Media and Communication Theory
.
Week 1: introduction to media and communication theory
notes. A theory is a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular
aspect of life (Babbie, 2017). Theories help us understand society.
Why do we need media and communication theories? There are many popular assumptions
about the effects of media, often exaggerated. Lots of cause and effect claims, with little data
to back up such a strong connection. Media have become a significant social institution: a
dominant social institution in our society, even. Besides this, media is a powerful socializing
agent (especially mass media is something we learn from every day).
Where do media and communication theories come from?
>Primarily from media studies. It’s within the larger field of communication, which is a broad
term.
>What separates media studies is its inspirations. Media draws on sociology, cultural
studies, psychology, philosophy, etc. Evidence, data, theory – but also more intangible
things, experiential things that aren’t necessarily replicable, more like psychology studies.
There are three major aspects: Industries, audiences and content (genre, narrative, status).
Most scholars focus on two of the three.
An important influence is sociology, from micro to macro. This course applies a sociological
perspective, which looks like this:
> A focus on social relationships:
- between media and other institutions
- within the media industry
- and between media and public/audience
“Socially constructed.”
A model to explain media/social world connection here (Croteau & Hoynes, 2019).
Without audiences, what is media content? Media exists in the social world, is informed by
interpersonal relationships. Media is fundamentally social; it’s a form of communication.
Outdated models of media communication: sender/message/receiver are adressed without
concern for social context. As seen in the model, all arrows are double headed, it’s two way
streets. We can’t just learn about media by itself, but we need to learn about norms and
regulations.
Socialization is the process whereby we learn and internalize the values, beliefs and norms
of our culture and, in so doing, develop a sense of self.
,Almost everything is a learned behavior – think of wearing clothes.
This occurs in culturally specific ways. So we learn and internalize the beliefs and norms of
the cultures we are surrounded by.
Gender socialization is a useful example – implicitly or explicitly, you’re expected to adhere
to and internalize gender roles via toys. Yet, as a social process, it’s not natural or inevitabl,
it’s a part of the social construction of reality.
Social construction of relation is the process of shaping reality through social interaction.
While reality exists, we must negotiate the meaning of that reality. Individuals and collectives
negotiate the meaning of their perceived reality. People and groups interacting over time
create a social system that then shapes individuals. People create a social system that
confronts other individuals.
For most of us in the West, the norms of gender socialization confront us as something that
exists outside of us, we have little input and it exists before you and without your input.
Production of Social Reality
1. People create society
2. Over time, these creations come to seem objectively real (“We’ve always done it this way”
- the weight of the social, over time)
3. These norms and values appear objective and so people continue to internalize them (tho
of course people are never 100% beholden to the social/cultural norms of their society)
Response to social reality:
structure and agency
Media industry example. Streaming service exec: how do you choose what to make? Focus
on current audience or new audience, profit, artistry? Executives are not fully autonomous,
because the bottom line is to make money.
Agency (independent action) – What choices are based purely on autonomous decisions,
actions and creativity? Unintentional and undetermined human action
Structure (constraints) –
Human agency: personal style, preferences, creative decisions
Structural constraints: economic considerations, genres, routines, television history
There’s tension between structure and agency + structure is in part shaped by agency + one
may be more shaping than the other
Example of this tension is commerce (structural constraint) vs creativity (human agency).
Media history.
,News media and entertainment media are primary – similar, maybe, but scholars address
them quite separately because they play (mostly) different social roles.
The development of media is, in part, technological development. As dissemination of news
media and literacy rates increase, so do democratic nation states (historically).
The powerpoint slide contains a brief summary of the history of media, from 100-1600.
Mass communication and mass media are a) large-scale, with b) a one-way flow of content,
thus c) known senders (writers/) and anonymous audiences.
Devices now are media-agnostic; the barriers between radio/film/etc are looser than ever.
What value do we add by approaching a particular form of media from one perspective over
another?
TUTORIAL---------------------------------------
1. Mostly social media and streaming (online media)
2. Streaming/music.
3. Music: 4 hours a day. Streaming: 2 hours.
4. Learning skills and languages and reading.
5. Representation, data collection, manufacturing consent/inventing reality
5 minute presentations every week: 1) explain the topic 2) apply it to a case. avoid cases
from the book. 1 slide.
Week 2: media technologies
notes. prep chapter 2. it's about media technologies.
How can we understand the rs between tech developments and social change?
- Media technologies r both influenced by and shape life
- Technologies are socially constructed by cultural norms, regulations and economic
forces
Today:
- Popular discourses & Medium Theory
Popular discourse (newspaper, opinion) versus academic discourse (research, theory).
Important differentiation.
Traditional media (pre-digital): one to many communication, known senders and anonymous
receivers, producers and receivers very different, one-way communication
‘New’ media: one to many and many to many communication, known senders and receivers
, but anonymity still possible, distinction between producer/receiver blurred, interactivity in
communication
To talk about new media, there needs to be a backwards comparison point.
Popular media discourse is, like, robots taking jobs and taking care of the elderly,
bitcoin/crypto/NFTs. Emphasizes dramatic change. Speculation utopic/dystopic. If it isn’t
shocking or dramatic, why would we write an article about it?
Moral panic?
Technological determinism (determines social change)
- An approach that identifies technology, or technological developments as the central
causal element in processes of social change. This can be positive or negative.
- Overstates structure and neglects agency (individuals are helpless to resist)
Think of the metaverse, NFTs. Inevitable change; this technology exists, therefore it will
produce some kind of change.
Medium Theory
> The body of literature that focuses on the technological aspects of media beyond their
content.
- part of technological determinism, medium theories differ in the degree to which they
welcome other (causal) factors
“There is something about the nature of a specific medium that shapes social life, produces
a set of social outcomes.” Scholars are usually less deterministic.
Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980 >Medium Theory >Global village
- Canadian scholar (Toronto school of media theory)
- Fundamentally optimistic, force for social good
- “The medium is the message”
- Media influences the way in which individuals perceive the world, primarily the form
- Print media: intensifies the visual
- Electronic media like television: reconnects the senses fragmented by radio, print, photos
- Important historically but anchored in his era
- Critical approaches to media technology
Daniel Boorstin coined the term pseudo-events: events planned for the express purpose of
producing (dramatic) images that can be disseminated or reported. Any “photo-op”. It exists
to be seen.
> Planned, choreographed
> Formatted to accommodate the media
> Celebrity, well-known for being well-known
