and published writings in the form of books, articles
have been banned, demonstrating Authoritarian ism. Israel, Syria,
Zimbabwe, China, North Korea, etc. are examples of some countries that
practice Authoritarian rulership.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain Authoritarian theory briethy
7.4 LIBERTARIAN THEORY
The libertarian hypothesis, also known as the Free Press Theory, is one of
the Normative Theories of mass communication. As per this theory the
press is granted complete freedom to broadcast anything at any time. It
serves as a watchdog of society. The theory arose from Europe's
libertarian thoughts in the 16th century, following the creation of the
printing press and the press movement. Many well -known figures,
including Lao Tzu, John Locke, John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Thomas
Jefferson, and others, promoted it, and it is still popular in England and
America.
The authoritarian view of mass media, in which information is controlled
by the state or authorities, is the diametrically opposite of the libertarian
idea. According to libertarian doctrine, media should be owned privately.
Individualism and autonomy of thought are central to this ideology. There
is no authority in place, and everyone has the right to express themselves.
There is no censorship, and the government should not be able to restrict
or suppress the media. There is a constant flow of various types of data.
Everyone is obliged to interpret and decide whatever information they
require, as well as the information's authenticity. Human beings'
rationality enables them to do so. The press should not be censored in any
way, even if it criticizes policy. Despite the fact that the media wields
signifi cant authority, abuse of power can be addressed lawfully.
Features of Libertarian Theory:
● Media as a watchdog of society
● Complete freedom of thought and expression, information and
individualism
● No censorship
● Accessibility to alternative information which is not a mainstream idea
and allows for pluralist truths (different truths to the same story)
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59 ● Media must comply to the code of conduct
Strengths:
● Ability to explore truth a s there is no censorship or control over the
content publish to benefit any specific party
● Open expression of thoughts and ideas through the use of media
● Sparks debate and boosts healthy competition to get to the truth
● Transparency in the information provi ded
● Keeps dominant groups in check and prevents corruption by
demanding accountability
● It is democratic in nature
Weaknesses:
● Responsibility and corruption may plague media itself
● Unethical practices within media
● Irrational judgments of people gathering in formation
● Diversity in ideas, opinions, group objectives, and school of thought
can be a source of conflict, not allowing consensus on a subject
● To disregard an individual’s privacy and dignity can be a misuse of the
power of media
● Defamation, sedition, sl ander, immodesty, publishing vulgarity, and
causing disturbance are all possibilities for this type of media.
● It might prove to be a threat to the security of the state if sensitive
information falls in the hands of people with harmful intentions
Check Your Progress
1. Explain Libertarian appro ach towards media
7.5 LIBE RTARIANISM AND MEDIA POLICY
Citizens' expectations about how the media should operate in order to
achieve or maintain prevalent societal norms are addressed in normative
theories. The media has been entrusted with the responsibility of
managing informatio n, which is an important part in a democracy’s
success. The public holds the right to make certain demands from the
media. Normative theories enable the analysis of journalism to be made
on moral commitments.
According to the libertarian doctrine the pr ess should be a marketplace of
ideas where different views can be expressed without fear of repercussion
or persecution. It should be a means through which the public is presented
with arguments and counter arguments, so that the public can make
educated decisions. Advocates of this concept state that the press should
be independent and free and should not be regulated by the government.
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60 functions; thus, is unable to ask tough questions and hold the government
accountable.
According to libertarian ideology, without press autonomy, journalism
cannot serve as a watchdog for society. It might be argued that the
libertarian concept of press freedom benefits media owners' commercial
interests by making it easier for the press to infringe on other people's
freedoms by posting without accountability. This is referred to as
"negative freedom." However, competitive media markets have sparked
anti-democratic behaviour. When markets are under pressur e, ethics are
put on the back burner in the quest of commercial gain. The 1947
Hutchins Commission on Press Freedom in the United States introduced
the concept of "social responsibility." The Commission was established in
reaction to growing criticism of t he American press, particularly its
sensationalism, commercialism, and ownership concentration, as well as
the alleged abuse of its powers. Hence there was a need to enforce press
responsibility.
7.6 NEOLIBERALISM
The broad concept of neoliberalism served as the foundation for neoliberal
press theory. In its modern version, neoliberalism is a theory of political
and economic practices that suggests that the greatest way to enhance
human well -being is to liberate entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within
an institutional framework. It is characterized by strong property rights,
free markets, and free trade. The duty of the state, according to neoliberal
ideology, is to create a favourable climate for the private sector to succeed
in business, which includes intervening to avert market failure. This is
done only to ensure fair play in media ownership should the governments
intervene in media regulation. So , whereas pure libertarianism rejects any
state intervention, its neoliberal form, like the social respons ibility model,
accepts a restricted role for the state, but that role should be limited to
preventing market failure.
7.7 CONCLUSION
A healthy democracy will thrive only if the media performs its duty. One
of the functions of the media is to serve as a p ublic space in which citizens
can debate and influence policy decisions. In the absence of a strong
public space debates can be superficial with narrow perspectives shaped
by self -interest. In order to make the press accountable, there should be
debates that are creative and tough. In democratic societies the press
should enjoy a sufficient amount of freedom. It is only then that the press
can watch the dominant groups so that they do not abuse their power. But
how much freedom should the press be given , is a debatable question.
According to the social democracy theory, a small amount of state
intervention in press regulation is essential, and does not result in loss of
press freedom. But too much intervention can also make it into a version
of authori tarian press. These questions need to be addressed in day -to-day
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61 7.8 SUMMARY
Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm, were
communication theorists, who laid the groundwork for how we classify
media systems.
One of the media's resp onsibilities is to monitor the government to ensure
that it is accountable to the public. In countries that do not practice
democracy, the media serves as a propaganda tool rather than a democratic
actor.
Authoritarian theory is mainly utilized by dictator ship administrations, but
it can be found in both democratic and dictatorial regimes.
The libertarian hypothesis, also known as the Free Press Theory, is one of
the Normative Theories of mass communication in which the media, or
press, is granted complete freedom to broadcast anything at any time.
7.9 QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the Authoritarian theory of media. State its features, strengths
and weaknesses with appropriate examples.
2. Discuss the Libertarian theory of media. Critically examine its impact
on media po licy.
7.10 REFERENCE
Ogbebor, Binakuromo .“British Media Coverage of the Press Reform
Debate.”SpringerLink, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham,
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978 -3-030-37265 -1.
Bajracharya, Shraddha. “Authoritarian Theory of Mass
Communic ation.”Businesstopia, 15 Feb. 2018,
https://www.businesstopia.net/mass -communication/authoritarian -theory -
mass -communication.
Bajracharya, Shraddha. “Four Theories of the Press: Authoritarian vs.
Libertarian.” Businesstopia, Businesstopia, 22 Mar. 2018,
https://www.businesstopia.net/mass -communication/four -theories -of-
press -authoritarian -libertarian.
Bajracharya, Shraddha. “Libertarian Theory of Mass
Communication.”Businesstopia, 15 Feb. 2018,
https://www.businesstopia.net/mass -communication/libertarian -theory-
mass -communication.
In Mass Communication, Political Communication.“Libertarian
Theory.”Communication Theory, 10 July 2014,
https://www.communicationtheory.org/libertarian -theory/.
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62 8
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, PUBLIC
SPHERE
Unit Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Meaning of Social Responsibility in general
8.3 History of Media in India
8.4 Social Responsibility
8.5 Theories of Press (Media)
8.6 Social Responsibility Theory
8.7 Public sphere
8.8 History of public sphere
8.9 Actors of public sphere
8.10 Media as public sphere
8.11 Feminism and public sphere
8.12 Summary
8.13 Questions
8.14 References
8.0 OBJECTIVES
 To learn about Social Responsibility and its impact on Media field .
 To learn about meaning of public sphe re and its different facets .
 To understand public sphere in terms of Media.
8.1 INTRODUCTION
In this chapter discussion upon two topics would be made firstly social
responsibility secondly public sphere. Both are important topics which
will help you un derstand the world around you.
8.2 MEANING OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN
GENERAL
The Cambridge dictionary describes Social responsibility as Producing
goods and services in a way that is not detrimental to society or the
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63 responsibilityi. Social responsibility implies that enterprises must act in a
way that serves society apart from maximising shareholder value.
Investors and consumers seek investments that are not only profitable but
also contribute to the well -being of society and the environment. The
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) highlights that social
responsibility as the company's capacity to strike a balance between
achieving economic success and conforming to societal and environmental
concerns is a vital aspect in running efficiently and effectively. In other
words, companies should have high degree of social responsibilityii. In
this chapter the perspective through which we are going to study social
respo nsibility is that of media. Like any organization media as a unit too
has social responsibility towards its audience/ people. Let us look into how
media was responsible in the Independence movement.
8.3 HISTORY OF MEDIA (NEWSPAPERS) IN INDIA
Media has bee n playing a important role in India prior to the Independence
movement. Infact, it has contributed a lot during independence movement
to unite people, share opinion, provide a platform etc. The press even
operated at times hidingly so that they do not come under notice of the
then British rule.
The Bengal Gazette, India's first printed newspaper, was published in the
year 1780. The daily was known as notorious for its sarcastic tone and
continuous mocking of the British Raj. This paper was run by Irish man
James Augustus Hicky, sometimes he was sued or restricted by the British
Raj's agents. Unfortunately, the daily went out of business in 1782, but it
left a lasting influence. It helped in creating a foundation for newspapers
in India some of which contr ibuted immensely. For example - During the
first battle of independence in 1857, the daily Payam -e-Azadi began
disseminating the narrative that the British would continue to divide and
dominate the country, and that people needed to fight back.
From the e arly 1800s, the Raj enacted a number of censorship laws, at
least one of which is still in effect today: The Sedition clause. In 1878,
they also passed the Vernacular Press Act, which prohibited non -English
newspapers from criticizing the Raj. While Indian publications also
refused to abide by ban, restrictions and jail threats. Whether it was
because of the century -long laborious rule or just because they were bored
of it, the press persevered, inventing new ways to avoid censorship. Nil
Darpan, a drama pu blished in The Hindoo Patriot, is one of the most
famous examples of this, which played a pivotal event in the Indigo
revolution of 1859iii. There have been several prominent personalities who
helped in development of Indian press and raising the voice again st
injustice, creating awareness through writing some of them are Bal
Gangadhar Tilak with his newspaper – Kesari, Dr. Ambedkar founded the
Mook Nayak in the year 1920.

