mass-communication-theory

Recommendations

Info

94 Section 2 The Era of Mass Society and Mass Culture Libertarianism A normative theory that sees people as good and rational and able to judge good ideas from bad SUMMARY that average people could not be trusted. The only hope for the future lay with technocracy and science. In the next chapter, we will trace the development of theories that arose in opposition to these technocratic views. Advocates of these emerging ideas didn’t base their views of media on social science; rather, they wanted to revive older notions of democracy and media. If modern democracy was being threatened, then maybe the threat was the result of having strayed too far from old values and ideals. Perhaps these could be restored and modern social institutions could somehow be purified and renewed. Theorists sought to make the Libertarianism of the Founding Fathers once again relevant to democracy. In doing so, they created views of media that are still widely held. The first half of the twentieth century was a highly traumatic period in which the basic principles of democracy were tested. The power of mass media was demonstrated by totalitarian propagandists who used media to convert millions to their ideas. Though Nazi and Communist propagandists wielded media with apparent effectiveness, the basis for their power over mass audiences was not well understood. Early theorists combined Freudianism and behaviorism to argue that propaganda messages were like magic bullets easily and instantly penetrating even the strongest defenses. No one was safe from their power to convert. Later theorists like Harold Lasswell held that propaganda typically influenced people in slow and subtle ways. It created new master symbols that could be used to induce new forms of thought and action. Both magic bullet and Lasswell’s theories assumed that media could operate as external agents and be used as tools to manipulate essentially passive mass audiences. Also believing in the propaganda power of mass media was columnist Walter Lippmann, whose skepticism at the self-governance abilities of average people and distrust of lazy media professionals brought him to the conclusion that the inevitably incomplete and inaccurate “pictures in people’s heads” posed a threat to democracy. There was disagreement among propaganda theorists on how to deal with its threat to “our way of life.” Advocates of a “science of democracy” thought the best way to protect average people from bad (antidemocratic) propaganda was to use good (democratic) propaganda. A scientific technocracy could be developed to ensure the dissemination of good propaganda. Others, despite their fear of propaganda, believed that propaganda analysis, like that undertaken at the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, was the only truly democratic way to deal with propaganda. That is, rather than use “good” propaganda, teach average people how propaganda operates so they can defend themselves against it. John Dewey’s solution to propaganda’s threat relied on traditional notions of democracy. Because people were in fact good and rational, the counter to propaganda was not control of media by a technocratic elite, but more education of the public. Contemporary propaganda theory, centered in critical theory, argues that public discourse is shaped and limited by powerful elites to serve their own ends. Advertising’s underlying theme that consumption and capitalism are beneficial is another area of interest to propaganda theorists. Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Critical Thinking Questions 1. This chapter spent a good deal of time on the debate over the proper role of propaganda in a democracy. Where do you stand? Should those who “know better” use powerful propaganda techniques for the public good, or is propaganda inherently antidemocratic? Reread the box concerning engineering of consent and the invasion of Iraq. Can you identify those who take the Lasswell/ Lippmann view and those who might favor Dewey and the Institute of Propaganda Analysis’s perspective? 2. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin said that Americans who would exchange a bit of freedom in order to secure a bit of security deserve neither freedom nor security. What Key Terms muckraker propaganda white propaganda disinformation black propaganda Chapter 4 The Rise of Media Theory in the Age of Propaganda 95 gray propaganda engineering of consent behaviorism magic bullet theory Freudianism does he mean by this? Can you relate this sentiment to the debate over the role of propaganda in a democracy? Where would Franklin have stood on the issue? 