Four eras of communication (2)

1. 1. Name of InstitutionAMITY SCHOOL of COMMUNICATION BJMC 2nd SEM

UNDERSTANDING MASS COMMUNICATION MR. ANKIT KASHYAP
2. 2. Name of Institution Four Eras ofMass Communication
3. 3. Name of InstitutionFour eras in mass communication theories• Era of
mass society theory (1850-1940)• Era of scientific perspective on mass
media (1940-1950)• Era of limited effects (1950-60s)• Era of cultural
criticism (1960s-1980s)
4. 4. Name of InstitutionEra of mass society theory 1850-1940 • Mass
Communication theories begins with a review of some of the earliest
notions about media. These ideas were initially developed in the later half
of the 19th century as new media technologies were invented and
popularized. Although some theorists were optimistic about new
technology, most were extremely pessimistic (Brantlinger, 1983). They
blamed new industrial technology for disrupting peaceful, rural
communities and forcing people to live in urban areas merely to serve as a
convenient workforce in large factories, mines or bureaucracies.
5. 5. Name of InstitutionTheorists were fearful of cities because of their
crime,cultural diversity, and unstable political systems. Formany social
thinkers, mass media symbolizedeverything that was wrong with the 19th
century urbanlife. The dominant perspective that emerged duringthis
period is referred to as mass society theory. Itbegan as a collection of
contradictory notions – somequite radical, others quite reactionary.
6. 6. Name of InstitutionIn general mass society ideas held strong appeal for
anysocial elites whose power was threatened by change.Media industries
such as ‘penny press’ were aconvenient for elites’ criticism. The media of
the timewere easily attacked as symptomatic of a sick society –a society
that needed to either return to old values or beforced to adopt a set of
totally new values.
7. 7. Name of InstitutionIn time, the leaders of the Industrial Revolution
gained enormousinfluence over social change. They strongly favored all
forms ofTechnological Development, including mass media.In their view
technology was inherently good as it facilitated controlover the physical
environment, expanded human productivity andgenerated new forms of
material wealth.New technology would bring an end to social problems
and lead tothe development of an Ideal social world.But in the short term,
industrialization brought with it enormousproblems – exploitation of
workers, pollution and social unrest.
8. 8. Name of InstitutionToday, the fallacies of both the critics of technology
and itsadvocates are readily apparent.Mass society notions greatly
exaggerated the ability of media toquickly undermine social order. These
ideas failed to considerthat media’s power ultimately resides in the freely
chosen usesthat audiences make of it.Technology advocates were also
misguided and failed toacknowledge the many unnecessary, damaging
 consequences thatresulted from applying technology without
adequatelyconsidering the impact.
9. 9. Important Theories Name of Institution• Bullet Theory• Propaganda
Theory
10. 10. Bullet Theory Name of Institution• Also called as hypodermic needle
theory• It holds that an intend message is directly received and
completely accepted by listener. It assumes that the media’s message is a
bullet fired from the “media gun” into viewer’s head.• Receivers are
passive and defenseless• Media have direct, immediate and poerful effect
to those who pay attention.
11. 11. Propaganda Theory Name of Institution• Media propagates any idea
with direct impact on the mass society.• Audience here was also passive
and defenseless• The ideas used to propagate at that time were highly
influenced by the politics.
12. 12. Name of Institution Era of scientific perspective on mass media (1940-
1950)During the 1930’s, world events seemed to continually confirmthe
truth of mass society ideas. In Europe, reactionary andrevolutionary
political movements used media in their strugglesfor political
power.German Nazis introduced propaganda techniques that
ruthlesslyexploited the power of new media technology like
motionpictures and radio.All across Europe, totalitarian leaders like Hitler,
Stalin andMussolini rose to political power and were able to
exerciseseemingly total control over vast populations.
13. 13. Name of InstitutionPrivate ownership of media, especially
broadcastmedia, was replaced by direct government control inmost
European nations. The purpose was to use mediafor the service of the
society. But the unintendedoutcome in most cases was to place enormous
power inthe hands of ruthless leaders who were convinced thatthey
personally embodied what was best for all theircitizens. Exception was
BBC, an independent publiccorporation.
14. 14. Name of InstitutionAt the very peak of their popularity, mass
societynotions came under attack from Lazarsfeld,(1941), anAustrian
researcher and scientist. He argued that itwasn’t enough to merely
speculate about the influenceof media on society. Instead he proposed
conductingcarefully designed, elaborate field experiments in whichhe
would be able to observe media influence andmeasure its magnitude.
