Unit II, Lesson 6

The Mass Media and Society

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

♦ Explain the pervasive influence of mass media on society especially young

people

♦ Analyze the dynamic relationship between mass media and other social
Institutions

♦ Discuss the transformation of mass media in the age of globalization and the
Internet

♦ Assess the ways in which the “new media” shape identity, intimacy, and
self-concept

♦ Explain how the new media create “digital divide” while promoting
cyberdemocracy
VIOLENCE, CONSUMERISM AND MASS MEDIA
McGuire (1986) noted several of the most commonly mentioned
intended media effects:

(a) the effects of advertising on purchasing;

(b) the effects of political campaigns on voting;

(c) the effects of public service announcements (PSAs) on

personal behavior and social improvement;

(d) the effects of propaganda on ideology; and

(e) the effects of media ritual on social control.

Recent reviews of the media violence research have concluded that
there are three primary effects of viewing violent television
programming on children.

First, ample evidence supports the contention that children can and
do learn aggressive behaviors and attitudes from viewing violence on
television. Heavy viewers of television violence are more likely to see
violence as a reasonable means for settling disputes, for example.

Second, those who view relatively high levels of televised violence

develop an increased and exaggerated fear of becoming a victim of
violence.

Finally, viewers of television violence have shown a tendency to

become desensitized to violence.
 MASS MEDIA AND YOUTH CULTURE
In the review of literature done by
Lanuza (2003), regarding the
mediatisation of Filipino youth, he
observes that “mass media exhibits
ambivalent character in relation to
the formation of youth culture.” So,
“While it carries modernizing
currents, yet at the same time, it
also promotes traditional Filipino
values. Hence studies on youth
and values promoted by television
would show the propagation of
traditional Filipino values such as
respect for elders, family solidarity,
and reverence for authorities.”
In the same review of Lanuza, it is
shown that young Filipinos prefer
to go to malls than in parks and
museums. The situation may
even be worse today. For youth
today are fond of going to
shopping malls rather than
hanging in historic places and
public parks. Moreover many
young Filipinos prefer to play on-
line games than engage in
traditional physical sports and
games.
MASS MEDIA AND GENDER STEREOTYPES

Stereotypes are images that can

be adopted about specific types of
individuals, groups or certain ways of doing
things.
Prejudices are prejudgments, or
opinions that people have before knowing
the full circumstances about a person or an
event.

In social sciences, prejudice is often used to refer to negative or

unfavourable judgments toward people or a person because of
social class, gender, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race and
ethnicity, nationality or other personal characteristics
Studies would also show that constant
exposure to sexually explicit materials
tends to affect family values.
Compared to the control group, the
exposure group reported more
tolerance for pre- and extra-marital
sexual activity, less endorsement of
marriage as an institution, were
reported to want fewer children, and
were more likely to believe that there
were health risks in sexual repression.
MASS MEDIA AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
Media as a Tool for Propaganda
Authoritarian states usually use the
mass media for its project of nation-
building. Hence it constantly watches
over oppositions and protests in
alternative platforms of mass media.
Mass media can also be used to
strengthen national interests.

The media act as an agent of stability,

charged with the task of helping preserve
social and political order. This function is
commonly associated with the term
‘development journalism’.
MASS MEDIA AND THE “SOCIETY OF
SPECTACLE”

In an age of “society as spectacle, a

term coined by Guy Debord (1931–
1994), a French artist and social critic,
spectacle or media images dominate
politics in modern societies.

The media are complicit in the

generation of spectacle politics,
redefining politics as battle for image,
display, and story in the forms of
entertainment and drama.
MEDIATISATION OF SOCIAL LIFE

Mediatisation refers to the pervasive

effects of mass media on how people see and
interpret social events. It is not an exaggeration to
say that mass media influences people more than
their genes. The reason being that mass media
permeates and mediates all forms of social life, not
just politics.
The mass media, through the influence of large advertising
companies, generate images called “spectacle” by the
French sociologist, Guy Debord. These images or
“spectacles” in turn form a life of their own that pre-defines
and determines the way people look at the world and
interact with other people.
By buying one product over and against another product, a
consumer is voting for that spectacle or commodity. Hence
many sociologists today believe that we live in a
“society of brands and logos” (Klein). One
French sociologist, Jean Baudrillard even argued, quite
extremely, that today, with the proliferation of mass media
images, people cannot distinguish anymore between the
real and the copy of the real or the simulacrum.
THE RISE OF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
The new age of internet-based mass media
ushers in the so-called “information
society” or “knowledge society”.
Unlike in the traditional or modern societies,
the people in “information societies” rely
more and more on the use and access to
information rather than on machines and
human labor.

Globalization, a term
popularized by Roland Robertson, or the
process whereby global commodities and
media images are transformed to meet
local cultures.
CYBERDEMOCRACY AND
GLOBALIZATION OF MEDIA

The promise of the Internet is that it will give a

voice back to the people, one that has been
taken away by private media and
entertainment. True enough, the internet has
broadened the democratic spaces for people
to engage in politics. The famous Philippine
people Power II that toppled and ousted Pres.
Ejercito Estrada was initiated by text
message.