Communication and Society

Communication is the fabric that holds society

together.
Society is people talking, living, working, dying
together.
Society is a consensus among people. Without
consensus there would be no society but anarchy.
To achieve consensus people must be able to
communicate to each other.
The role of communication In society might be
categorized into political, economic and social.
 Political Role
Under political role, communication has the role
of providing information which political
decisions of leaders and the general public are
based.
1. Communication disseminates information.
2. Creates Public Opinion.
3. Reflects Public Opinion.
4. A watchdog on Government .
 Economic Role
Mass Communication in highly developed
countries like the US and Japan boosts
economy through the power of Advertising.
Manufacturers engage in mass production of
goods whether essential, consumer or luxury
and then use the power of mass
communication to sell them to the public.
 Social Role
Mass Communication in developed countries
also helps strengthen the social fabric of the
nation and influence its pattern.
In other words Mass Media contribute to the
dissemination of information and
popularization of practices that all add up to
the cultural heritage of a nation .
 Social Roles
This is inclusive of :

1. Popular Culture
2. Building a Nation
3. Entertaining a Nation
Communication and Development
This role combines the political, economic and
social functions.
Development in the Philippine context can be
described by having to lay the foundation of a
road in the rural areas.
The concretized road literally becomes the
avenue or the catalyst for change in a simple
village or barrio.
 Mass Media Systems
• Authoritarianism
• Libertarianism
• Soviet Communist Theory
• Social Responsibility Theory
 Authoritarianism
Origins of Authoritarianism
1. Doctrine of Divine Right – Monarchs claimed
overall rule.
2. The Authoritarian tradition of the Roman
Church
3. Authoritarian Political Philosophy-Leaders
must keep material interests and selfish
passion of the masses from dominating
society.
 Authoritarian Philosophy
Machiavelli- All else must be subordinated to the
security of the state; and that non-discussion and
dissemination of information are justified by the need
of security.

Hobbes – the individual must strive not for its

betterment but for the state.

Hegel – (Father of modern Communism and Fascism) :

“The State is the ethical spirit ..will..mind..the state
being an end in itself, is provided with the maximum
rights over the individual citizens, whose highest duty is
to be members of the state..”
 Libertarianism
Origins of Libertarianism:
• Developments in Geography and Science.
• The Reformation that challenged the RCC.
• The growth of the mercantile middle class.
• Political revolutions.
• Enlightenment, Intellectual movement.
 Libertarian Philosophy
“The basic idea of the Enlightenment was the
conviction that human understanding is
capable, of its own power and without
recourse to supernatural assistance, of
comprehending the system of the world, and
that this new way of understanding the world
will lead to a new way of mastering it.”

– Cassirer
 Elements of the Libertarian Theory
• The reliance on reason to discriminate
between truth and error (The Laissez Faire of
ideas).
• Opinions must not be silenced for they might
contain the truth.
• Even wrong opinions may have grains of truth.
• Unless a commonly held opinion is challenged
from time to time, it loses its vitality and
effect.
 Essence of Libertarianism
• The task of society is to provide a free market place
of ideas so that men may exercise reason and choice.
• Ideas must have an equal chance and everyone must
have access to channels of communication.
• Media(privately owned) was supported by a variety
of political thrusts, shades and viewpoints. It was
easy to enter publishing because many political
factions were eager to support journals which
reflected their opinions. This later changed when
subsidy was derived from advertising and the cost of
entering publishing became expensive.
Thus the Libertarian theory faced a special
responsibility: to make a market place which is
restricted by capital demands a truly free market
place of ideas and fact.
 Soviet Communist
Communication was an integral part of the
Soviet state. Far from the concept that the
press was a 4th estate, that would watch,
report on and criticize the government, soviet
mass communication became an instrument
of the government. Mass media must not be
used for frivolity. Lenin wrote, the press
should be collective propagandist, collective
agitator and collective organizer.
 Soviet theory
Leninist Insights:
“Freedom is a lie as long as the best printing
works and the largest stocks of paper are in
capitalist hands.
The press must and shall be turned into an
instrument for the economic reeducation of
the masses.”
Lenin
 Communist “media freedom”
• Freedom is for the people and not the media.
• Media should be free from harmful.
information , debasing entertainment,false
teaching –as defined by the leaders of the
people (Party).
• Media must not be used for frivolity.
Western media is scorned as it exists to make
money for their owners (Capitalists) and
advance their political goals, regardless of its
effect on the public.
 Difference between Authoritarian media and
Soviet media
Authoritarian media :
• Privately owned
• Regulated by patents
• Licensing
• Guilds
• Government pressure
 Difference between Authoritarian
media and Soviet media
Soviet Communist media:
• State owned
• Party personnel in key positions
• Directives
• Reviews
• Criticism
• Censorship
 Collapse of the Communist system
• Economic stress and international pressures
led to the downfall of the system.
• Implementation of Glasnost (Openess) and
Perestroika (Reform), the Soviet system
underwent a dramatic change.
• Currently the general trend is towards the
Western Libertarian system—more privately
owned and more press freedom.
 Origins of the Social Responsibility theory
• Immutable Laws which rational man can seek out
and understand has been challenged by
discoveries about evolution, statistical mechanics
and relativity.
• John Locke’s Philosophy of inherent rights has
been challenged which is inclined to doubt the
existence of any right without a corresponding
obligation.
• Laissez-faire economics had been challenged by
interference with the free operation of the
market may help avoid disastrous business
downsides
 Criticisms on the press
One of the basic needs of society in the
Enlightenment era seemed to free the press
from the state so that it would operate as a
check on government and as a vehicle through
which man might discern the truth. However,
more of the present, the tendency has been to
examine the performance of the press and
perhaps lay some requirement upon it that
would be a departure from the spirit of
libertarianism
 Social Responsibility Theory
Criticisms on media freedom :
1. The media have enormous powers for their own ends.
2. Mass media have been subservient to big businesses
and at times let advertisers control editorial policy
and content.
3. Mass media have resisted social change.
4. Mass media gives more attention to to the superficial
and sensational and entertainment lacks substance
5. Mass media have invaded privacy of individuals
without just cause
6. Mass media has endangered public morals
7. Mass media is controlled by only one socio-economic
class, loosely, the business class .
 Social Responsibility
The change in mass communication in the US
has resulted partly in response to such
criticisms. What change in (US) mass
communication amounts to its struggle for
responsible performance.
Known as Social Responsibility Theory and is
defined by various publishers and journalistic
groups, is relative and sometimes nebulous. It
is a solution that would not be widely agreed
upon and enforced, that can ever be reached.
 Social Responsibility Theory
The whole point of Social
Responsibility is that it is defined
by journalists and enforced not at
all. If it were enforced by the
government, then it would be
nothing more than an
authoritarian system in disguise.