Lecture notes from BA Sociology, module: Culture, Social Media and Society, 2023. I have also included some Reflective journal questions which are 200 words and can be a useful summary. There are diagrams and very detailed notes. Email me at if you run into any problems .
Reading: Media & society: power, platforms, & participation – Nicholas carah
Q1. Why does Carah write that media ‘construct a view of reality’? (p. 43)
● By social construction of reality, we mean that reality as we understand it is produced out
of social relationships between people. There is a real world out there, with real material
things in it and events that actually happen, but we can only come to understand that
world out of the social process of interacting with each other. There is no understanding
of reality outside our social interactions and cultural practices. The ‘re’ prefix in
representation is important. It is a process of re-presenting reality to others.
Q2. What is a sign? What is a text? (p. 45)
● A sign might be a word, an object, a logo, an item of clothing. The sign is the basic
element around which the social process of meaning making unfolds.
Q3. What is a signifier? What is a signified? (p. 45)
● There are two dimensions of a sign: the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the
material form of the sign itself. It is the thing we look at or hear. The signified is what the
signifier is taken to mean or communicate – that is, to signify. A neon-lit sign in a shop
window with the letters O-P-E-N is a signifier; it signifies that the shop is open and
customers are welcome to come in.
Q4. What is the difference between denotative and connotative meanings? (pp. 46-7)
● Denotative relationships are apparently straightforward, literal relationships, while
connotative ones are more open-ended and associative.
,KR
Lecture notes:
Representation changes the things we look at. Media transforms the things that’s being
represented.
Observation changes the thing were going to observe. For example: documentary that looked at
working class on benefits. As they are being observed may act different.
Media representation distorts our understanding. Media representation is a very powerful thing.
Can have massive cultural effect.
Representation is a distortion of the real world.
The real world --> media (T.V.) --> distortion (e.g. stereotype)
Helps us understand the importance of power. Helps us think about the gap between the
representation and the true meaning.
There questions about who are the spokes people and who are doing the editorials what are
their view what are the motives are there any economic drives what are their interests.
There are INTERESTS of work. What if we can't get to some underlying truth. What if the
underlying truth doesn’t exists. What is what we know as the truth is subject to representation.
We are attentive on how our representation is understood.
Awareness that people will make judgements about us. Make sure it represents us in a different
kind of light. For example profile picture. Might want to seem happy smart fun funny. Trying to
project different images.
Making assessments about people characters – intrinsic to social media. We know how
important our pfp is. The representation has an impact on us.
Meaning does not come before representation - they come through.
Semeiotics give us tool on how to understands how representations work. Semeiotics is
important as it impacts how views read representation. The many elements that go into it.
Semiotics is interested in the range of possible meaning out there. Semeiotics has its own
techniques and conventions.
, KR
Take the most ‘instagrammable’ photo you can. Use the language of semiotics to describe
some of the different connotations that are signified in your chosen image. (Use reading list
week.
Reflective journal question: Why is it important for sociologists to understand representation? (200
WORDS)
Why is it important for sociologists to understand representation?
Like a mirror representation changes the original object and displays a copy that is slightly
unidentical.
The reality is that representation is a distortion of the real world and media through countless
approaches, for example, books, magazines, newspapers, television, movies, video games, and
music. Media can cause distortion, and as a result, harmful stereotypes can occur.
Sociologists need to understand representation, as it helps them understand the importance of
power. In actuality, there are gaps between the representation and the true meaning. For example,
the 2014 documentary ‘Benifits Street’ revealed the reality of families that lived off benefits.
Residents were represented as violent and as scrougers, and as a result, there were hundreds of
complaints that they were ‘misrepresented' and ‘tricked’ by Channel 4.
There are interests at work, and what we know as the truth is subject to representation. This brings
about questions on who the spokespeople are and who is doing the editorials, and what are their
views and motives? Along with potential economic drives.
Due to the interests of work, sociologists need to understand representation and not take
representation at face value and be critical to discover the underlying truth.
(193 words).
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