Cultural change – understanding the role of the media

Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory

The video below explains Reception theory.

https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/reception-theory

Reception theory as developed by Stuart Hall (1973) asserts that media texts are encoded and decoded. The
producer encodes messages and values into their media which are then decoded by the audience. However,
different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not in the way the producer
intended.

Stuart Hall states that audience members adopt one of the following three positions when they decode the text:

Dominant, or Preferred Reading - how the producer wants the audience to view the media text. Audience members
will take this position if the messages are clear and if the audience member is the same age and culture; if it has an
easy to follow narrative and if it deals with themes that are relevant to the audience.

Oppositional Reading - when the audience rejects the preferred reading, and creates their own meaning for the
text. This can happen if the media contains controversial themes that the audience member disagrees with. It can
also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society.
Oppositional reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or is of a different age or a different
culture.

Negotiated Reading - a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts
parts of the producer's views, but has their own views on parts as well. This can occur if there is a combination of
some of the above e.g. audience member likes the media, is of the same age as you and understands some of the
messages, but the narrative is complex and this inhibits full understanding.

Many factors could affect whether the audience take the dominant, oppositional or negotiated reading.

 Age

 Beliefs

 Culture

 Gender

 Life experience

 Mood at the time of viewing

Hall, a British subject born in Jamaica, investigated cultural identity as well as race and ethnicity in the postcolonial
world. For Hall culture isn’t singular; there are many cultures present in a postindustrial society. These cultures
compete for hegemony or power. Generally speaking, cultures associated with the economic or political elite will be
more powerful, as they control the culture producing organizations, yet even they are in competition and must
create an alliance in order to have hegemonic effects. Hegemonic culture is generally accepted by the masses
because it co-opts certain elements of their cultures and thus appears as if it embraces all; the masses also tend to
accept the hegemonic culture because they must work and live in and through organizations that are controlled by
elite. The masses thus must buy into the elite culture to some degree in order to survive. If left unchallenged,
hegemonic culture functions as ideology and oppression is taken for granted and seen as normal. Cultural change
comes through challenging these taken for granted assumptions and negotiating cultural relationships
through media production.
Marshal McLuhan’s philosophy of the media

McLuhan, Canadian media theorist, is best known for coining well-known and commonly used expressions and
terms: "the medium is the message"1964 (a communication medium itself, not the messages it carries, should
be the primary focus of study), “global village” (the phenomenon of the entire world becoming more interconnected
as the result of the propagation of modern media technologies) and “surfing” (to refer to rapid, irregular, and
multidirectional movement through a heterogeneous body of documents or knowledge). McLuhan also predicted
the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented. In the early 1960s, McLuhan observed that the visual,
individualistic print culture would soon be brought to an end by what he called "electronic interdependence:"
when electronic media replaces visual culture with aural/oral culture. In this new age, humankind will move from
individualism and fragmentation to a collective identity, with a "tribal base" (modern tribes are essentially formed by
groups of consumers who share a common interest/passion which induces a collective sense of belonging).
McLuhan heavily influenced cultural critics, thinkers, and media theorists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXf0F4GYzWQ&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtM6jSpzb5gMNsx9kdmqBfmY&index=3
(What philosophers and theologians thought about media (not called media then) and how media is related to
important historical events (reformation, independence of American colonies), spreading rumours, etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUjvNtgWAs (history of the media till modern times, cultural and moral
protectionism (against growing popularity of black music, jazz or rap), different types of literacy)

Sociologists refer to contemporary culture as a mediated culture (in Polish: kultura zapośredniczona), CMC
(ang. computer mediated culture/communication,  face-to(via monitor)-face), where culture is shaped by mass media
and is at the same time reflected by mass media. The computer screen has become the primary way in
which mediated culture is experienced in technologically advanced countries. It is thus apparent that media cannot
escape cultural influence but it also exerts influence over culture (e.g. it spreads cultural content in the world).

Does media mirror or shape culture

1.Media mirrors/reflects culture

The mass media is shaped and influenced by social groups and institutions. This is the nature of the mass media
dynamic. Individuals and groups in society influence what mass media organizations produce through their creativity
on the input side and their consumption habits on the output side. It is not accurate to say that society exists within
the mass media or under mass media “control.” Social structures are too powerful for mass media to completely
govern how they operate. But neither is it accurate to say that the mass media are contained within societies.
Culture provides media with sources for content. Many mass media products transcend social structures to influence
multiple societies.