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64 8.4 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
A newspaper or television news channel as an organization is responsible
for opinion creation, awareness, sensitizing individuals, providing
information etc. In other his/her is responsible to the society, secondly
towards his/her profession whereby he/she has to follow proper ethics,
code of conduct and finally to himself/ herself iv.
8.5 THEORIES OF PRESS (MEDIA)
There are several theories associated with press like that of Authoritarian,
Libertarian, Social Responsibility and Communist Soviet. Let us look into
the Social Responsibility theory in detail as that is the part of the syllabus.
Authoritarian
Theory Libertarian
Theory Social
Responsibility
Theory Communist
Soviet Theory
Here
Government
directly controls
the Press Here there
exists freedom
of press The action lies
between
libertarian and
Authori tarian
Theories Government
controls the
press but it is
free to work for
the society.
Eg. Afghanistan,
Myanmar Eg. Canada,
Switzerland,
New Zealand India, UK, US Russia, China,
Cuba

8.6 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY
F. S. Siebert, T. B. Paterson, an d W . Schramm proposed the Social
Responsibility Media Theory in 1956. The theory's central assumption is
that freedom comes with responsibilities, and that the press, which has a
privileged status under the government, is obligated to be accountable to
society for performing certain fundamental roles of mass communication.
The media's social responsibility notion is a relatively recent concept that
emerged in the mid -twentieth century and is mostly adopted by developing
and least developed countries. The hy pothesis originated in Europe and
took expression with the establishment of the Commission on Freedom of
the Press in the United States in 1947.v
Public pressure and meddling are also used to censor content. With the
belief that libertarianism was outmoded , the theory supplanted libertarian
thought. Professionalism in the media began to be considered seriously
with the advent of this paradigm. The Hutchins Commission on Press
Freedom was established to re -examine the libertarian or free press
theory's defin ition of press freedom. This was due to the fact that the so -
called "free market of ideas" had failed to secure press freedom and
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65 The notion transformed the way news was reported in the press, from
objective to int erpretive reporting. Facts were supplied without any
interpretation prior to this notion. The crowd understood it in their own
manner. This created issues since the interpretation was not grounded in
reality, and it had an impact on the social order. The u se of interpretive
and investigative reporting began to reveal the truth behind each case. The
press, according to this notion, is for the people and society. The press's
responsibilities include developing and adhering to a code of conduct,
developing a s tandard in journalism, improving journalism, protecting
journalists, and enforcing sanctions if any journalist breaks the code of
conduct.
The social responsibility media theory's basic assumptions and
components include: media have a social responsibility , media ownership
is a public trust, news media are expected to be truthful, accurate, fair,
objective, and relevant, media should be free but self -regulatory, and
media should adhere to agreed -upon codes of ethics and professional
conduct.
According to Si ebert (1956), as described by Folarin (1998), the creation
of the social responsibility thesis was based on six functions:
i. To assist the political system by making public information,
discussion, and deliberation more widely available.
ii. To educate the peop le so that they can make their own decisions.
iii. To preserve individual rights by serving as a watchdog on the
government.
iv. To benefit the economic system, such as by bringing buyers and
sellers together through ads. v. To give enjoyable entertainment,
what ever "enjoyable" means in today's culture. vi. Maintaining
financial independence in order to avoid being reliant on particular
interests and influences.
ii. The idea portrays the media institutions as essential to the society's
existence. and, in order fo r the media institution to fulfil its social
responsibility function, it must be staffed by professionals who are
familiar with and capable of upholding central media tenets such as
impartiality, truthfulness, balanced reporting, and fairness to all
partie s; it is only in this way that the media institution/journalism can
meet the profession's expectations.
According to social responsibility theory, the press does not need
authorization from the government to transmit news and information;
nonetheless, they must consider society when doing so. As a result, the
libertarian and authoritarian ideas have been linked by the press's social
responsibility. The media is seen as somewhat independent of the
government, yet it is governed by the citizens of the country . Many
countries used the social responsibility paradigm in the mid -twentieth
century, with the United States incorporating "the Commission of the
Freedom of the Press" in 1949. According to this theory, a nyone can use
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66 important role in raising awareness about discrimination and corruption.
For instance, in countries like India, United States, United Kingdomvi.
Check Your Progress
1. List out the four theories of social responsibility
2. Ac cording to you, do you think, media is socially responsible in a
society?
8.7 PUBLIC SPHERE
The phrase "public sphere" is derived from the German term
"öffentlichkeit." Here "public," means the collective of speakers and
listeners present in the public ar ena, and "publicness," or the state of being
publicly visible and susceptible to public scrutiny. The "public sphere" is
often defined as a social area in which diverse points of view are voiced,
common issues are debated, and collective solutions are gene rated through
communication. The big aspect for societal communication is the public
sphere. The public sphere (ffentlichkeit) is a space where private persons
debate public problems, according to Habermas (1989). It is a space that
mediates between societ y and the state.
The concept of the public realm is central to participatory democratic
systems. The public sphere is the space where citizens come together to
talk, ponder, and eventually build public opinion on issues that affect
them. This arena might be a physical location where residents congregate
(such as a town hall gathering), or it can be a communication
infrastructure via which citizens transmit and receive information and
comments. A crucial part of successful administration is the public spher e.
Government officials cannot be held accountable for their acts without a
functional and democratic public sphere, and people will be unable to
influence political decisions in any way.
The public sphere is a normative concept. It is a model of excellent ,
transparent governance. Free information flows, open expression, and free
discussion are all prerequisites. The ideal public sphere is really
participative and provides the best safeguard against power abuse. We
only discover approximations to this ideal in reality. Promoting good
governance, on the other hand, entails aiming for the goal of a fully
inclusive public realm.
In other words, the public realm exists between private families and the
state. It's a place "where free and equal individuals gather to share
knowledge, debate, discuss, or ponder on shared problems.vii
8.8 HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPHERE
The public sphere was formerly a designated gathering area. The public
sphere has evolved from a place to a communication network as a result of
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67 • Ancient Greece - The most basic notion of the public sphere may be
found in Ancient Greek city -states, when individuals were intimately
involved in political choices. The agora, where residents traded and
debated their views, was central to public life.
• Monarchies in Europe -The Royal court was the public sphere in the
non-democratic state -forms of later ages, and only the monarch defined
what was public.
• Salons - During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a ristocrats and
members of the middle class congregated in coffeehouses (England),
salons (France), and table clubs (Germany) to debate art and politics.
"Authority of argument substituted the authority of title" at these
meetings, and social rank was compl etely ignored. The groups that
convened in salons and coffee houses became fully public with the
creation of the first mass media, the newspaper: "newspapers made public
affairs and conversations about such issues available to individuals spread
over space ." Technically, this marks the beginning of the public realm as
we know it today. • Salons —During the late 17th and early 18th centuries,
aristocrats and members of the middle class congregated in coffeehouses
(England), salons (France), and table clubs (G ermany) to debate art and
politics. "Authority of argument substituted the authority of title" at these
meetings, and social rank was completely ignored. The groups that
convened in salons and coffee houses became fully public with the
creation of the firs t mass media, the newspaper: "newspapers made public
affairs and conversations about such issues available to individuals spread
over space." Technically, this marks the beginning of the public realm as
we know it today.
 Tribal gatherings - In stateless com munities in Africa or in regions
with strong tribal traditions, tribe gatherings have similar functions as
Western citizen assemblies, or indeed the ancient agoras. Such meetings
represent the public life of the tribal community

 Church congregations - In periods of political struggle, the Church
often provided a space for members of oppressed or marginalized groups
to gather and articulate their objectives.

