Media as a cause of crime Flashcards
Media influence
There are a number of views on how the media may influence individuals:
➢ Hypodermic syringe or magic bullet model: People imitate what they have recently seen as if they have been injected with the message.
➢ Audience selection or uses & gratifications model: People only choose to watch what they already enjoy or find acceptable, so the media may not change people’s values quickly, but there could be gradual desensitisation as people become used to greater violence on screen
➢ Cultural effects model: We cannot separate the effect of the media from the influences of society as a whole since mass media reflect society’s vales.
➢ Structured interpretation model: Different audiences may interpret different readings from the same media text. E.g. less sophisticated viewers may simply believe what they are being told about official statistics showing a decreasing crime rate, while others may be suspicious about the timing of this with an upcoming general election!
other ways of influence
- Glamorising crime (e.g. gun culture ‘promoted’ by some rap artists)
- Transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques (e.g. how to avoid leaving DNA evidence)
- Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods (e.g. through advertising). Left realists argue that the mass media help to increase the sense of relative deprivation which may lead some to commit crime to achieve a materialistic ‘good life’ they are unable to achieve legitimately. This idea can be interpreted using Merton’s argument that pressure to pursue cultural goals (e.g. wealth) can cause deviance when legitimate opportunities to achieve are blocked, resulting in anomie.
Evaluation
Fears about the possible negative effects of the media on their audiences have resulted in thousands of studies being conducted, e.g. Bandura’s bobo-doll experiments. However, most studies have found that exposure to media violence has at most a small & limited negative effect on audiences. Guy Cumberbatch reviewed over 3,500 studies on the relationship between the media & violence and failed to find one that proved the connection but none disproved it either. As he concludes, ‘the jury is still out on this issue’.
Most sociologists reject the hypodermic syringe model as too simplistic, as few are likely to copy exactly what they have watched. However, the less sophisticated may be aroused to engage in other deviant behaviour or become disinhibited, regarding antisocial acts as normal after viewing them frequently on screen.
