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Relationship Between The Media And Society
Relationship Between The Media And Society
Relationship Between The Media And Society
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Recommended: Relationship Between The Media And Society
Media Content and Realities of the Social World
Media images never simply present the world direct, they are always a
construction, a re-presentation, not a transparent window on to the
real. The media give us ways of imagining particular identities and
groups which can have material effects on how people experience. This
is partly because the mass media have the power to re-present, over
and over, some identities, some imaginings, and to exclude others, and
thereby make them unfamiliar or even threatening. Besides, the Media
use bias and stereotypes to represent the world which are not always
true or “real”.
Should media content attempt to reflect the realities of the social
world?
Seemingly media should reflect the society. However, this premise is
not agreed upon. For many people, media are an escape from the
realities of daily life. Therefore, how “real” media products are is
irrelevant to many people. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to
believe that the media should accurately reflect society in order to
compare media representations with the social world. Gaps between
media content and social reality raise interesting questions that
warrant our attention.
What are the problems in comparing media representation to the
external world?
Representations – even those that attempt to reproduce reality such as
the documentary film- are the result of processes of selection that
invariably mean that certain aspects of reality are highlighted and
others neglected. Even though we often use the “realness” of the
images as a basis for evaluating whether we like or dislike particular
representations, all representations “re-present” the social world in
ways that are both incomplete and narrow.
If we had only news programs and documentary films to represent
happenings in the social world as fairly and accurately as possible,
the genre would cease to exist. Science fiction film is likely to
diverge significantly from contemporary social life. Fantasy products
such as science fiction films hold the potential for teaching us
something about our society.
Actually, no representation of reality can ever be totally “true” or
The usage of media is huge in nowadays. People rely on different kinds of media to receive information in their everyday life because they are thirsty for the diverse and informative content. However, inaccurate portrayals of people from different races always appear in the media and audience will exaggerate those portrayals by their inflexible beliefs and expectations about the characteristics or behaviors of the portrayals’ cultural groups without considering individual variation (Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2012); in fact, it is also called as stereotypes. According to a study by the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University (Stein, 2012), racial stereotyping continues to occur in media and the mainstream media's coverage of different cultural groups is full of biased reporting, offensive terminology and old stereotypes of American society. It specifically emphasizes that majority of the stereotyped characters in media will only bring out the dark side of their cultural groups which many of them might not be true, especially for the portrayals of black community: African American.
Science fiction writing began in the early 1800’s as a reaction to the growth of science and technology. The genre is characterized by its intellectual excitement, high adventure, and its making of the fantastic possible. Due to the nature of science fiction, film has become an essential part of its popularity. Science fiction films have been popular since the earliest silent clips because of the outlandish visuals and creative fictional story lines that capture an audience’s attention. Under the guise of this popular platform, writers relay political, social and philosophical messages to their audience.
Most people’s lives in the 21 century are in some way affected by media and it is affecting the way individuals preform daily tasks. Television shows are a great example of this; they show the development of characters over a period and display how greater social forces shape what they have become. C. Wright mills uses a term the sociological imagination, it is the theory that people’s lives are shaped essentially by greater social forces and society’s expectations rather than biology and genetics. The show Modern Family is a good example of the sociological imagination because it has a diverse cast and the characters have many personalities, wants, and desires. Modern Family is a television show that has stories of separate individual families who are related. Claire and Mitch are siblings and Jay is their father. The families are Claire, Phil, Alex, Hailey and Luke. Mitch, Cam and Lilly and Jay, Gloria and Mani.
One of the greatest exports of American culture is American media. American media is one of the most widely distributed and consumed cultural forms from the United States. This means that not only do Americans consume large quantities of their own media, but many other countries in the world consume American media, too. People in other countries will not interpret or understand the media in precisely the same ways that Americans will and do, nonetheless, many aspects of American culture and American reality are communicated to numerous viewers as part of the content in the media. The media is an important tool in the discussion of race, class, and gender in America. It takes a savvy viewer to discriminate between and understand what media accurately represents reality, what media does not, or which aspects of experience are fictionalized, and which elements ...
Media has become a major part of our lives. Indeed it has shape the way we perceive other races. Minority races such as Latinos, African American, Native American and Asians are being misrepresented in media. Media has a huge impact on race, by presenting race stereotypes media is telling us that certain races behave a particular way which shapes the way society sees them and in many times the way they see themselves. We tend to believe everything media says about us and other races without questioning if it is actually true.