 Media – The social media is the last stage of development in the public
sphere, people express thro ugh platforms their opinion, views. This is
possible because of the advancement of technology.
8.9 ACTORS IN PUBLIC SPHERE
• The public - The conventional sense, the public refers to a hypothetical
group of people who are linked by a shared interest in o ne or more topics
of public concern. Members of the public are not need to be in the same
location. The phrase is frequently used in modern social science to refer to
politically important groups of individuals, such as the electorate, civil
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68 • Civil society —The terms civil society and public are sometimes used
interchangeably, but they are not conceptually equivalent. Civil society is
made up of organisations and activities that aren't primarily political or
commercial in nature, and aren't driven by greed or power. They have the
potential to become part of the public sphere under certain conditions.
• Public officials —While the state is not a part of the public sphere, it
does have the ability, if not the responsibility, to participate in it. In a
democratic public sphere, government officials listen to the public and
decide what the public wants, convey their own concerns and perspectives,
and update the public about choices and activities.
• The media —The me dia "plays a critical role in the development of an
institutional architecture that enables the organising of the public interest
on a national and worldwide scale." The mass media, in addition to
providing communication channels, also introduces and s hape s public
debate themes.
• Private actors —Private persons and companies generally enter the
public realm to advance private or public objectives. In the latter situation,
they are turn out to be part of the public too. viii.
Check Your Progress
1. List out the historical locations of public sphere
2. List out the actors in the public sphere
8.10 MEDIA AS PUBLIC SPHERE
Mass culture has acquired through demand for leisure and enjoyment
among consumers with less education, rather than by guiding a larger
audience toward an appreciation of a cultureix (Habermas, 1989) and
Social media has become a product of mass culture today.
Mass media specially, internet network media has promoted and
sustained public communication which was not seen in any civilizations
before. The notion of the public realm can be applied to both political and
cultural communication in communication studiesx.
The mass media, which is mainly concerned with symbolic reproduction
also addresses both the family and the public sphere, and h as int ricate
relationships with both the economy and the government. Is it inevitable
that the media's influence fragments public opinion, or can the media play
a more beneficial role in the construction of a discussion of public sphere.
Hauser notes tha t Socia l media is a conversational area (Hauser, G., 1988),
where people exchange their perspectives in order to reach a consensus
judgment. The strength of the mass media, is it converts the majority of
society into a passive public, also creating a consu mer cul ture. It's worth
noting, though, that the ability to reach a bigger audience allows internet
users to form bonds that would have been impossible in olden days, and
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69 Media plays multiple roles. The link between p eople a nd the state is the
main social interaction that has to be policed by an ever -vigilant media. As
a result, one of the most basic requirements of a democratic media system
should be that it reflects all key societal interests. Thus, the media are th e
most i mportant institutions of the public sphere, or, as nineteenth -century
liberalism theorists put it, "the fourth estate of the realm." As a result, one
of the most basic requirements of a democratic media system should be
that it reflects all key soc ietal in terests. According to many liberal views,
the general public sphere is seen from the perspective of politics.
Jürgen Habermas and other normative public sphere theorists have been
harsh critics of the "traditional" mass media, and consider it as i ncapable
of promoting free and plural social dialogue. The internet, on the other
hand, sparked expectations that it would bring hitherto marginalised
characters and debates to the attention of a wider audiencexii.
The capacity of mass demonstrations to topp le gover nments is a important
topic. In reality, social media's true promise rests in assisting civil society
and the public domain, which will effect change over decades rather than
weeks or monthsxiii, xiv
8.11 FEMINSM AND PUBLIC SPHERE
Feminist academics c riticise Habermas' liberal model as both an
idealisation of a historical time in Northern European society and an
exclusionary historical narrative that ignores the relevance of action in
women's domainsxv.
8.12 SUMMARY
This chapter we began with understan ding soc ial responsibility in general.
Companies are obliged to take care of the environment. Further we saw
the importance of social responsibility in terms of media. The importance
of ethics and the commissions which talks about this. The second section
of the c hapter deals with public sphere. We learn about its meaning,
important of public sphere in connecting individuals with state and
location. The chapter also discussed the actors of public sphere.
8.13 QUESTIONS
1. Explain Social Responsibility Theory
2. Discus s History of Newspapers
3. Discuss the public sphere in terms of the Actors.
8.14 REFERENCE S

i https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social -responsibility
ii https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialresp onsibilit y.asp munotes.in

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70
iii https://www.deccanherald.com/national/how -the-press -participated -in-
indias -freedom -struggle -873361.html
iv Uzuegbunam, Chikezie. (2015). THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
THEORY OF THE PRESS: A CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.
v Ineji, P. U., Nkanu, E. A., & O koi, P. E . SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
MEDIA THEORY AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR MEDIA
PROFESSIONALISM IN NIGERIA.
vi https://newsmoor.com/four -theories -of-the-press -authoritarian -
libertarian -social -responsibility -theory/
vii Odugbemi, A. (2008). Public opinion, the pub lic spher e, and quality of
governance: An exploration. In S. Odugbemi & T. Jacobson (Eds.),
Governance reform under real -world conditions. Citizens, stakeholders,
and voice (pp. 15 –37). Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. (p. 17).
Habermas, J.(1991): “The pu blic sphe re” In Mukerji, C.; Schudson,
M.(Ed.): Rethinking popular culture. Contemporary perspectives in
cultural studies. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.
pp.398 -404
ix https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48964/1/Amended%20_Livingstone_Mass_
media_democa racy.pdf
Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt The mass media, democracy and the
public sphere 1994
x Public Sphere, Hartmut Wessler , Rainer Freudenthale r, DOI:
10.1093/OBO/97801997 56841 -0030 2018
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/ obo-
9780199 756841/obo -9780199756841 -0030.xml
xi https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/p ublic -sphere -and-new-
media
xii Gerhards, J., & Schäfer, M. S. (2010). Is the internet a better public
sphere? Comparing old and new media in the USA and Germany. New
Media & Socie ty, 12(1), 143 –160.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809341444
xiii Shirky, C. (201 1). The Political Power of Social Media: Technology,
the Public Sphere, and Political Change. Foreign Affairs , 90(1), 28 –41.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25800379
xiv https://www.ta ylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203977880 -
1/rethinking -media -public -sphere -james -curran
xv McLaughlin, L. (1993). Feminism, the public sphere, media and
democracy. Media, Culture & Society, 15(4), 599 –620.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443930150040 05

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71 9
MEDIA EFFECTS: INTEGRATION,
VIOLENCE
Unit Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Understanding Media effects
9.3 Media Effects on Children
9.4 Effects media on Adults, Senior Citizens
9.5 Citizen Journalism
9.6 Theories on Media Effects
9.7 Media Integration
9.8 Advantage s of Integrated Media
9.9 Effects of Integrated media on Individuals
9.10 Media Integrating Media
9.11 Media effect – Violence
9.12 Depiction of violence in media upon children
9.13 Effect of violence in media upon adults
9.14 Effect of media – Violence upon women
9.15 Suggestion
9.16 Conclusion
9.17 Questions
9.18 References
9.0 OBJECTIVES
 To understand the effect of media on individuals .
 To learn about integration of media and its effect.
 To learn how violence is instigated through media .
9.1 INTRODUCTION
Media has been playing an importan t role in our lives. Everyday we
consume media in one form or another. Like Newspaper, songs playing in
Autorickshaw, Car, Bus or while using internet in our mobile. Media can
be classified into two forms namely, folk media and that of electronic munotes.in

