Chapter 8

Question 1

Ideology:

Answer 1

A coherent set of social values, beliefs, and meanings that people use to decode the world
(ex. Dominant ideology)

Question 2

Dominant ideology

Answer 2

refers to dominant or ruling-class values, beliefs, and meanings

Question 3

Media

Answer 3

communication outlets/tools used to store and deliver content between a sender and a receiver
(ex. publishing, news, cinema, digital advertising, music, etc.)

Question 4

Mass Media

Answer 4

sending a message from one source to multiple people
Newspapers, magazines, film, television, radio, advertising, book publishing, the internet, social media, and popular music

Question 5

Mass Communication

Answer 5

Historically: a term used to describe communication to a large and undifferentiated group
Recently: term used to describe communication between a large number of individuals

Question 6

Social Media

Answer 6

refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange info and ideas in virtual communities and networks

Question 7

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 7

a theoretical explanation based on the idea that language influences thought (means there is a relationship among language, thought, and culture)
- inspired by Sapir’s work comparing European to Indigenous languages

Question 8

Corporate Concentration

Answer 8

the increasing density of media ownership being owned by a smaller number of people and organizations

Question 9

C. Wright Mills

Answer 9

an American sociologist who argues that the power elite have interwoven interests, and that concentrated media ownership helps communicate their interests
(specifically looks at military, political and corporate realms)

Question 10

Power elite (C.W. Mills)

Answer 10

a small group of people who have a disproportionately large amount of control or influence (composed of political, military and corporate men

Question 11

Cultural Hegemony

Answer 11

describes the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of that society through ideological means so that their worldview is the one that is accepted
(developed by Marxist intellectual Antonio Gramsci)

Question 12

Ideological means:

Answer 12

the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, and more

Question 13

how does cultural hegemony function?

Answer 13

by achieving the consent of the masses to abide by social norms and rules of law by framing the worldview of the ruling class ( and the social and economic structures that go with it)

Question 14

Intelligentsia

Answer 14

intellectual elites or highly educated people as a group

Question 15

False Consciousness (Marxist theory)

Answer 15

describes the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the working class and other class actors within capitalist societies (hides the inequality between social classes)

Question 16

Marxist Theory

Answer 16

theory that capitalist society is based on inequalities between the ‘bourgeoisie’ (ruling capitalist class) and ‘proletariat’ (working class).

*It is a conflict theory, as it sees society as being in constant conflict between these social classes.

Question 17

2 Main types of Media Diversity

Answer 17

Idea and Demographic diversity

Question 18

Idea Diversity (type of media diversity)

Answer 18

refers to the range of viewpoints expressed in the media marketplace of ideas
- media concentration allows corporations to censor info based on their interests

Question 19

Demographic diversity (type of media diversity)

Answer 19

Refers to how the media represents and addresses the interests of a diversity of people from a variety of races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and classes
- there is a lack in diversity of ownership which could limit the diversity of humanity depicted in the media

Question 20

New Media

Answer 20

defined as accessible on demand, digital, and is interactive, meaning users may comment and provide feedback

Question 21

Parasocial relationships

Answer 21

Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships, typically with an everyday individual and a celebrity or fictional character

Question 22

AI

Answer 22

Artificial Intelligence

Question 23

Cyberbullying

Answer 23

using the internet and related technologies to repeatedly intimidate or harass others
(*LGBTQ+ community has been significantly impacted by cyberbullying)

Question 24

Digital Divide:

Answer 24

the inequality between groups in regards to their access to info and communication technologies (exists within within/between countries, between individuals, households, etc)

Question 25

Global Digital Divide

Answer 25

Measures the gap (divide) between the digital access and use of technologies across countries

Question 26

Media Literacy:

Answer 26

an educational tool that helps individuals analyze and evaluate the messages they receive from the media (a concept devoted to regaining control over individuals media consumption
3 main stages

Question 27

3 main stages of media literacy

Answer 27

1. Become aware of ones own media diet
2. learn specific skills of critical viewing (what is there and what is missing)
3. question who is behind the media your consuming and who is responsible for the messages in the media

Question 28

Alternative media

Answer 28

based on media that falls outside the purview of the mainstream media (ex. blogs, community run newspapers, etc)
- defined by 4 main characteristics

Question 29

4 main characteristics of alternative media

Answer 29

1. the Message is not corporately controlled
2. its content is anti-establishment
3. it is usually distributed in a creative way
4. there is a fundamentally different relationship between the producer and consumer (2-way relationship)

Question 30

mainstream media

Answer 30

any kind of media that is commercial, publicly supported or government owned

Question 31

Media Democratization

Answer 31

• gives the people the right to participate in media (citizen involvement, alternative media)
• make it so big corporations don’t own majority of social media