Research traditionsWk 2: Introduction to Mass CommunicationsRegent’s College, London

Dr Zoetanya SujonEmail: sujonz@regents.ac.ukOffice hours: Wednesdays 12:00 – 13:00, DB12

Overview Making sense of media use

What can we learn from media deprivation exercise?

Research traditions and key paradigms Dominant paradigms Critical paradigms

Power, pleasure and pattern (Meyrowitz 2008)

Qualitative and quantitative research

Conclusion Homework

Media deprivation This week’s required reading: McQuail, chapter 3

Media deprivation exercise Class discussion:

Share with the class a summary of your experience (100 words or less)

Note any common or distinct experiences. Does this exercise help make sense of the media

landscape? How?

Blackboard and course blog http://sujonz.wordpress.com/ http://sujonz.wordpress.com/wp-admin

Approaching media research Research traditions are contingent and

fragmented, based on: Discipline Focus Politics and perspective Methods

Research “paradigms” and “narratives” McQuail = dominant and critical paradigms Meyrowitz = power, pleasure and pattern

Livingstone, media theories and concepts (2008)

Dominant paradigm Mass culture, mass media, dominant

ideologies Undifferentiated audiences / views Strong media effects and reinforcement

of existing political order Functionalist and behavioural frame Focus on linear media effects Mostly quantitative research methods

SOURCE MESSAGE TRANSMISSION RECEPTION

Critical paradigms Problematize linear or transmission model Critical view of power View meaning as “constructed” and

contextual Focus on interpretative Media as “meaning-giving” and making

(McQuail 2010: 69) Draw from qualitative research methods Based in “Frankfurt school”

Research traditionsWk 2.1: Introduction to Mass CommunicationsRegent’s College, London

Dr Zoetanya SujonEmail: sujonz@regents.ac.ukOffice hours: Wednesdays 12:00 – 13:00, DB12

Overview Last class

Media deprivation exercise Media research history

Dominant and critical paradigms (McQuail)

This class Media profiles Critical paradigm background (Frankfurt

school) Purpose and politics

Research “narratives” (Meyrowitz) Power, pleasure and patterns

Homework II: Media profiles Keep track of your daily media use:

What do you watch / read / surf / listen to When do you use media Make note of your surroundings and reflect

upon the role of media in your daily life. Keep point form notes

In groups, find similarities and differences in your media use.

What does your group’s media profile say about your media landscape?

Media profiles in US and UK UK (Ofcom Communication Market

2010) http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/

research/cmr/753567/UK-context.pdf Figure 1.21, pg. 26 (36)

Pew Research Centre, ‘Generations 2010’ http://pewinternet.org/Infographics/2010/

Generations-2010-Summary.aspx

The Frankfurt School Critical social theory = on mass culture and

communication in social reproduction and domination. Late 1920s and early 1930s Based on Marxist theory of capitalism,

inequality and class struggle German and American theorists working at

the Institut fur Sozialforschung in Frankfurt, Germany E.g. Max Horkheimer, T.W. Adorno, Herbert

Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal, and Erich Fromm Analyzes the processes:

of cultural production and political economy the politics of cultural texts, audience reception and use of cultural artifacts

(Kellner 1989 and 1995).

Theory trading cards, by David Guantlett at http://www.theorycards.org.uk/main.htm

Purpose and politics Applied or “administrative” research:

Often “carried out in the service of some kind of administrative agency of public or private character”

Historically follows “dominant paradigm in media research

Predominantly questions of what, where and how much

Critical research: Often involves that “the general role of our media

of communication in the present social system should be studied” (Lazarsfeld, 1941)

Also includes questions of why and how

Multi-disciplinary Cross cutting and intersectional issues and/or

concerns: Cultural (e.g. globalization, content, flow, cultural

life, expression, values, identity) Social (e.g. mediation of social experience, links to

deviance, social dis/order, inequality, hegemony, power, dominance)

Political (e.g. government, state, national, elections, campaigns, citizens, democracy, war, terrorism, foreign policy, influence, power, resistance)

Economic (e.g. degree of concentration, commercialization, dependency, wealth, power, inequality, elite)

Psychological (e.g. behaviors, perception, uses and gratifications, values, ideals)

(McQuail 2010: 9-10)

Power and resistance narratives Critical and cultural studies Media viewed as sites of struggle

Social, economic, symbolic and political resources

Involves raising questions of power Ideology, hegemony, ruling ideas

Conflict = basic feature of human relations = inequalities

Critical tradition (e.g. political economy, critical news and/or journalism studies, cultural studies, audience, reception studies, everyday life)

Purpose and pleasure narratives Based on “uses and gratification” theory Focuses on individuals People regarded as “rational agents” Media = tools for meeting individual and

collective needs and desires Audiences are active choosers Media systems aim to please audiences

Emerged in 1970s and draws from Motivational and behavioural psychology (e.g.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) Focuses on functions and dysfunctions of

media

Structures and patterns narrative Based on medium theory and media

ecology People are environmentally and

contextually situated “Fosters some interactional possibilities

and discourages others” (Meyrowitz 2008: 642).

Media are material and technological extensions = alter some human senses

Communication systems are part of material and symbolic environments Oral culture different from print culture

Conclusion: Applying research traditions Tensions between:

Structure and agency Power and process Functions and forms Disciplinary boundaries and multi-

disciplinarity Research traditions:

Paradigms: Dominant vs. critical Narratives: power, pleasure, patterns Purpose and politics

Research approaches are contingent

Where do you stand and what do you think?

Assignment 1: Media diary Due: Monday February 7th

Word length: 500 words Worth: 10% of final grade

Focus on your relationship with ONE kind of media. For example, you might focus on content like a TV programme or a film; or choose to focus on a media technology like your mobile phone or computer. Discuss your daily routine with this kind of media and what this means for you.

You must use two academic sources and make at least two citations in your assignment.

References Online sources

Books and book chapters

Journal articles

http://libguides.library.uwa.edu.au/content.php?pid=43218&sid=381001#1145857