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72 media. Fo lk media has its origin from local culture, peasants, villages and
tribal societies. On the other hand, electronic media emergence can be
connected with that of industrialization, mass culture.
Folk media still uses human art, language, customs, tradition s. Examples
include puppetry, traditional dance forms, folk songs, nukaad natak (street
theater). On the other hand, electronic media is more connected to that of
machines. City dwellers are closer to that of the modern media which is
communicated through electronic forms.
9.2 UNDERSTANDING MEDIA EFFECTS
Media effect could be immediate or long term, it can be also temporary or
permanent. The effect can be both positive or negative. The level of effect
can be seen both at marco level and micro level. Some e ffects can be
clearly visible like policy, awareness, debates, discussions, recognition,
some are visible on longterm basis too. At times we memorize the things
we observe in media and over a period of time, kind of accumulation takes
place. The effect of media can also last lifetime – like we remember our
childhood cartoons, serials etc.
At individual level media effects could be cognitive effect, changes in
beliefs , attitudes, Physiological changes and even behaviorial changes
could take place. There ar e other effects also of media like it could be
triggering , altering, reinforcing certain ideologiesi.
9.3 MEDIA EFFECTS ON CHILDREN
Media effects all ages groups. Children’s spend lot of hours sitting in front
of television watching cartoon. Infact, it becomes a form of socialization
through which childrens are able to visualize themselves in those
characters, learn morals, values, life skills, problem solving, expressing
emotions etc. They infact start imitating those characters as they are able
to ass ociate themselves with it. So, if their superhero is violent then the
child also would imitate those patterns at times, specially those childrens
who have screen time more with television. In todays, time, the
technology of touch or smart devices like Alex a, large screen mobile
phones, Smart Television, Desktop has led to over consumption of media
among children. Advertisments also use childrens to sell their products.
There are children’s who dress up like adults and then are used to explain
a product. Thi s grabs attention of both that of adult and child as its
different.
9.4 EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON ADULTS, SENIOR
CITIZENS
People who stay alone or have retired and have plenty of free time, for
them the human replacement is through that of television. Special ly in the
metropolitian cities where the pace of life is faster and as George Simmel
points out in his famous paper ‘Metropolis and Mental Life’ city dwellers
have blasé attitude. Being in city one becomes distant, calculative about munotes.in

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73 time, money, this leads to loneliness, this gap is filled by that of media.
Even social media helps people fill that gap of boredom, sense of
nothingness and hence we see people beneath youtube videos
commenting, arguing, cursing, body shaming or even speaking positively,
thanki ng, encouraging. All this one can do with a touch in the home and
with the screen. So, both behavioral psychology and that of convenience
comes together because of that social media is used heavily by all age
groups.
In present times, weekend relaxation mo de has changed for many like that
of sitting with popcorn Netflix or prime and watching series. People do
not sleep at night in order to complete the series. There is also peer
pressure involved with social media, when one doesn’t see a particular
series a nd is unable to contribute in the discussion, with friends, he/ she
feels sidelined and as a result, ends up watching series and spending lot of
time. The OTT platforms operate on the principle of hook – where they
create a habit among individuals of conve nience and then one becomes a
regular customer and can also become a n addict for it. This result , in
individuals spending less time outdoors and leaves little scope for
developing social skills etc.
9.5 CITIZEN JOURNALISM
With camera mobile accessibilty citizen journalism has emerged. Through
Citizen Journalism individuals are able to report the local issues and take
the issue forward to large amount of auidence. At times even policy
makers look into these videos and then some willing donors, celebrities ,
politicians come forward and help them depending upon the cause. Let us
take this example of a remote village in India, few girl student’s made
video about the difficulties they face in their schools due to lack of toilet
facilities. They uploaded it in youtube later the news was reported in
television news and later the problem got resolved. This was one of the
positive effect of media – helping the concerned people involved, through
that of reporting the news.
So, one such effect of media in today’s t ime is that the media is not just
one sided but both the subjects and that of the producers of
information/broadcasters are involved too.
9.6 THEORIES OF MEDIA EFFECTS
There are several theories discussing about the effect of media on that on
individual ’s minds. Let us look into some of them –
 Bullet Theory
The bullet theory, also known as the hypodermic needle theory, emerged
in the early 1920s and 1930. This theory is connected to that of
behaviorism model. The main argument of this theory is that the m edia
operates like a needle in one's body. It injects message into the audience's
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74 the message. As a result, this theory regards mass media audience
members as passive and people are see n as living at the mercy of mass
media.

 Theory of Agenda Setting
The agenda -setting theory of media, in contrast to the earlier theories
points that mass media determines the topics that interest the public rather
than audience having their own views. Ac cording to this theory, the
problems that receive the most media coverage are the ones that the public
discuss, argue and demand action. This means that the media determines
what issues and stories the public is interested in. As a result, when the
media fai ls to highlight a certain topic, it becomes marginalised in the
public's perspective too (Hanson).
 Analysis of Cultivation
According to the cultivation analysis theory, excessive media exposure
leads to individuals developing an illusory perspective of rea lity, which is
based on the most repetitive and consistent messages of a given
medium. Because of the unusual pervasiveness and repetition, this theory
is mostly applied to analysis of television. According to this hypothesis,
someone who spends a lot of time watching television may build a picture
of reality that isn't always accurate. It should be also noted that Televised
violent acts, whether reported on news programmes or shown in television
dramas, far exceed violent acts that most individuals encou nter in their
daily lives. Hence someone watching this, who spends lot of time
watching television may come to believe that the world is more violent
and dangerous than it is.ii.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain how can you apply bullet theory in current situ ations
2. Discuss theory of Agenda Setting

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75 9.7 MEDIA INTEGRATION
The integration of several media forms, elements, and strategies to
broadcast information or ads is known as integrated media. It often
includes traditional content, door to door brandin g, pamphlet, advertising,
and similar other elements. Integrated media links many types of media to
generate a single element that is used to communicateiii Let us look media
integration through an example – A politican is standing for election in his
local ity. So, his public relations team would be trying to use all types of
media forms like distributing pamphlets, placing digital boards with
slogans, flex banners, using cycles with politican’s photo, photos behind
auto, facebook advertisements to capture young voters attentions,
whatsapp advertisments by sending notes, calling personally individually
with prerecorded voices, door to door campaign, conducting rallies with
vehicles, playing musician drums, television advertisements, newspaper
advertisements etc. He would also give free gifts like Ration – Sugar,
Maida, Dal, basically house hold essential, printed cards which talks about
his/her achievements, vision, plan of action etc. In short, he/she would
used nearly both traditional media forms like print , music (folk) and that
of digital media – This is what media integration all about, mixture of
multiple media.
9.8 ADVANTAGES OF INTEGRATED MEDIA
The advantages of implementing an integrated media strategy
is to improve reach in the business for potential clients. Employing a
single medium is the best option. However, employing integration
expands connections significantly. Assume for a moment that one
corporation bases their campaign on digital advertising. Another uses
multiple platforms like the traditi on forms print and also social media
platforms like Youtube, Instagram, facebook advertisements the greater
reach would be of that of the second one.
It needs to be noted that the Internet is not the only source of information
in the digital economy. Anal og technologies such as radio and television
must also be considered vital aspects of the digital economy because they
are becoming merged now with time. There are tools like fire stick
through which the one can watch OTT platforms like Netflix on televisi on
or one can even share a photo on the screen.
9.9 EFFECT OF INTEGRATED MEDIA ON
INDIVIDUALS
Economically if one views, from a commerce point of view, for the
service providers integrated media is very helpful as it brings customers
from multiple platfo rms and generates income. It helps in giving the brand
instant recognition and also creates a large base for the customers .
From consumer’s view point it helps them with a wide choice. However,
the problem here is that at times one is not buying a product out of free
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76 being used. Dominant groups ideas such as – Capitalism, luxury,
illusionary feel good feeling, materialism is being sold. The idea of feeling
great, content, beauty these thi ngs are being sold to the individual through
media.
9.10 MEDIA INTEGRATING MEDIA
The myth that social media news is unreliable has been overcome through
that of several settings like blue tick, using the word official in the profile.
However, still the pr oblem exists as social media operates at real time
basis, hence the risk is greater. The fake news forward is one such
example which has led to at times mob lynching too. However, the reality
of social media also cannot be denied. It has reached today to s uch an
extent that even the traditional television, print medias are using social
media information. The news channels are including memes from that of
social media, information, statements, tweets as information in their own
platform. This also shows the reach of social media in today’s time.
Another example is that of journalism has started emerging as independent
entity than associating with that of television. For example – The Print,
The Quint, Mojjo story. These journalism groups post their news,
information, analysis through website, Blog, Youtube. These new age
media houses heavily use youtube to connect with audiences. There are
also live interviews, discussion, analysis, reporting in youtubes they way it
used to be in television . These platforms a lso run on subscription model
basis. This is also an example of integration of tradition media and that of
digital media.
Check Your Progress
1. Discuss the effect of integrated media on individuals
2. Discuss advantages of integrated media
9.11 MEDIA E FFECT – VIOLENCE
In the digital era, when there is access to heavy information, individuals
are exposed to a range of emotions within seconds through media – let it
through youtube shorts, instagram stories, reels or through reality shows.
Drama is create d through violence, fights, expression of anger etc. and that
is what grabs attention of audience and helps in increasing trp ratings.
Sensitive contents like Caste based violence reports, Rape related news
can at times create more problem. It can spread o ut more harm than good
for the individuals if reported without proper protocol. There could be
sense of ethnocentrism created and people could end up turning violent as
the sense of identity is invoked through news channels on sensitive topic
like religion riots etc.
Studies point out that the continuous exposure to violence through
television, movies, video games, cell phones, and internet increases the munotes.in

