SOC101YSOC101Y

Introduction to SociologyIntroduction to SociologyProfessor Robert BrymProfessor Robert Brym

Lecture #7Lecture #7The Mass MediaThe Mass Media

2 Nov 112 Nov 11

Percent Watching TV 15+ Percent Watching TV 15+ Hours per Week, Canada, 2007Hours per Week, Canada, 2007Hours

20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+ Age

TV viewing falls with wealth and education• < 30% of population 15+hrs: PEI, ON, SK, AL, BC• 30-35% of population 15+ hrs: NL, NS, NB, QC, MB• >35% of population 15+ hrs: YT, NT, NU

TV viewing rises with age

TV viewing varies by sex• 29.5% percent of men watch TV 15+ hrs/wk• 28.9% of women watch TV 15+ hrs/wk

Media Usage, USA, 2005 Media Usage, USA, 2005 (hours per capita, projected)(hours per capita, projected)

Note: Time spent at live performances is only 0.3% of the total and is therefore not represented in the graph.

Number of hours in a year: 8,760.

Number of hours in 365 eight-hour nights: 2,920 (33% of the total number of hours in a year).

Number of hours per year the average American uses the mass media: 3,649 (42% of the total number of hours in a year; 63% of waking hours assuming eight hours of sleep per day).

Increase since 1996 in number of hours per year the average American uses the mass media: 11%.

The mass media refer to print, radio, television, and other communication technologies. “Mass” implies that the media reach many people. “Media” signifies that communication does not take place directly through face-to-face interaction. Instead, technology intervenes or mediates in transmitting messages from senders to receivers. Furthermore, communication via the mass media is usually one-way, or at least one-sided. There are few senders (or producers) and many receivers (or audience members).

Facebook Default Privacy Settings, 2005 and 2010

Entire Internet

All Facebook users

Friends of friends

Friends

You

1450 Printing press (Gutenberg)1702 First daily newspaper (London Daily Courant)1833 First mass circulation newspaper (New York Sun)1837 Photography (Daguerre)1840 Telegraphy (Morse)1875 Telephone (Bell)1895 Movies (Lumiére)1906 Radio (Marconi, Tesla)1941 Commercial TV1948 Long playing records1952 VCR1961 Cable TV1969 ARPANET (US Dep’t of Defense)1975 Microcomputer (Apple)1983 Cell phone1989 World Wide Web (Berners-Lee)

Number of Internet Users Number of Internet Users Worldwide, 1996-2010Worldwide, 1996-2010

199640 million 2000

361 million

20101.97 billion

Internet Use by World Region, June 2007

69

54

40

20

12

10

4

18

0 20 40 60 80

US/Canada

Australia etc

Europe

Latin AmericaAsia

Middle East

Africa

World

Penetration (in percent)Users (in percent)

Why the Mass Media GrewWhy the Mass Media Grew

The Protestant Reformation promoted literacy.

Democratic movements promoted mass involvement.

Capitalist industrialization promoted the search for profit.

Theories of Media EffectsTheories of Media Effects

Functionalist (coordination, socialization, social control, entertainment)

Conflict (legitimation of injustice and inequality, source of profit)

Symbolic interactionist (audience interpretation)

Feminist (under- and misrepresentation of women and other minorities)

Canada’s Media Giants, 2007Canada’s Media Giants, 2007

1.1. CTVGlobeMedia CTVGlobeMedia (BCE and Thomson, Toronto, $4.3b/yr; CTV, Globe and Mail, TSN, major urban radio stations)

2.2. RogersRogers (Rogers, Toronto, $3.9b/yr; cable TV, ISP, 29 radio stations, 62 magazines, Sportsnet, Blue Jays)

3.3. CanWest GlobalCanWest Global (Asper, Winnipeg, $2.9b/yr; Global TV, National Post ,10 major urban dailies)

4.4. ShawShaw (Shaw, Calgary, $2.8b/yr; Cable TV, ISP, 49 radio stations, etc.)

5.5. CBCCBC (public, Toronto, $1.6b/yr; CBC-TV, Radio-Canada)

6.6. QuebecorQuebecor (Péladeau, Montreal, $1.0b/yr; Sun newspapers, major Quebec newspapers, cable TV, etc.)

Global Media Giants, 2007 Global Media Giants, 2007 (rank and annual revenue)(rank and annual revenue)

Rank and nameRank and name US $bUS $b

1.AOL Time Warner (U.S.)46.5

2.Disney (U.S.)35.5

3.Comcast (U.S.) 30.94.Vivendi Universal (France) 29.65.News Corp. (U.S./Australia) 28.76.Bertelsmann (Germany) 25.7

Political Murder Political Murder in the in the New York TimesNew York Times

MurdersMurders ArticleArticless

ColumColumn n

inchesinches

Page 1 Page 1 articlearticle

ss

EditorialEditorialss

1 anticommunist priest, Poland, 1984

78 1183 10 3

72 leftist priests and nuns, Latin America, 1964-78

8 117 1 0

23 leftist priests and nuns, Guatemala, 1980-85

7 66.5 0 0

The Relationship Between Centrality The Relationship Between Centrality of Values and Diversity of Media of Values and Diversity of Media

OpinionOpinion

Values

Div

ers

ity o

f me

dia

op

inio

n

Low

High

e.g., capitalism,democracy,consumerism

e.g., specificgovernmentand corporatepolicies

Audience Reaction to Audience Reaction to Pro-Choice TV DramasPro-Choice TV Dramas

Pro-life women from all social classes think abortion is never justified and reject the mass media’s justifications for abortion.

Pro-choice working-class women who think of themselves as members of the working class adopt a pro-choice stand as a survival strategy, not on principle.

Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class status distance themselves from the “reckless” members of their own class who sought abortions on the TV shows.

Pro-choice middle-class women believe that only an individual woman’s feelings can determine whether abortion is right or wrong in her own case.

Occupations in Prime Time TV by Gender and Race, USA, 2003-04

Percent

Sex

Top Ten Occupations by Gender Percent Criminals by Race/Ethnicity

Race/Ethnicity

Summary of the Four Summary of the Four TheoriesTheories

Functionalism identifies the main social effects of the mass media: coordination, socialization, social control, and entertainment. By performing these functions, the mass media help make social order possible.

Conflict theory offers a qualification. As vast moneymaking machines controlled by a small group of increasingly wealthy people, the mass media contribute to economic inequality and maintaining the core values of a stratified social order.

Interpretive approaches offer a second qualification: audience members filter, interpret, resist, and sometimes reject media messages according to our own interests and values.

Feminist approaches offer a third qualification. They highlight the misrepresentation of women and members of racial minorities in the mass media.