Identity. This simple world fulfills the answers to multitudes of questions: Who are you? Where do you come from? How do you appear? When were you born? Where will life take you? While some believe we answer these questions for ourselves, many scholars and experts in the field of media and cultural studies beg to differ. Conformity has become a social norm, and many people are no longer inclined to search for their own identity in the world. People allow the world and its inhabitants to identify them. Just as media and marketing have begun putting labels on everything people wear, digest, and observe, people too have become subject to labeling. These labels lead individuals to become ‘one dimensional’. In the words of Robinson (2010), this one dimensionality is due to the fact that the vast majority of human beings allow consumer culture and public opinion to dominate over their individuality. Evolving ideologies, alienating binary oppositions, and the question of identity are intertwined with media, culture and society in the lives of every being, be it implicitly or
In conclusion, media produces certain stereotypes both in behaviour and in style; it isolates audience from the true reality, the problem needs attention.
Media is the most powerful sector of an economy. It is a tool to maintain a balanced society which is characterized by well informed people, effective democracy and social justice. In fact, media has unparallel influence on all aspects of human life in modern times.
Usually, we have stereotypes about persons who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. We regularly make these stereotypical generalizations based on experiences we have had ourselves, seen in movies or television, read about in books and magazines, or have had related to us by family and friends. Though all these are equally significant roots for the stimulation of stereotypes, media however, is the giant force. Media propaganda is one of the main functions of society that projects stereotypical opinions or perceptions. One of the most powerful forces, propaganda in the media combined with stereotypes often act together to accomplish a homogenized and often misleading view about society and its people.
One problem that plagues us everyday without us even realizing it is media bias. We see it in the news. We see it on our favorite sitcoms. We read it everyday in the paper. Yet, we really don't recognize it when we hear it or see it. Media bias is evident in every aspect of the media, yet the problem is that we don't even recognize it when it is right in front of our faces. Are the impressions that we form about individuals a product of the media? Do we form certain opinions about particular types of people based solely on the things we see and hear in the media everyday without even realizing it? The problem is not only that there is media bias present, but also that we can't recognize it when we see it.
The Media as an Agent in Socialization According to the reading, “Socialization and Culture” from the book “Interdisciplinary English” by Loretta F. Kasper, socialization is the process in which a child learns how to behave in life and participate in a group in society. Socialization has four basic agents: family, school, peers and the mass media. Each one of these agents plays a role in our lives. However, in my opinion, the most important agent of socialization for the development of the child is the mass media.
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.
As Americans we take pride in our liberating government. But, it is essential to ask how much we, the general public, know about our democracy. Because of the representative structure of our government, it is in our best interest to remain as knowledgeable as possible about political affairs so that we can play an active role in our democracy by voting for candidates and issues. The media, which includes print, television, and the internet, is our primary link to political events and issues. (For the purposes of this essay only print and television will be considered.) Therefore, in order to assess the success of our democracy it is necessary to assess the soundness of our media. We are lucky enough to have a media, in theory, free from government influences because of our rights to freedom of press and freedom of speech, but we are still subject to the media’s interpretation and presentation of politics, as is the danger when depending on any source for information. So, we must address how the media informs us; how successful it is at doing so; and how we should respond to it.
Media can present content that seems and is more or less real, however, it is our duty as the viewers to be able to distinguish, and differentiate between “reflections of reality, and constructions of reality”. The prime targets of the media are young people because they so unwittingly believe everything the media tells them, from “how to talk, how to dress, and how to relate to others”. This newspaper article, seeing is not believing by Leslie Fruman is essentially explaining that now “for the first time students will take a mandatory course to help separate fantasy from reality in the media.” The mandatory course is referred to as media literacy, and will teach young people the classifications of reality and fantasy.
Popular culture is described as the people’s culture that prevails in a society at a point in time. It involves all features that exist in a social life and is most actively absorbed in by the public. Popular culture is usually a culture of people in a particular society and the associations between the communities in their daily activities determine it. These activities of popular culture include way of dressing, use of slang; greeting practices and the foods, a community eats. Popular culture is enlightened by the mass media.