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77 viewer's risk of violent behaviour, just as growing up in a violent
environment increases the risk of t hem behaving violentlyiv.
9.12 DEPICTION OF VIOLENCE IN MEDIA UPON
CHILDREN
A child views the world through the information which is available around
him/her. Cartoons where the hero hits the villains, or video games where
one has to kill the enemy and ear n points – is also a form of violence
exposure which we fail to look into. Infact, parents, adults, siblings also
join and play such games. This has negative effect both on his/her physical
health and mental well being.
The National Institute of Mental Health did a study in 1982 that identified
the following primary impacts of watching violence on television:
• There is greater chances of children’s become less sensitive to the pain
and suffering of others.
• Children are sometimes scared of their surroundi ngs;
• Children may be more likely to act aggressively or harm others.
It was observed that Television, video games heavy usage also created
desensitizing effect and the potential for aggression among childrens.
Studies point out that violence in media, such as television, movies, music,
and video game , poses a substantial risk to children's and teenagers' health.
Media violence can also contribute to violent behaviour, desensitisation to
violence, nightmares, and even fear of being harmed among childrens. It is
necessary that Pediatricians and other child health care provider, parents,
teachers advocate for a safer media environment for children by promoting
media literacy. This would lead to more thoughtful and proactive media
use by children a nd their parentsv.
9.13 EFFECT OF VIOLENCE IN MEDIA UPON ADULTS
A study conducted among hundredvimen in the age group of 18 to 21 who
studied undergraduates reported that exposure to violence led to change in
behavior. Exposure to media violence may play a role in the development
of bad health attitudes and behaviours. The adults exposed to violent
media during the study had developed Blood pressure (systolic and
diastolic); negative affect; hostile social information processing;
uncooperative behaviour; an d permissive attitudes toward violence,
alcohol usage, marijuana use, and sexual activity without condom use.
Experimental research on adults showed that exposure to violent media
also raised negative emotions, aggressive behaviour in the immediate
afterma th of exposure, including physical assault (hitting, kicking,
choking, wrestling) in children and younger adolescents. There was also
willingness to inflict electric shock or loud aversive noises on a peer in
older adolescents and young adults. According t o the findings of the few munotes.in

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78 current longitudinal survey research, increased childhood exposure to
television and media violence increases the occurrence of substantial
aggression -related consequences and criminality behavior in early adults.
 Video games –
The heavy usage of Video games like Blue whale takes all the attention
and individual forget to live in the real world and view the video game as
reality. As a result, individuals even up giving u their lives. In other
words, the violence is carried out on oneself. People even spend playing
games in home at night and develop addiction of video games. As a result,
they are frustrated, unable to control themselves when they develop the
addiction.
9.14 EFFECT OF MEDIA – VIOLENCE UPON WOMEN
The toxic masculin ity portrayed in cinema is also imitated by individuals
in real world. This results, in superiority thoughts among individuals and
at times harm is inflicted upon those who are powerless.
 Effect of Pornography
Consuming any thing on a regular basis has a tendency of changing our
impressions of that content, and pornography is no exception. If someone
watched violent pornography on a regular basis, they would become
desensitised to both pornography and violence, particularly violence
against women. As Colu mbia University's Professor, Norman Doidge puts
it, "pornography, by providing an unending harem of sexual objects,
hyperactivates the appetitive system." Based on the photographs and
videos they see, porn consumers create new maps in their brains. Because
the brain is a "use it or lose it" machine, when we create a map area, we
want to keep it active." Porn alters perceptions, neurological pathways,
and lives, particularly when introduced to youth. The age at which males
first become exposed to porn, influ ences their sexual behaviour and desire
for dominance over women. Adolescent females, on the other hand, are
more prone to tolerate emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as a result of
watching pornography too. Yet, Women suffer the brunt of porn's negativ e
consequences. Many production studios create programmes that sexualize
women at work, school, and even the doctor's office, with female
participants commonly shown either enjoying or being traumatised by
violent sexual actions it has large scale negative effect. The child
pornography, is again a form of abuse which exists even today all over
internet, this is harmful as these videos have influencing capacity on the
viewersvii.
9.15 SUGGESTION
Some steps which parents can take is that of avoiding childrens exposure
to media, specially child who is below two years, as kids are in their
formative years of understanding world, society, behavior, language,
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79 Family being the primary institution which influences child. It plays a
important role in th e world view of the child. Hence, change has to begin
from home. Parents themselves have to regulate their own behavior.
Childrens imitate the behavior of their own parents, if parents are involved
into healthy activity like reading books, gardening, walki ng, hobbies
instead of watching television then children would also enjoy these
activities. It is often observed when child is crying parents give the mobile
phone to watch cartoons so that the child does not cry, however, this has
long term effects on the child – several aspects of the child gets effected –
lack of concentration, instant gratification etc. Hence, parents should not
give them mobile phones.
Check Your Progress
1. Discuss the effect of pornography on our brains.
2. According to you, what should be done to reduce the impact of media
on individuals.
9.16 SUMMARY
In this chapter, we began with looking into the effects of media which
could be both positive and negative. Positive includes bringing out
information, stories, analysis, perspectiv e related to social issues, giving
voice to the voiceless. We also looked into effect of media depends upon a
number of factors like time, duration, repetition etc. The first topic in the
chapter is that of media integration - which discusses about mixture of all
media forms - traditional and that of digital media. The second section
discusses about the impact of media on audience – Violence of media.
Portrayal of violence in media has huge impact on lives, minds of adults,
children and women. Violence expos ure repeatedly could make it believe
like a reality in the mind and it can make someone develop criminal
behavior. We also discussed in this chapter about pornography which
potrays women in negative and unreal conditions and make -believe types
however the reality being different.
The aim of the chapter was to create awareness, explain concepts, theories
related to media.
We also discussed few theories like Bullet theory etc. which can be very
much applied to understand present day media effects.
9.17 QUE STIONS
1. Discuss the media effects - Violence on Children
2. Explain media integration and two theories related to it.
3. Explain portrayal of Violence in Media impacts women status in a
society.


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80 9.18 REFERENCES
iPotter, W. (2012) . What is a media effect?. In Media effects (pp. 33 -50).
SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781544308500.n3
iihttps://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny -massmedia/chapter/2 -2-media -
effects -theories/
iiihttps://www.canto.com/blog/integrated -media /
https://medium.com/@Omlette/early -theories -of-mass -communication -1-
magic -bullet -f7a5281a4f07
Magic bullet theory image source
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social -sciences/media -integration
ivHuesmann L. R. (2007). The impact of electronic media violence:
scientific theory and research. The Journal of adolescent health : official
publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 41(6 Suppl 1), S6 –
S13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.09.005
vCouncil on Communications and Media; Media
Violence. Pediatrics November 2009; 124 (5): 1495 –1503.
10.1542/peds.2009 -2146
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/124/5/1495/72111/Media -
Violence
viBrady SS, Matthews KA. Effects of Media Violence on Health -Related
Outcomes Among Young Men. Arch Pediatr Adolesc
Med. 2006;160(4):341 –347. doi:10.1001/archpedi.160.4.341
viihttps://www.focusforhealth.org/how -pornography -impacts -violence -
against -women -and-child -sex-abuse/