15. 15. Name of InstitutionIt was not enough to assume that
politicalpropaganda is powerful – hard evidence wasneeded to prove the
existence of such effects(Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet,
1944).Lazersfeld’s most famous efforts, the “VoterStudies”, actually began
as an attempt todemonstrate the media’s power, yet theyproved, at least
to him and his colleagues, justthe opposite.
16. 16. Name of InstitutionBy the early 1950s, Lazerfeld’s work had generated
anenormous amount of data based on which he concludedthat media were
not nearly as powerful as had beenpreviously imagined.Instead, he found
that people had numerous ways ofresisting media influence and were
 influenced by manycompeting factors. Rather than serving as a
disruptivesocial force, media seemed to reinforce existing socialtrends
and strengthen the status quo.
17. 17. Name of InstitutionHe found little evidence to support the worstfears
of mass society theorists. ThoughLazarsfeld never labeled his theory, it is
nowreferred to as the Limited-effects perspective.These views media as
playing a very limited rolein the lives of individuals and larger society.
18. 18. Important Theories Name of Institution• Two Step flow theory•
Lasswell’s Model• Persuasion Theory• Limited Effect Theory
19. 19. Two-Step Flow Theory Name of Institution• Flow of information takes
place in two steps. First from Mass Media to opinion leaders and then from
opinion leaders to the mass society.• Media are not so powerful because
there are resistance to their messages. Resistance is based on
psychological individual traits & crucial role is played by• Opinion
Leaders• Social Context
20. 20. Persuasion Theory Name of Institution• Subtle change in the attitude
of the receiver.• Any form of persuasive communication changes the
attitude of the receiver. Attitude on the other hand changes the behavior .
21. 21. Lasswell’s Model Name of Institution• It is a five step process.• Who
says (Source)• What (Message)• In which channel (Media)• To Whom
(Receiver)• With What effect (Feedback)
22. 22. Limited Effects Theory Name of Institution• Explained in Slide No- 4-7.
Refer to Previous slides.• Basically, Paul Lazersfeld experiment on Voting
Behaviour. He explained that the role of media in deciding the voting
behavior is limited.• 3 steps followed by him are…• Contd…..
23. 23. 3 Steps by Lazersfeld Name of Institution• 1. Activate floating voters
to take a decision• 2. Reinforce the preference in convinced voters.• 3.
Convert convinced voters to switch their preference.• Conclusion- He
concluded that media had some kind of influence only at step 2.
24. 24. Name of Institution Era of limited effects (1950-60s)During the 1950s,
limited-effects notions about mediacontinued to gain acceptance within
academia. Severalimportant clashes occurred between their adherents
andthose who supported mass society ideas (Bauer andBauer, 1960).In
1960, several classic studies of media effects providedapparently
definitive support for the limited-effectsnotions.
25. 25. Name of InstitutionBy 1961, V.O. Key had published Public Opinion
and AmericanDemocracy, a theoretical and methodological tour de force
thatintegrated limited-effects notions with social and political theory
tocreate a perspective that is now known as elite pluralism. Thistheory
views society as a number of interlocking pluralistic groupsled by opinion
leaders who rely on media for information aboutpolitics and social
world.Advocates of mass society notions came under increasing attack
as“unscientific” or “irrational” because they questioned “hardscientific
findings”.
26. 26. Name of InstitutionBy the mid-1960s, the debate between mass
society and limited-effects notions appeared to be over – at least within
 the masscommunication research community.The body of empirical
research findings continued to grow, andalmost all these findings were
consistent with the latter view.Little or empirical research supported
mass society theory. Thiswas not surprising because most empirical
researchers trained atthis time were warned against its fallacies.
27. 27. Important Theories Name of Institution• Play Theory• Uses &
Gratification Theory• Agenda Setting Theory• Dependency Theory•
Dissonance Theory
28. 28. Play Theory Name of Institution• Given by William Stephenson• First
function of media is to provide entertainment• He said that one should be
subjective and psychological rather than being objective and sociological•
2 points to explain play theory..• A) Maximize the communication pleasure
in this world• B) Show the extent of autonomy achievable from an
individual respect to the social control by his socio-cultural system.
29. 29. Uses & Gratification Theory of Institution Name• “What the media do
to the people, to what the people do with the media”• USES- It assumes
that audiences are active and willingly expose themselves to the media•
GRATIFICATION- It refers to the rewards & satisfaction by audience after
the use of media.
