brief history of media studies
DESCRIPTION
Matthew Giobbi presents a brief overview of media studies history.TRANSCRIPT
Media StudiesTimeline
Dr. Matthew Giobbi
OVERVIEW
• 1940s: Functionalism• 1960s: Effects Studies
• Cultivation Theory• 1960s: Marxist & Psychoanalytic
Critical Theory• 1970s: Uses & Gratifications
Theory• 1970s: Media Ecology
1940s:Functionalist
Approach • Paul Lazarsfeld & Bureau of Applied Social
Research BASR at Columbia University.• Mass Media:
1. Increases status for selected issues & organizations.
2. Increases the idea of “normal” by spectacle of the oddity.
3. Decreases public action while increasing consumption.
4. Propagates social issues by Monopolization, Canalization, & Supplementation.
Functionalist Approach
• Lazarsfeld’s famous study The Peoples Choice (1944).
• Does the media influence the American voter?
• Observed a sample for 6 months & found that media reinforced a preexisting political view in 95% of subjects.
• Only 5% of subjects were “converted” by media messages.
1960s: Media Effects Approach
• “Mass” replaced by social groups.• Two step flow model: Audience
leaders & audience followers.• Audience is capable of accepting
or rejecting media messages.• Mass media reinforced existing
public opinion through leaders & opinion formers.
1960s: Media Effects
• Effects of violent media• Mass media lowered cultural
standards• Frist TV study in UK: Himmelweit
looked at 1,854 UK viewers & nonviewers of TV.
• TV influenced only in areas where no previous position was formed & was most effective when dramatic.
1960s: Cultivation Theory
• George Gerbner began Cultural Indicators research within Media Effects studies.
• TV has long-term effects which are small & gradually accumulate into significance.
• Gerbner analyzed 450 NJ school children. Heavy TV viewers saw the world as a more dangerous place.
1970s: Uses & Gratifications
Theory• Elihu Katz advocated a more active
role by the audience. NEEDS OF PERSON ARE FULFILLED BY MEDIA.
• The viewer uses the media in a self-confirmatory way.
• Media is used for: diversion, personal relationship, identity, surveillance (information) (Denis McQuail).
1960s:Critical Theory
• Frankfurt School (1923) Institute for Social Research.
• Psychoanalysis & Marxism• The Culture Industry• People “dumbed down” by mass
media so that elite can control “democracy”.
1960s: Marshall McLuhan
• “The medium is the message.”• The medium shapes the mind.• Oral, Print, Sound, electronic…• Global village: technologies will
converge bringing people closer together.
1960s: Semiology, Structuralism, & Deconstruction
• Ferdinand de Saussure• C.S. Peirce• Roland Barthes• Michel Foucault• Jacques Derrida• Jean Baudrillard
1970s: Media Ecology
• Neil Postman