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81 10
DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
10.0 OBJECTIVES
● To acquaint the learners with the Diffusion Theory and to
understandthe characteristics and process of th e theory
● To examine its applications in various forms communication
10.1 INTRODUCTION
Adoption of a new idea, behavior or product does not take place
simultaneously and automatically in a social system. Rather it is a process
whereby some people naturall y adopt a particular innovation than others.
Researchers have found that people who adopt an innovation in the early
stage display specific characteristics than people who adopt innovation
later. The diffusion of innovations idea describes how new techno logy
and other developments travel throughout civilizations and cultures, from
its creation to mass acceptance. The diffusion of innovations hypothesis
attempts to explain how and why new ideas and practices get embraced
over time, with timescales potentia lly spanning decades.
The manner in which innovations are conveyed to various areas of society,
as well as the subjective opinions connected with the innovations, are
crucial determinants in the speed with which diffusion or spreading takes
place. In this section we will evaluate the importance of the Diffusion of
Innovation Theory especially in the field of communication, agriculture, 10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Diffusion theory
10.3 Decision making process of Innovation
10.4 From new ideas to media
10.5 Adopting new technologies
10.6 Diffusion of Innovation a nd social media
10.7 Limitations of Diffusion of Innovation theory
10.8 Conclusion
10.9 Summary
10.10 Questions
10.11 References
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82 public health and marketing and examine the factors influencing their rate
of adoption.
10.2 DIFFUSION THEORY
Most accoun ts of diffusion studies trace their roots to sociologist Gabriel
Tarde's work. Tarde noticed the characteristic "S -curve" of the diffusion
process in 1903 (a slow rate of initial adoption, then a sharp acceleration
in take -up and gradual tapering off). Whi le efforts to incorporate diffusion
research into communication studies began in the 1940s, Everett Rogers'
(1962) Diffusion of Innovations was the pivotal work. Diffusion is defined
as "the process through which an innovation is conveyed to members of a
social system over time through certain routes."
The key players in the theory of innovation diffusion are:
1. Innovators : Those who are willing to take risks and are the first to try
new ideas.
2. Early adopters: Those who are interested in experimenting with ne w
technologies and proving their utility in society.
3. Early majority: Those who, as members of the general population,
pave the way for the use of an innovation in mainstream society.
4. Late majority: A subset of the general population that follows the
early majority in adopting the innovation as part of their daily lives.
5. Laggards: Individuals who lag behind the general population in the
adoption of innovative products and new ideas. This is primarily due
to their aversion to risk and rigidity in their method s of operation.
The spread of an innovation through mainstream society eventually
makes it impossible for them to go about their daily lives (and work)
without it. As a result, they are compelled to start using it.
Rogers' method separates the diffusion pr ocess into two subprocesses in
its current form: innovation -development (the creation of an innovation)
and innovation -decision (the decision to accept an innovation) (the
decision to adopt the innovation). Each subprocess is made up of several
phases. The following are the phases of the development process
a. Recognising a problem or need that the innovation will solve
b. Exploring various solutions during the research phase
c. Tailoring solutions to suit the needs of the intended adopters in the
development stage
d. Planning of final packing, marketing, and distribution strategies in
the commercialization stage
e. Release of the innovation to the public in the adoption/diffusion
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83 f. Observing the consequences of the innovation (direct/indirect,
anticipated/unanticipat ed, desired/undesired)
The initial targets are innovators with weaker ties to the group and a more
"cosmopolite" orientation; they in turn help to spread the innovation to
forward -thinking early adopters who are open to experimenting with new
advancement, who are then followed by the early majority, a more
skeptical late majority, and finally laggards who actively resist innovation.
While early research concentrated on individual adoption, the growth of
corporate communication in recent decades has led to m ore work on group
decision -making. Rogers has advocated for more attention to the early
development phase.
Check Your Progress
1. What is Diffusion Theory?
10.3 DECISION MAKING PROCESS OF INNOVATION
The innovation decision -making process is divided into five basic stages:
knowledge, persuasion, decisio n, implementation, and confirmation. The
decision -making process for innovation begins with familiarity with the
innovation and continues until the stage of attitude development or
confirmation related to innovation is reached.
a. Knowledge: Gaining informati on of the innovation. Estimating the
quantity to be secured and how to use it correctly.
b. Persuasion : Shaping the attitude based on the knowledge gained. This
stage is intuitive and based on feeling. During the persuasion stage, an
individual usually wants to know the answers to questions like "what
are the consequences of the innovations?" and "what will its benefits
and drawbacks be in my situation?" In this context, it can be stated that
during the persuasion stage, the individual becomes more
psychologic ally involved with the innovation.
c. Decision : Making the decision to adopt or reject the innovation.
Adoption is a decision to fully utilize an innovation as the best
available course of action; rejection is a decision not to adapt to an
innovation.
d. Impleme ntation : Putting the innovation in practice. There is still
flexibility to change one’s decision at this stage. Prior to this stage, the
process has been entirely mental. A certain degree of uncertainty still
exists about the innovation.
e. Confirmation : Seek ing acceptance and support for the decision made.
If exposed to conflicting messages about the innovation, the individual
seeks reinforcement of the previously made innovation decision or
reverses a previous decision to adopt or reject the innovation.
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84 Char acteristics of Innovation
The four basic features of Rogers' innovation diffusion model are
associated with widespread use of new technologies. Understanding these
characteristics will allow effective and efficient use of new technologies.
● Compatibility: The degree to which an innovation is perceived as
being consistent with the existing value, past experiences, and needs of
potential adopters is referred to as compatibility. A more compatible
idea is less questionable to potential adopters and better fits the
individual's life situation. Such compatibility enables the individual to
give meaning to the innovation, allowing it to be perceived as familiar.
● Complexity: The degree to which an innovation is perceived as being
relatively difficult to understand an d apply is termed as complexity.
The complexity of an innovation is inversely proportional to its rate of
adoption.
● Trialability: It is the extent to which an innovation can be tested on a
small basis. Personal testing is a way to give meaning to an innova tion
by determining how it works under one's own conditions. This trial is
intended to dispel any doubts about the new concept.
● Observability: It is the extent to which the outcomes of innovation are
recognizable to others. Some ideas produce results that are easily
observed and communicated to others, whereas others produce results
that are difficult to observe or describe to others. The rate of adoption
of an innovation is directly related to its observability as perceived by
members of a social system.
● Relative Advantage : It is the degree to which an innovation is thought
to be superior to the idea it replaces. Economic profitability, social
prestige, or other benefits are frequently used to express the degree of
relative advantage. The greater the relati ve gain, the faster the rate of
adaptation.
10.4 FROM NEW IDEAS TO MEDIA
New ideas can also lead to wider social system breakthroughs. Research
on media diffusion has shown that media plays an important role in social
change processes. Political campaign studies have been particularly
influential, ranging from early work on the impact of print and broadcast
media on presidential elections to more recent studies of social media
campaigns. Development theory provided an initial boost to research on
media dif fusion in the third world countries. It proved that a strong
national communication system is directly related to modernization. More
recent work has shifted focus to bottom -up uses of mobile
communications in revolutionary movements especially in the Mi ddle East
and everywhere else.
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85 resulted in a greater focus on the spread of media technologies themselves.
Roger s attempts to highlight this aspect of diffusion. He observes that the
"digital divide" is an example of poor diffusion management. Digital
media, as interactive technologies, have necessitated numerous changes to
traditional diffusion theory. M. Lynne Ma rkus observes that the successful
diffusion of interactive media is dependent on the development of a
"critical mass" of users who rely on each other rather than a central
content provider. While more recent scholars have similarly observed a
"network effe ct," in which the value of the technology increases
exponentially with the number of new users.
10.5 ADOPTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Fields like science and technology have developed three approaches in
analysing cultural diffusion of new technologies.
a. Systems t heory: researches the link between larger social, economic,
and regulatory systems that influence technological advancement and
usage.
b. Social construction of technology approaches: focuses on the
“interpretive flexibility” of contemporary innovation and th eir
competing applications by different social groups
c. Actor -network theory: attends to both human and non -human agents. It
recognizes the competing applications and also the distinctive features
that restrict the interpretive flexibility of the technology.
10.6 DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION AND SOCIAL
MEDIA
In the past decade, Internet -based applications have grown in popularity,
with millions of users. As a result of the proliferation and diversification
of Internet applications, it has become an integral part o f people's daily
lives. Social media, being the final phase in the Internet review process,
can be regarded as a significant innovation. It is feasible to link the
diffusion and extensive use of social media to the innovative decision -
making process. The i nternet and social media are popular and widely
used because of several factors. The first being complexity. The user -
friendly interface and insignificance of having any complex technological
skills makes it an easily accessible medium. Triability or the a bility and
