January 4, 2021

Mass society theory

What is mass? :
● Mass refers to a large number of anonymous aggregation of people with no direct interaction
and Linkages with each other due to its shier largeness. On the other hand mass society is the
society which shows the symptom of being a large society, it is a modern society, which
developed under the influence of industrial revolution near the industrial areas.
● As TS Eliot notes about the mass media messages “laugh at the same joke at the same time”.
Origin of mass society:
● The 'Massification' of the people through media intensified with the introduction and popularity
of electronic media. Though it first started with the invention of the printing press. In the
beginning of the 19th century, the beginning of industrialization created a mass market through
mass production of industrial goods by efficient foodist conveyor belt style of production. The
society became atomistic from organic.
Characteristics of mass audience:
● Large number of people
● Undifferentiated
● Anonymous
● Heterogeneous
● Susceptible to media messages
● Geographically spread out
● Headless
● Passive
Mass Society
● Mass society is any society of the modern era that possess a mass culture and large scale,
impersonal social institutions. A mass society is a society in which prosperity and bureaucracy
have weakened traditional social tiles.
● Mass society is an ideology that can be seen as a domination by a small number of interconnected
elites who control the conditions of life of the many, often by means of persuasion and
manipulation.
● Mass society was based on the thesis that modernity had severely eroded the social fabric… with
the decline of Intermediary institutions, the argument continued, individuals were deprived of
their social ties and were subjected to manipulation by the state through mass communication and
mass mobilisation.
● Mass society theory has been active in a wide range of media studies, where it tends to produce
ideal visions of what the mass media such as television and cinema are doing to the masses.
Therefore, the mass media are necessary instruments for archiving and maintaining mass
societies. The mass media gives rise to national culture that washes over the traditional
differences that used to set off one region from another. The mass society theorists feared that a
transformation of people of various backgrounds into a generic mass may end up dehumanizing
everyone.
Strength
January 4, 2021

● Mass society theory speculates about important effects.

● It highlights important structural changes and conflicts in modern cultures
● It draws attention to issues of media ownership and ethics.
Weaknesses
● It is unscientific.
● It is unsystematic.
● It is promulgated by elites interested in power.
● It underestimates the intelligence and competence of average people.
● It underestimates personal, societal, and cultural barriers to direct media influence.
Assumptions of mass society theory
● Mass is gullible like in Machiavellian terms.
● The effect of media is instantaneous.
● The effect is 'certain'
● The effect is and can be calculated
● The effect is controlled by the message Disseminator.
● No escape from effect as it cannot be resisted.
● Effect is localized like 'precision bombing' of the messages.
● The Effect can be measured in both positive and negative scales.
Shortcomings of the magic bullet theory
● Disregard of human discretionary mechanisms or filters like selective exposure, selective
perception, selective retention etc. Which are the parts of the process of decision making.
● Overrated believe in the magical and manipulative powers of mass media messages.
● Very primitive and rudimentary theory.
● It does not take into account the other elements of communication like messages or the feedback.