Exam 1 Flashcards
Characteristics of culture
Specific, socialization, subcultures, shared, change
Mass Media as Cultural Storytellers
- A culture’s values and beliefs reside in the stories it tells
- Our stories help define our realities, shaping the way that we think, feel and act.
- Audience responsibility – question story tellers, interpret meanings and what they say about our culture and us.
Mass Communication as Cultural Forum
- Mass media has become a primary forum for the debates in our culture.
- The loudest voices have the most power.
- Where should the power reside? Media or audiences or others (advertisers)?
6 Different definitions of popular culture
- Quantitative
- High vs. Low Culture
- Mass Culture
- Folk Culture
- Gramsci-Hegemony-Struggle
- Postmodern Culture
Characteristics of popular culture
- Origin
- Motivation
- Diffusion-locally, nationally, globally
- Shelf-Life (short)
High culture scholars’ perspective
- “elite” intellectuals
- identify popular culture as low culture (mass produced)
- only the few can only enjoy pop culture
Popular culture scholars’ perspective
- High vs. Low Culture
- Criteria
- Access
- Divide vs. Unite
Edifying Impulse
Wanting to expose people to what is good for them (good culture)
Pop culture = dumbing down the masses
Steven Johnson’s perspective
Everything Bad Is Good For You
- Popular culture is NOT dumbing us down
- Then vs. Now
- Narrative complexity
- Cognitive complexity
5 Media Trends
- Media Fragmentation
- Concentration of Ownership
- Mass Media Conglomerates
- Cross-Media Ownership
- Globalization
Stages from creator to consumers
- Production
- Distribution
- Exhibition (movie theaters, book stores, streaming services)
Political Economy Perspective
Find answer
Vertical Integration (definition, benefits, and concerns)
Definition: -Managing each stage of the production process -Core interests -Example (book) Benefits: -Product control -Cost control -Competitive advantage Concerns: -Lack of diversity of what is presented, financial risk
Horizontal Integration (definition, benefits, and concerns)
Definition: -Cross-media ownership Benefits: -Synergy -Most conglomerates engage both in vertical & horizontal integration Concerns: -Creators -Smaller Independents
Synergy
The dynamic where components of a company work together to produce benefits that would be impossible for a single, separately operated unit of the company
Conglomerates - consequences
Benefits: more control, more profitable, better products (for customers)
Concern for smaller companies:
-Kept out of the industry
Concern for consumers:
-Control everything we see - lots of power
Problems facing Nielsen
Clarity?
Advertiser’s consumer segment and Network TV Show’s audience
They correlate
Audience sold as commodity
-Media produce (attract) an audience to sell it to advertisers.
Commodification
The process whereby a product, a person, etc. is transformed into an object that is available for sale for a profit.
How networks view audiences
- Networks need to think about what type’s of audiences their shows attract because these are the audiences they’re selling to advertisers.
- Screenwriter –> Networks –> Advertisers
- Advertisers –> Networks –> Screenwriter
Hyper-Commercialism (definition and consequences)
Definition:
-Heavy bombardment of advertising messages (advertising clutter) in the media.
-Media are more concerned about pleasing advertisers (increasing ratings to attract advertisers) than about producing good quality TV shows or informative news
Consequences:
-High quality shows with low ratings
-High quality shows with high ratings but wrong audiences
-Low quality shows with high ratings and right audiences
Audience as a Labor Force
The audience works for the media companies – In return for the audience watching the commercials, the media companies pay the audiences by giving them free TV.
Trends
Convergence – advertising, branding, and entertainment
Why is convergence happening?
- Audience fragmentation (multiple platforms)
- Ad-avoidance
Product integration
One type of embedded advertising
Characteristics of embedded advertisng
- Paid
- Credibility
- Agencies
Intended effects of product placement
- Mere exposure
- Association
- Brand Awareness, Recall
- Create Realism (increased authenticity of the content)
- Revenue stream for production
Unintended effects of product placement
- Story content may be compromised
- Suspension of disbelief disrupted
- Reactance (if people know they’re being controlled, there’s backlash)
- Controversial products (smoking, alcohol, etc.)
Issues with product placement
- Persuasion Knowledge Model: traditional advertising vs. product placement (fewer defense mechanisms)
- Fewer cognitive resources dedicated to processing
- Mere exposure (familiarity) leads to persuasion
Proponents of increased regulation
- Includes the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), and Commercial Alert (nonprofit organization).
- Commercial Alert’s Mission: keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity, and democracy.
- Offered different suggestions, for mandatory disclosure of product placement.
Media-as-Shaper approach
Media content changes our culture and society
Media-as-Mirror approach
Media content reflects our culture and society
Direct (bullet) effect
Media –> Behavior
Message –> Attitude –> Behavior
People don’t even think about it; they just react
Limited effects
- Selective exposure
- Media –> Opinion Leaders –> Attitudes –> Behavior
- People believed media had no effect
Indirect effects
Message –> Cognitive –> Attitudes –> Behavior
Cultivation Theory
Message –> Cognitive –> Attitudes –> Behavior
- Repeated exposure
- Believed the world was more violent than it actually was
Uses & Gratification Model
Assumptions: 1. Audience is active - media use is goal-oriented 2. People are aware of their needs and actively use media to fulfill them. Functions of media: -enjoyment/entertainment -surveillance -information/interpretation -companionship -social identity -personal identity
Encoded meaning
What the creator of a message intended it to mean
Decoded meaning
What the audience understands of a message
Vulnerable consumer
(children)
- limited personal experience
- limited persuasion knowledge
- counterarguments - parents provide context
Active consumer
- active receiver
- relatively more cognitive
Arousal
excitement - heightened arousal states
Imitation
observational learning
Desensitization
less sympathetic
Disinhibition
less inhibited due to social sanctions (norms)
Catharsis
vent aggressive impulses
Public Welfare Frame
They believe violence has an indirect effect on attitudes and behavior
First Amendment Frame
Argue there’s no direct relationship between violent content and behavior
Regulating TV Violence (problems)
- Defining violent content
- Determining what to regulate
- Free speech
- Failure to use ratings & V-Chips
- Concern regarding empirical research results
