Reality for most people, is what they “assume exists independently of any concept or representation”. (Grossberg, 1998:184) That’s “reality” to us, no second thought about it. Fiske says that reality “is the product of that culture’s codes”; (1987:4) meaning, that our society presents us with “a collection of material facts, that we can accurately perceive”. (Grossberg, 1998:185) The concept that the material facts have to be collected is peculiar. It implies that a negotiation between the public and reality has taken place, that someone, had to decide what was to be collected, and what was to be deserted.
It has been said that media is the most influential. The media are “perhaps the most important producers of meaning and the codes of meaning in contemporary society. (Grossberg, 1998:182) It has been said that the media either portrays reality or constructs reality. By saying that the media portrays reality would mean I agree that what the media shows is a reflection of today's society. But by saying it constructs reality, I would be agreeing with the ‘effects model’, which assumes that “horrible things make us horrible - not horrified. Terrifying things makes us terrifying - not terrified. To see something as aggressive will make us aggressive - not aggressed against.” (Barker, 2001:38), what this quote implying is that the effects model does not take into account that people can think for themselves, they do have their own opinions and according to Jean Piaget children start thinking critically from the age of 11. Taking this into account, I still believe that the media has an influence on society.
The hypodermic needle model suggests that we are all the same and that we all respond in the same way towards the media. It sug...
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... not caring whether or not it is a made up reality. It is all about making profit, and as long as profit is made, they do not care how it affects the audience, mostly because they believe that the audience is passive will go along with anything that is given to them. Saying that, I will agree with the essay question, that yes, media does represent reality, but the reality set by them in the first place.
Works Cited
Barker, B. (2001) ‘The Newson Report: a case study in “common sense”’, in M. Barker and J. Petley (eds) III Effects: the media/violence debate (2nd edn), London: Routledge.
Fiske, J. (1987) ‘Television Culture’, Methuen & Co. Ltd
Nelson, C. and Grossberg, L. (1988) ‘Marxism and Interpretation of Culture’, University of Illinois Press
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-hypodermic-needle-theory/
Media, the plural form of medium, describes various ways in which we communicate in society. A phone call, email, radio, computer, news on TV, etc. are all forms of media. In our society today, the media plays a significantly large role in influencing society negatively, twisting one’s perspective of the truth. In author Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine, she discusses how media is looked at as an “influencing machine,” that’s controlling the mind of its viewers. Throughout the reading, Gladstone guides her readers through perceptions of media and how it influences them to get readers to understand the truth about media and the manipulation behind it.
Newspaper, radio, film, television. These are only a few of the various forms media can take. From the moment we open our eyes to the instant we shut them, we are surrounded by media and absorb the information it hurls at us in an osmosis-like manner. The news ranges from the latest terror attack and political scandals to supposed UFO sightings and scandals involving sandals. We as an audience tend to focus more on the message the media relays rather than on the medium in which it is presented to us.
Bryant, Jennings, and Mary Beth Oliver, eds. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. Third ed. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Today, the media impacts almost everything we do. It tells us to act a certain way or to beh...
Using material from the study of violence in the media assess the view that the media has a direct and immediate influence on their audience
The term “the media” is somewhat overused in our culture. It is a vague term we use to include any and all ways that messages are portrayed to us, usually in technology. Dr. Cyndy Scheibe, a professor at Ithaca College and media literacy expert, says that media is “messages conveyed through visuals, language, and/or sound that are mass produced for a mass audience. [Media is also] mediated by a form of technology and the producer of the message is not in the same place as the receiver of the message” (Scheibe). This means that media would include things like television, movies, the internet and print. Media doesn’t include things like text messages because they are not intended for mass audiences. For the purposes of this essay, “media” is mostly going to refer to television and video games.
To Marx, history d... ... middle of paper ... ... 67 Jon Elster, Making sense of Marx, Cambridge University press 1985 C.Slaughter, Marxism and the class struggle, New Park Publications LTD 1975 Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones etc.. Introductory Sociology 4th edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2002 Gregor McLennan, The Story of Sociology Ken Morrison, Marx Durkheim Weber, Sage publications LTD 1995 Fulcher&Scott, Sociology 2nd edition, Oxford university press 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] German Ideology, pp.8-13 [2] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.150, Pelican books 1963 [3] ibid, p107 [4] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.177, Pelican books 1963 [5] Essential writings of Karl Marx; p176; Panther Books Ltd ,1967
The statement above may shock most people, and it may come as no surprise to others. The topic of media as a tool of influence seems to have gained popularity in recent years. Many may not realize it, but people who consume media are being influenced to think and believe a certain way. If you have ever read a newspaper, a magazine, or turned on a television, radio, or online news outlet, chances are you have seen or heard the exact same story, explained almost exactly the same on almost every
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
Bender, Frederic L. Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ed. 1988.
Many tragedies, deaths and other popular actions take place everyday around the world, and we the people, count on media to cover these accounts in full detail. News articles and the media are two topics that go hand-in-hand with each other when discussing the perception of a world topic. Giving the media this power to describe the account also gives them the power to one-side any particular story. Often false accusations are made and wrong people are blamed, for no other reason than the media pointing fingers in wrong directions. The media also has the power to confuse, for as one media program might cover an account to be the blame of one man and another media program to be blame of another. The media has been given too much power with influencing the thoughts of people across the world. Take in
There is an association between the development of mass media and social change, although the degree and direction of this association is still debated upon even after years of study into media influence. Many of the consequences, either detrimental or beneficial, which have been attributed to the mass media, are almost undoubtedly due to other tendencies within society. Few sociologists would refute the importance of the mass media, and mass communications as a whole, as being a major factor in the construction and circulation of social understanding and social imagery in modern societies. Therefore it is argued that the mass media is used as “an instrument”, both more powerful and more flexible than anything in previous existence, for influencing people into certain modes of belief and understanding within society.
Unquestionably the media being newspapers, internet, radio and television, influence society. They can affect, have affected and will continue to affect the progression of life in this nation and around the world, as electronic technology continues to be the chosen mode of communication for a whole generation, offering direct, often anonymous influential information.
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.
Media technologies are becoming an important aspect of today’s society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media is commonly defined as being a channel of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased information and that the media companies do not impose their own control upon the information being supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious to assume that it has affects on people. According to the text book Media Now, "media effects are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media," (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about media and its influences. This paper will look at how the effects of media are determined and explore the main affects on today’s society - violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior.