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The media are related in some way or another to the existing social
and political power.
Figure 4.4 Four images of the consequences of mass communication for social integration
One of the important questions about social change and the role of
mass media is: are the media typically progressive or reactionary in
their working?
As an answer to this question it can be maintained that the story of the
rise of the media that we have discussed before, tends to show media
as a generally progressive force especially because of the link
For example, in the early 20th century, as in Nazi Germany and Soviet
Russia, the media were used as a tool of change.
Main themes for Media Theory IV: Space and Time
They have always underlined the fact that ultimately mass media are
instruments of control used by a ruling class.
For Marxism, “the class that has the means of material production has
control at the same time over the means of mental production.”
So the ideas of those who do not have the means of mental production
are shaped by those who have means of mental production.
All of them have a key role in persuading people that the capitalist
system is inevitable and unchangeable.
On the whole, the message of Marxist theory is simple, but there are
some questions to be answered. For example, how might the power of
the media be countered or resisted?
3. There has been a decline in the public sector of mass media and in
direct public control of telecommunication especially in Western
Europe, under the banner of “deregulation,” “privatization,” or
“liberalization.”
Diversity decreases
Opposition and alternative voices are marginalized
Public interest in communication is subordinated to private
interests.
Media-Society Theory VI: Technology Determinism
There is a long and still active tradition of searching for links between
the dominant telecommunication technology and key features of
society.
For example, van Dijk and Castells choose to use the term “network
society” instead of “information society.”