willingness to try something out is also very high as people are excited to
experiment with new innovations in this medium. Observability, which is
a characteristic, is present in the use of social media. It is visible in the
everyday life of an individual and its influences reach far beyond the
screen time shared during the stipulated time. Finally, relative advantage,
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86 factor in persuasion. Open and unrestricted access t o social media
platforms offers a cost -effective benefit in terms of communication and
interaction. These platforms also allow for easy, quick, and free access to
information, which can be considered a source of economic benefit. Social
media, on the other hand, allows people to express themselves in a variety
of ways, and it may be argued that as a result of this expression, they have
discovered a new means to meet their self -actualization requirements.
People are also more linked to one another than ever before thanks to
social media. It is possible to state that being active on social media, being
followed and liked by a large number of people can boost confidence.
Facebook is a modern example of this approach. It began as a product
aimed at educational i nstitutions' students and professionals. As students'
use of the social networking site grew outside of school, it expanded to the
general public and beyond borders.
10.7 LIMITATIONS OF DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION
THEORY
There are several limitations of the Di ffusion of Innovation Theory, which
are as follows: 1) Much of the evidence for this theory did not originate in
the arena of public. It was not developed to exclusively apply to adoption
of new behaviours or health innovations. 2) It does not take the
‘participatory approach’ to adoption of a public health program. 3) It does
not take into consideration an individual’s resources or social support to
adopt the new behavior or innovation.
Nevertheless, this theory has seen successful application in the fi elds of
communication, agriculture, public health, criminal justice, social work
and marketing. In public health, this theory is used to accelerate the
adoption of important public health programmes, which results from
understanding the target population and the varied factors impacting their
rate of adoption.
10.8 CONCLUSION
For the first time in media history, social media has provided users the
option of choosing their relationship model with the media. Consumers
can choose to be content audiences al one, participants only, or even
content makers themselves. It is apparent that social media has
empowered the user, and the user now has the opportunity to play multiple
roles in his or her relationship with the media, even if he or she cannot
play all of them at the same time. In this regard, the strong focus on the
person might be seen as another significant aspect of its popularity.
People benefit from social media because it gives them the opportunity to
express themselves in a democratic and open envi ronment. Every social
media user becomes an actor and has their own audience because they are
also a publisher of their own content. Other significant components for its
successful transmission include easy access to information and the
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87 10.9 SUMMARY
Diffusion is defined as "the process through which an innovation is
conveyed to members of a social system over time through certain routes."
Knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confir mation are
the five steps in the decision making process of innovation.
Compatibility, complexity, triability, observabililty, and relative advantage
are the characteristics of innovation.
Rogers claims that while mass media plays an important part in the
knowledge stage of the adoption process, conversation with "opinion
leaders" in one's peer group has a higher impact on persuasion and
decision -making.
Six characteristics are needed for any successful adoption, according to
Rogers: minimal complexity, com patibility with current ways of thinking
and doing, but also perceived benefits over earlier innovations, good
positioning of innovations in relation to similar products/ideas, trialability
(ability to "test out"), and observability of others' adoption res ults.
Social media allows people to express themselves in a variety of ways,
and it may be argued that as a result of this expression, they have
discovered a new means to meet their self -actualization requirements.
10.10 QUESTIONS
1. Examine the Diffusion th eory and discuss the characteristics and
decision making process of innovation.
2. Analyze the role of diffusion in the media.
3. Evaluate the process of diffusion in relation to new ideas,
communication networks, new technologies, and social media.
10.11 REFE RENCE
Vancour, Shawn (2017): “Media Diffusion.” In the SAGE Encyclopedia
of Communication Research Methods, Sage Research Methods ,
https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the -sage-encyclopedia -of-
communication -research -methods/i8590.xml
Kocak, Gizem N., et al. (2013): Social Media from the Perspective of
Diffusion of Innovation Approach, TheMacrotheme Review
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242013642_Social_Media_From
_the_Perspective_of_Diffusion_of_Innovation_Approach
Halton, Clay (2022): “What Is the Diffusion of Innovations Theory?”
Investopedia , Investopedia, 8 Feb. 2022,
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diffusion -of-innovations -
theory.asp
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88 11
PUBLIC OPINION
Unit Structure
11.0 OBJECTIVES
 To gain theoretical insights into concept of public opinion
 To analyzing the strategies used to sway public opinion in varied areas
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Public opinion is the p roduct of psychological and social processes that
lead to a circumstance in which each member of the public behaves in
response to an issue which is conditioned by his expectation that other
members of the public share his views on the same topic. Individu al
attitudes and ideas, group opinion processes, "personal sampling," and
inter-group communication are all part of the public opinion process. The
mass media is a powerful creator of public opinions it strives to reflect.
The media may discreetly but effe ctively produce the very opinions they
wish to represent by creating a world in which people's opinions are based
on their ethnic or demographic group membership. Popular discourse
regarding public opinion tends to center on current events. Citizens are
perplexed as to how the public comes to embrace a particular viewpoint on
a particular issue. Voters predict how political candidates would define
and strategize an issue in order to gain the most support. Individuals also
use the internet to read news stori es and blogs, and then use comment
boxes to express their opinions. Public opinion research in academia
focuses on the same topics. They look at how information is delivered,
how citizens learn about topics, and how this information affects their
attitudes , ideas, and behaviours. Public opinion research, on the other 11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Theory of Public Opinion
11.3 News and Public Opinion
11.4 Political process and public opinion
11.5 Social identity and public opinion
11.6 Homogenous v/s Heterogeneous opinions
11.7 Conclusion
11.8 Summary
11.9 Questions
11.10 References
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89 hand, is not solely empirical; it is also supported by a strong set of
normative beliefs. The following section deals with the concept and
theoretical understanding of public opinion. It exam ines how public
opinion shapes and guides political process and social identity.
11.2. THEORY OF PUBLIC OPINION
Citizens' competence has been at the centre of numerous public
discussions since ancient Greece. Over the years, debates have raged on
whether citizens were competent enough to rule or whether governance
should be left to Plato's philosophical findings. Indeed, in the early 1900s,
this was the essence of how public intellectual Walter Lippmann and
theorist John Dewey understood the public.
Lippma nn constructed a disparaging portrayal of the public in his widely
referenced books Public Opinion (1922) and The Phantom Public (1925),
portraying it as unable to comprehend information carefully or act
logically. Lippmann used the cave allegory from Book VII of Plato's ‘The
Republic in Public Opinion’. A group of men has been tied together in a
cave since childhood in this story. Because the chains restrict them from
moving their legs or twisting their heads, they can only view what is
directly in front o f them. Because a fire as well as the cave's entrance are
behind them, the chained men can only see the shadows cast on the cave's
wall as others pass by. In the book ‘Public Opinion’, Lippmann provided
another allegory, this time set in 1914 at the start of the Great War,
Englishmen, Frenchmen, and German resided on an island far enough
away from civilization to only get letters every two months. They learned
how their various countries had been involved in wars when the mail came
in mid -September 1914. Fo r six odd weeks, they pretended to be friends
while they were actually supposed to be foes if they had learned in time
that their countries were at war. Lippmann utilised these two examples to
show how citizens only have a vague understanding of the enviro nment in
which they live. Citizens are unprepared to deal with so much nuance,
variation, and variety of permutations and combinations. As a result,
citizens are compelled to rely on whatever resources they have to
construct reliable images of the world ou tside their reach.
John Dewey, on the other hand, was far more optimistic about the people.
He recognized that citizens were flawed, just as Lippmann, but his
Aristotelian perspective highlighted the supremacy of popular opinion as
the strongest guarantee for democracy. In his classic work 'The Public and
its Problems' (1927), Dewey argued that structural reforms were required
to improve an institution that was mainly ambiguous and unorganized:
The most pressing need is to strengthen debate, discussion, and persuasive
methods and conditions.
Harold Lasswell(1927) worked on understanding the propaganda
techniques utilised by all countriesduring the World War II. He argued
that modern war is fought not only on the military and economic fronts,
but also on the propaganda front. After all, warring countries were
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90 war, and depict their adversaries in an unfavourable light and demoralise
them. The basic purpose of propaganda, according to Las swell, is to
influence public opinion.
11.3 NEWS AND PUBLIC OPINION
One of the most obvious examples of media -induced opinion is
advertising. With successful advertising efforts, products that the general
public could easily live without become necessary c ommodities. The more
subtle effects of media news on perceptions and opinion, on the other
hand, are of greater significance. For example, Archer and colleagues
discovered in 1983 that men and women are frequently depicted
differently in news images, with men receiving more close -up shots than
women. This effect was called "face -ism", who discovered that people
shown in close -up images (photographs with high face -ism) were judged
as smarter than people depicted in more distant shots.
Face -ism differs aimed at a specific person's race, according to Zuckerman
