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    Mass Society Theory

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    Kritika Beri
    The Mass Society Theory emerged in the early 20th century and viewed media as having a powerful and often negative influence on society. It assumed that (1) media had direct effects on influencing people's minds, (2) this corruption of people's minds led to social problems, and (3) people were vulnerable because traditional institutions no longer protected them from media manipulation. Critics argued the theory made simplistic assumptions and collapsed by 1965 as research rejected its direct effects claims and found media played a more complex role in cultural change.

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    Mass Society Theory

    Uploaded by

    Kritika Beri
    4K views10 pages
    The Mass Society Theory emerged in the early 20th century and viewed media as having a powerful and often negative influence on society. It assumed that (1) media had direct effects on influencing people's minds, (2) this corruption of people's minds led to social problems, and (3) people were vulnerable because traditional institutions no longer protected them from media manipulation. Critics argued the theory made simplistic assumptions and collapsed by 1965 as research rejected its direct effects claims and found media played a more complex role in cultural change.

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    The Mass Society Theory emerged in the early 20th century and viewed media as having a powerful and often negative influence on society. It assumed that (1) media had direct effects on influencing people's minds, (2) this corruption of people's minds led to social problems, and (3) people were vulnerable because traditional institutions no longer protected them from media manipulation. Critics argued the theory made simplistic assumptions and collapsed by 1965 as research rejected its direct effects claims and found media played a more complex role in cultural change.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    4K views10 pages

    Mass Society Theory

    Uploaded by

    Kritika Beri
    The Mass Society Theory emerged in the early 20th century and viewed media as having a powerful and often negative influence on society. It assumed that (1) media had direct effects on influencing people's minds, (2) this corruption of people's minds led to social problems, and (3) people were vulnerable because traditional institutions no longer protected them from media manipulation. Critics argued the theory made simplistic assumptions and collapsed by 1965 as research rejected its direct effects claims and found media played a more complex role in cultural change.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
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    Mass Society Theory

    Purpose and pattern


    To place communication technology into a

    historical and theoretical perspective Theories assist us as we face challenges of new media Develop understanding through historical method Theories are never completely innovative and are always the product of the era in which they are constructed All social theory is human construction scholarly efforts to make sense of the social world

    Five eras in the Development of Mass Communication Theory


    The Era of Mass Society Theory The Emergence of a Scientific Perspective

    on Mass Communications The Era of Limited Effects The Era of Cultural Criticism The Emergence of Moderate Effects

    Defining Theory
    Theories are stories about how and why

    events occur Turner, 1981 THEORY: Conceptual representation or explanation of a phenomenon

    The Mass Society Theory


    Is an all-encompassing perspective on

    Western, industrial society that attributes an influential but often quite negative role to media. Gives an idea that media has the power to shape our perceptions of the social world and manipulate our reactions and actions in subtle but highly effective ways.

    History and Features


    Wlliam Radolph Hearst (1896) From telegraph to wire services Era of penny press, nickel magazine and

    dime novel Yellow journalism Functional displacement

    Assumptions of the Mass Society Theory


    1. The media are malignant, cancerous

    force within society and must be purged and totally restructured. 2. Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people. (direct effects assumption) 3. Once peoples minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad, long-term consequences result- bringing not only ruin to individual lives but also creating social problems on a vast scale.

    Assumptions of the Mass Society Theory (contd..)


    4. Average people are vulnerable to the

    media because they have been isolated and cut-off from traditional and social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation. 5.The social chaos initiated by the media will inevitably be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order. 6. Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline in civilization.

    Bernard Berelson The great debate on cultural democracy


    Participants of this debate Practicus : Media Industry Academicus: Mass Society Theorists Empiricus: Mass communication

    researchers who used social science methods

    Fall of the mass society theory


    Collapse began by 1965 Inherent flaws became more obvious Simplistic assumptions and criticisms

    rejected. Media do not subvert culture, but play a major and sometimes counterproductive role in cultural change. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (Ferdinand Tonnies) Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity ((Emile Durkheim)

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