3. Can the traditional news media ever be truly “liberal,” given their corporate ownership? Doesn’t the now widely accepted view that the media failed the country in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq prove that they are anything but liberal? Why or why not? What about the media’s failure to detect the looming financial crisis that nearly brought down the global economy? Wouldn’t a media with an anti-corporate bias—that is, a liberal media—been more vigilant? Ego Superego Id master (or collective) symbols scientific technocracy Pragmatism Libertarianism Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Page 2 and 3:
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. Al
Page 4 and 5:
1959 C. Wright Mills’s The Sociol
Page 6 and 7:
From the Wadsworth Series in Mass C
Page 8 and 9:
This is an electronic version of th
Page 10 and 11:
To Sidney Kraus His words and actio
Page 12 and 13:
x Contents CHAPTER 2 FOUR ERAS OF M
Page 14 and 15:
xii Contents Limitations of the Exp
Page 16 and 17:
xiv Contents Development of Recepti
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
xviii Preface Many if not all of th
Page 22 and 23:
xx Preface THE USE OF HISTORY In th
Page 24 and 25:
xxii Preface about these issues. We
Page 26 and 27:
xxiv Preface their refinement in he
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
4 Section 1 Introduction to Mass Co
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
10 Section 1 Introduction to Mass C
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
CHAPTER 2 convergence The erasure o
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
SECTION 2 42 THE ERA OF MASS SOCIET
Page 70 and 71: Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. Al
Page 72 and 73: 46 Section 2 The Era of Mass Societ
Page 122 and 123: CHAPTER 5 96 NORMATIVE THEORIES OF
Page 126 and 127: 100 Section 2 The Era of Mass Socie
Page 158 and 159: SECTION 3 132 FROM LIMITED-EFFECTS
Page 160 and 161: 134 Section 3 From Limited-Effects
Page 170 and 171:
144 Section 3 From Limited-Effects
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
CHAPTER 7 OVERVIEW 174 MOVING BEYON
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 222 and 223:
Page 224 and 225:
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 254 and 255:
Page 256 and 257:
Page 258 and 259:
Page 260 and 261:
Page 262 and 263:
Page 264 and 265:
SECTION 4 238 CONTEMPORARY MASS COM
Page 266 and 267:
240 Section 4 Contemporary Mass Com
Page 268 and 269:
Page 270 and 271:
Page 272 and 273:
Page 274 and 275:
Page 276 and 277:
Page 278 and 279:
Page 280 and 281:
Page 282 and 283:
Page 284 and 285:
Page 286 and 287:
Page 288 and 289:
Page 290 and 291:
Page 292 and 293:
Page 294 and 295:
Page 296 and 297:
Page 298 and 299:
Page 300 and 301:
Page 302 and 303:
Page 304 and 305:
CHAPTER 10 278 MEDIA AND SOCIETY: T
Page 306 and 307:
Page 308 and 309:
Page 310 and 311:
Page 312 and 313:
Page 314 and 315:
Page 316 and 317:
Page 318 and 319:
Page 320 and 321:
Page 322 and 323:
Page 324 and 325:
Page 326 and 327:
Page 328 and 329:
Page 330 and 331:
Page 332 and 333:
Page 334 and 335:
Page 336 and 337:
Page 338 and 339:
Page 340 and 341:
Page 342 and 343:
Page 344 and 345:
Page 346 and 347:
Page 348 and 349:
Page 350 and 351:
Page 352 and 353:
Page 354 and 355:
Page 356 and 357:
Page 358 and 359:
Page 360 and 361:
Page 362 and 363:
Page 364 and 365:
Page 366 and 367:
Page 368 and 369:
Page 370 and 371:
Page 372 and 373:
Page 374 and 375:
Page 376 and 377:
Page 378 and 379:
Page 380 and 381:
Page 382 and 383:
Page 384 and 385:
Page 386 and 387:
Page 388 and 389:
Page 390 and 391:
REFERENCES Adbusters. (2002). “Th
Page 392 and 393:
366 References Century, April 17. (
Page 394 and 395:
368 References Argument about New M
Page 396 and 397:
370 References Gerbner, G., L. Gros
Page 398 and 399:
372 References 1942-1943. New York:
Page 400 and 401:
374 References Lasswell, H. D. (192
Page 402 and 403:
376 References Miller, K. (2005). C
Page 404 and 405:
378 References Preiss, R. W. (2007)
Page 406 and 407:
380 References Smillie, D. (2009).
Page 408 and 409:
382 References query Human capacity
Page 410 and 411:
384 Index children, focus on functi
Page 412 and 413:
386 Index I ice-age analogy, 342 Id
Page 414 and 415:
388 Index media and culture theorie
Page 416 and 417:
390 Index sensemaking, decoding and
Page 418:
392 Index theory, understanding and
show all

mass-communication-theory

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?