and Kieffer. Close -ups of white people are more common than close -ups
of black people. Zuckerman and Kieffer conducted a series of research
that found a link between higher levels of face -ism and the char acteristic
of dominance. As a result, the media may discreetly but effectively convey
the impression that men and whites are, respectively, more intelligent and
powerful than women and blacks. As a result, gender and racial
stereotypes have become deeply e mbedded in the popular consciousness.
Even more alarming is the possibility that such carefully conveyed
perceptions and attitudes will impact the real world in the form of election
outcomes, public policy, and agenda setting. Mullen and other scholars
discovered that certain newscasters, who are all required to stay neutral
when reporting the news, leaked their viewpoints through minor nonverbal
facial expressions rather than vocal substance. They discovered that when
discussing Ronald Reagan's 1984 campai gn, journalist Peter Jennings
smiled substantially more often than when discussing Reagan's political
opponent, Walter Mondale, which was easily picked up by the subjects.
The authors went on to show that people who watched ABC's news
featuring Peter Jenni ngs voted for him more frequently.
From 1988 through 1992, Gilens collected and evaluated every story about
poverty in America published in the country's three major news magazines
(Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report), as well as the
accompanying p hotographs. 62% depicted in poverty were African
Americans, which is more than twice the real proportion of black people
living in poverty in the United States (29% ). White voters may be less
supportive of poverty and safety -net services as a result of th is impression.
11.4 POLITICAL PROCESS AND PUBLIC OPINION
For more than seventy -five years, public opinion polling has been a
hallmark of election coverage in the United States media. Elections are
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91 consequences for their readers and viewers. It is generally straightforward
to organise coverage around an event that occurs on a set date, contains
dispute, has various sources eager to be quoted, and has a clear conclusion
when the votes a re counted so that a coverage package can be tied up from
an institutional standpoint. This helps news organisations to plan their
resources and re -allocate them as needed when campaign events unfold.
When George Gallup established a business arrangement w ith The
Washington Post to publish the findings of his surveys during the 1936
presidential campaign, the modern polling period began. Gallup gave a
money -back guarantee that he could do a better job than The Literary
Digest, the leading forecaster of pres idential elections before then, based
on his understanding of their flawed approach, so the newspaper had little
to lose. Gallup had a lot to gain in terms of public awareness, which may
lead to more business from commercial customers based on his public -
sector reputation. Even with the financial challenges that many news
organisations experience and the impact of new technology and changing
lifestyles on polling methods, this was the start of a long -term symbiotic
partnership between media organizations an d pollsters that continues even
today.
Pre-election polls can help news organisations cover the election in a
variety of ways. They provide information on the electorate's reactions to
the candidates, as well as their candidates and campaigns, such as
meas urements of topic opinions and responses to specific events. They
examine the changing dynamics of the campaigns' impacts as part of a
longitudinal strategy. It is true that they aid in determining who is ahead
and who is behind, enabling news organisatio ns' worst tendencies to
engage in "horse race" journalistic coverage. Overall, these pre -election
polling trends, when combined with the more sophisticated statistical
models of election results utilised by forecasters and data aggregators,
raise significa nt questions regarding the meaning of the term "public
opinion" in the modern day.
Check Your Progress
1. What du you mean by Public Opinion?
11.5 SOCIAL IDENTITY AND PUBLIC OPINION
So far, the basis of the theory was on the idea that the perceiver is an
unbiased information processor who accepts the media's point s of view
passively, and that any altered opinions are the logical result of receiving
misleading reports. But perceivers have their own goals and biases
through which information is filtered and digested. Thisfactor which was
not taken into consideration earlier. The perceiver's social identity is one
source of prejudice. Individuals get part of their social identity from the
social groups to which they belong, and are consequently compelled to
regard their in -groups as more correct, appropriate, and supe rior to out -
groups.
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92 Members of both sides of the debate often perceive neutral media
coverage of a controversial event, such as an election, as unfriendly to
their own group. Because coverage of all sides of an issue tends to
highlight disparities between sides, the perceiver's own group membership
becomes salient. This motivates the perceiver to see the in -group as
superior and the out -group as inferior. In comparison to exaggerated
opinions of one's in -correctness, neutral coverage of the in -group is
viewed as unfair and antagonistic.
Not only does social identity shape perceptions, but it also shapes
opinions. Opinions are frequently impacted by other members of the in
group, according to research. According to a paper published by Mackie,
Worth, and Asu ncion in 1990, even when an in -group member expresses
an unpopular opinion that goes against one's natural inclinations, the in -
group member remains a persuasive force, far more so than any out -group
member.
The central and peripheral methods of persuasion , according to this
paradigm, are the two major routes through which attitudes and opinions
are altered. The central method of persuasion describes situations in which
a motivated and cognitively capable perceiver comes to a conclusion after
carefully and consciously considering all aspects of a communication.
However, many times the perceiver lacks either the motivation or the
ability to understand much of the message's information properly (for
example, due to time restrictions or other pressing difficult ies that deplete
cognitive resources). When this is true, perceivers may use "mental
shortcuts" that the they can utilise to form an opinion or make a judgment.
Advertising strategies successfully employ the peripheral route of
persuasion by using peripher al cues (such as providing attractive sponsors
of a product or associating the product with humour). In -group
membership is supposed to serve as a supplementary cue in the persuasion
process: With in -group membership comes perceived likeness to other in -
group members, and if an in -group member supports one side of an
argument, it is obvious that the perceiver will support the same side
without necessarily considering the message's content.
11.6 HOMOGENEOUS V/S HETEROGENEOUS PUBLIC
OPINIONS
Studies show that certain beliefs are voiced by in -group and out -group
members. By changing the homogeneity of beliefs, researchers directly
assess the capability of influencing public opinion. Participants in a study
were shown a video tape of a peer tribunal in which a fraternity member
was accused o f vandalising school property. A study was designed to
understand media coverage of the O.J. Simpson case (who was from the
black communit y and wasarrested for murder). In this study the
perceptions of his guilt or innocenc e were directly shown to be connected
with racial group membership. Subjects were classified into the in -group
or out -group based on their position as members or non -members of Greek
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93 tribunal, which was preceded by interviews with the defendant's fellow
"students," who were asked to disclose their feelings about his guilt or
innocence.
Subjects offered comments on the defendant's guilt and also recommended
appropriate punishment after witn essing the interviews and following
hearing. The homogeneity of view was found to have a substantial impact
on opinions about the defendant's guilt and the degree of punishment
recommended. When the attitudes of others were homogeneous and
perfectly associ ated with group membership, Greek subjects supported the
defendant while non -Greek subjects opposed him. When opinions were
demonstrated to be evenly distributed between groups, however, this
impact vanished completely. This study revealed that there is o ften a
tendency to align with one's in -group.
11.7 CONCLUSION
In many ways the media portrays a misrepresentative perspective of the
world. It may also assist biased processing of accurate information by
emphasizing intergroup differences when presenting that information.
Rather than reporting on how the broad population feels about particular
problems (e.g., the Simpson trial, Clinton's impeachment trial), the media
frequently reports on sentiments divided into groups. Research has shown
that such exposu re can worsen the strong inclination to side with the in -
group, possibly by reducing the drive to think carefully about the situation
at hand. Exposure to mixed group viewpoints, on the other hand, can help
to counteract this tendency.
11.8 SUMMARY
Public opinion is the product of psychological and social processes that
lead to a circumstance in which each member of the public behave in
response to an issue which is conditioned by his expectation that other
members of the public share his views on the same topic.
Pre-election polls provide information on the electorate's reactions to the
candidates, as well as their candidates and campaigns, such as
measurements of topic opinions and responses to specific events.
Individuals get part of their social identit y from the social groups to which
they belong, and are consequently compelled to regard their in -groups as
more correct, appropriate, and superior to out -groups.
Advertising strategies successfully employ the peripheral route of
persuasion by using periphe ral cues (such as providing attractive sponsors
of a product or associating the product with humour).
The propensity to align with one's in -group was fully overridden by the
notion of varied perspectives when opinions were demonstrated to be
evenly distrib uted between groups.
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94 11.9 QUESTIONS
1. Discuss in detail the theories of public opinion.
2. Examine the impact and findings of news and political process in the
formation of public opinion.
3. Analyze the role of social identity, homogeneity and heterogeneity in
the formation of public opinion.
11.10 REFERENCE
Abrams, Mark. Opinion Polls and Party Propaganda - JSTOR .
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2747324.
Anastasio, Phyllis A., et al. Can the Media Create Public Opinion? A
Social ... - JSTOR . https://www.jstor.o rg/stable/20182590.
Hyman, Herbert H. Mass Communication and Socialization - Jstor Home .
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2747855.
Perrin, Andrew J., and Katherine McFarland. Vol. 37, 2011 of Annual
Review of Sociology on JSTOR . https://www.jstor.org/stable/i 40058191.
Vasterman, Peter. 11.Media Hypes and Public Opinion M - JSTOR .
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt21215m0.16.

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