30. 30. Agenda Setting Theory Name of Institution• Given by Maxwell Mc
Combs & Don Shaw• It states that media have the ability to advise or tell
audiences what issues are major & relevant, thus setting the agenda. They
can achieve this by choosing what stories to consider newsworthy and
how much prominence and space they give them.• Key Features• 1. The
role of mass media, particularly news media is to provide filtered
information in order to create a distorted view of reality.• 2. Media focus
on certain issues depicting them as more important than others because
they want the public opinion to perceive them as more important.
31. 31. Dependency Theory Name of Institution• Integral relationship between
audience, media & larger social system• Learning from experiences in real
life is limited• Audience depend largely on media to gather information
they need• Prolonged use of media triggers a dependence
32. 32. Dissonance Theory Name of Institution• When confronted by
new/conflicting information, people experiences a kind of mental
discomfort.• The level of dissonance is decided by 3 factors…• A.
Selective Exposure• B. Selective Perception• C. Selective Retention
33. 33. Name of InstitutionEra of cultural criticism (1960s-1980s)Though most
mass communication researchers in the United States foundlimited-
effects notions and empirical research findings on which they werebased
persuasive, researchers in other parts of the world were less
convinced.Mass society notions continued to flourish in Europe, where
both left-wingand right-wing concerns about the power of media were
deeply rooted inWorld War II experiences with propaganda. Europeans
were also skepticalabout the power of scientific, quantitative social
research methods to verifyand develop social theory (they saw them as
reductionist – reducing complexcommunication processes and social
 phenomena to little more than narrowpropositions generated from small-
scale investigations). This reductionismwas widely viewed as a distinctly
American fetish. Some European academicswere resentful of the influence
enjoyed by American after World War II. Theyargued that American
empiricism was both simplistic and intellectually sterile.Although some
European academics welcomed and championed Americanideas, other
strongly resisted them and argued for maintaining approachesconsidered
less biased or more traditionally European.
34. 34. Name of InstitutionOne group of European social theorists who
vehemently resistedpostwar U.S. influence was the neo-Marxists
(Hall,1982). Theseleft-wing social theorists believe that media enable
dominantsocial elites to maintain their power. Media provide the elite
witha convenient, subtle, yet highly effective means of
promotingworldviews favorable to their interests. Mass media can
beviewed, they argue as a public arena in which cultural battles arefought
and a dominant or hegemonic culture is forged. Elitesdominate these
struggles because they start with importantadvantages. Opposition is
marginalized, and the status quo ispresented as the only logical, rational
way of structuring society.Within neo-Marxist theory, efforts to examine
media institutionsand interpret media content came to have high priority.
35. 35. Name of InstitutionDuring the 1970s, questions about the possibility of
powerful media effectswere again raised within U.S. universities.Initially,
these questions were often advanced by scholars in the humanitieswho
were unrestrained by the limited effects perspective and untrained in
thescientific method. Their arguments were routinely ignored and
marginalizedby social scientists because they were unsupported by
“scientific evidence.”Some of these scholars were attracted to European-
style cultural criticism.Others attempted to create an “authentic”
American school of cultural studies– though they drew heavily on
Canadian scholars like Harold Innis andMarshall McLuhan (Carey,
1977).This cultural criticism, although initially greeted with
considerableskepticism by “mainstream” effects researchers, gradually
established itselfas a credible and valuable alternative to limited-effects
notions.
36. 36. Cultivation Theory Name of Institution• The Cultivation Theory is a
mass communication theory that suggests a shaping - cultivating -
cumulative long-term effect of TV media on the social reality of viewers.
Origin of Cultivation Theory• The Cultivation Theory has been developed
by professor George Gerbner from Annenberg School of Communications
of Philadelphia, US, in 1967-1974. He was conducting research called
“Cultural Indicators Program” about the impact of violence broadcasted in
TV programs on individuals.
37. 37. Cultivation Theory Name of Institution• His early hypothesis aimed to
demonstrate that a massive use of media leads to an increase in
acceptance of violence and in the engagement of cruel behaviors. Gerbner
started considering TV as a new social agent competing with traditional
ones such as family, school, church and peer groups. Analyzing TV
programs, especially fictions, he divided audiences in 3 groups:• Low
Users, those who watch TV less than 2 hours a day.• Normal Users, those
who watch TV from 2 to 6 hours a day.• Heavy Users, those who watch TV
for more than 6 hours a day.