1.Media shapes/creates culture

Mass communication influences both society and culture. Different forms of communication, including messages in
the mass media, give shape and structure to society. Additionally, mass media outlets can spread cultural knowledge
and artistic works around the globe. People exercise cultural preferences when it comes to consuming media, but
mass media corporations often choose which stories to tell and which to promote, particularly when it comes to
forms of mass media that are costly to produce such as major motion pictures, major video game releases and global
news products.
In short, the mass media, culture and society are bound together and shape one another. Mass media has a direct
effect on modern culture. This is especially true in the United States where the majority of mass media originates.
The moods and attitudes of our society are influenced by messages delivered through mass media channels. Mass
media and advertising affect our actions, thoughts, and values. We are at the point where mass media creates and
reflects our culture.

Media saturated society

Communities and individuals are bombarded constantly with messages from a multitude of sources including TV,
billboards, and magazines, to name a few. These messages promote not only products, but moods, attitudes, and a
sense of what is and is not important, e.g. mass media makes it possible for the concept of celebrity to come into
being. Without social media, movies, magazines, and news people could not become famous. In fact, only political
and business leaders, as well as the few notorious outlaws, were famous in the past. Only in recent times have
actors, singers, influencers or utubers become celebrities or “stars.”

The current level of media saturation has not always existed. As recently as the 1960s and 1970s, television, for
example, consisted of primarily three networks, public broadcasting, and a few local independent stations. These
channels aimed their programming primarily at two‐parent, middle‐class families. Even so, some middle‐class
households did not even own a television. Today, one can find a television in the poorest of homes, and multiple TVs
in most middle‐class homes. Not only has availability increased, but programming is increasingly diverse with shows
aimed to please all ages, incomes, backgrounds, and attitudes. The Internet has increased its role exponentially as
more businesses and households “sign on.” Although TV and the Internet have dominated the mass media, movies
and magazines—particularly those lining the aisles at grocery checkout stands—also play a powerful role in culture,
as do other forms of media.

In order to better understand the complexity of media – culture interaction, everybody should make themselves
acquainted with a few sociological viewpoints.

There are three main sociological perspectives on the role of media: the limited‐effects theory, the class‐
dominant theory, and the culturalist theory.

The limited‐effects theory argues that because people generally choose what to watch or read based on what they
already believe, media exerts a negligible influence. This theory originated and was tested in the 1940s and 1950s.
Studies that examined the ability of media to influence voting found that well‐informed people relied more on
personal experience, prior knowledge, and their own reasoning. However, media “experts” more likely swayed those
who were less informed. Critics point to two problems with this perspective. First, they claim that limited‐effects
theory ignores the media's role in framing and limiting the discussion and debate of issues. How media frames the
debate and what questions members of the media ask change the outcome of the discussion and the possible
conclusions people may draw (e.g. which topics are presented in the news). Second, this theory came into existence
when the availability and dominance of media was far less widespread.

The class-dominant (conflict) theory, based on Karl Marx’ philosophy, claims that due to society's never-ending
competition for finite resources, it will always be in a state of conflict. The class‐dominant theory argues that the
media reflects and projects the view of a minority elite, which controls it. Media is controlled by corporations, and
the content – especially news content – is dictated by the individuals who own these corporations. Advocates of this
view concern themselves particularly with massive corporate mergers of media organizations, which limit
competition and put big business at the reins of media—especially news media. Their concern is that when
ownership is restricted, a few people have the ability to manipulate what people can see or hear. For example,
television networks receiving millions of dollars in advertising from textile manufacturers are slow to run stories on
their news shows about possible human‐rights violations by these companies in foreign countries.

Critics of this theory counter these arguments by saying that local control of news media largely lies beyond the
reach of large corporate offices elsewhere, and that the quality of news depends upon good journalists. They
contend that those less powerful and not in control of media have often received full media coverage and
subsequent support. As examples they name numerous environmental causes or the anti‐nuclear movement.

The culturalist theory, developed in the 1980s and 1990s, combines the other two theories and claims that people
interact with media and draw conclusions to create their own meanings out of the images and messages they
receive. This theory sees audiences as playing an active rather than passive role in relation to mass media. One
strand of research focuses on the audiences and how they interact with media; the other focuses on those who
produce the media, particularly the news.

Theorists emphasize that audiences choose what to watch among a wide range of options, choose how much to
watch, and may choose the mute button or the VCR remote over the programming selected by the network or cable
station. Sociologists and linguists find that when people approach material, whether written text or media images
and messages, they interpret that material based on their own knowledge and experience. Thus, when researchers
ask different groups to explain the meaning of a particular song or video, the groups produce widely divergent
interpretations based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, and religious background. Therefore, culturalist theorists claim
that, while a few elite in large corporations may exert significant control over what information media produces and
distributes, personal perspective plays a more powerful role in how the audience members interpret those
messages. A similar situation can be witnessed in class: although all the students read the same text and study the
same content, each student produces a different view based on experiences outside of the classroom.

(Hall looked at the mass media by combining a Marxist and a culturalist perspective)