soc 224 lecture on Media

Question 1

Why does Media Matter?

Answer 1

it includes books, newspapers, magazines, websites, radio, music, television, websites. All contribute to social networking services and communication

Question 2

What is the definition of Media?

Answer 2

any form of communication that targets a mass audience in print or electronic format

Question 3

Reach of media from 2000-2019

Answer 3

-television went down when you look at youth (people under 25) and then people over 55, the people over 55 had much higher use

-Internet use is higher in young adults

-magazines are mostly out of business because people mostly consume them online

internet, TV and and radio have still remained higher but magazines and newspapers have decreased

Question 4

4 Functions of social media in society was Brought forward by what person

Answer 4

Charles Wright

Question 5

Correlation of parts of society

Answer 5

ways that information about our world is interpreted and prescriptions for behavior- in response to events

one of the 4 functions of media to contribute to social order

Question 6

surveillance of the environment:

Answer 6

ways that information is collected and disseminated in society

one of the 4 functions of media to contribute to social order

Question 7

Transmission of social heritage:

Answer 7

communication of information, norms, values from generation to generation

one of the 4 functions of media to contribute to social order

Question 8

Entertainment:

Answer 8

communication intended to amuse/relax

one of the 4 functions of media to contribute to social order

Question 9

Media contributes to _______

Answer 9

Social order

Question 10

what is the impact of media on society?

Answer 10

It is believed that media is responsible for discrepancy between dropping rates of crime and the perception that youth crime is out of control

-there is a huge disconnect between how much crime we have and Canadians perception of the likelihood of crime

Question 11

How do Canadians feel about crime?

Answer 11

Many Canadians will report being fearful and feeling unsafe but Canada is relatively quite safe

without the media, none of us would have really seen extreme violence. People’s perceptions are based on what they see in the media and not direct or actual occurrences

Question 12

street crime&raquo_space; corporate crime

Answer 12

-related to drugs
-Fentanyl and Oxycontin
-approx. 20 deaths a day for opioid-related

Question 13

violent crime&raquo_space; property crime

Answer 13

there is an emphasis in media on violent crime because the drama sells and makes more profit.

-We as a society also support it because we go to the movie that has crime, and crime books and these sell grossly.

-Whereas vandalism and property crime do not make the front page

-we have this perception of the world being dangerous because of what is selectively chosen to be put in the news and media - context is very important

Question 14

Violent crimes committed by strangers&raquo_space;> crimes committed by those known to the victim

Answer 14

-Most crimes committed are done by people who are known to someone

-more common to know the person who assaults them

-random violence scares u: eg LRT stabbing is scary and nasty and random BUT still very uncommon n Canada

Question 15

Dramatization of crime

Answer 15

due to Headlines: capture people’s attention, eg. brief and horrific headlines such as “Ontario teen convicted of animal cruelty after barbecuing a dog”

the language used: ‘hookers’, ‘drug addict’, and ‘ex-con’, ‘psycho’

focus on atypical cases

incompleteness of reporting
- not including context
-media fails to highlight the concept that indigenous and racialized groups are at higher risk
-The public become less sympathetic to the offender if the person is painted in a certain light in news
-people are unaware of court protocols and sentencing, and may believe sentencing is too lenient

Question 16

Majority of crime today is?

Answer 16

property crime
-The media doesn’t report

-victims of crime are usually marginalized groups: women, girls, and specific races eg. indigenous

Question 17

echo chamber effect- impact of social media

Answer 17

if we consume a lot of social media they all repeat the same stories over and over again like an echo- always talking about one side of a situation.

-our perception that Canada is more unsafe is because we consume the media but we are attracted to things like true crime and keep it popular, and consume crime books and movies.

Question 18

Impact of labelling theory: Decriminalization

Answer 18

The harms of total institutions

-e.g. prisons, psychiatric hospitals

Question 19

Impact of labelling theory: Deinstitutionalization

Answer 19

-diversion
- e.g. house arrest, community programs
-restorative justice

Question 20

Three principles of Restorative Justice

Answer 20

Repair
Restore
Reintegrate

Question 21

The Deviant Career

Answer 21

progression through deviance and progression through a career are both interpretive experiences that involve stages of development and career contingencies

Question 22

Contingencies

Answer 22

for example, you go into the career and then become disillusioned with it

careers are influenced by contingencies and turning points encountered at each stage

Question 23

Stages of a deviant career

Answer 23

-entry

• a sense of continuity

-perception of increasing opportunities

-increased sophistication

-recognition of peers

Question 24

example of the stages of a deviant career

Answer 24

drug use

entry: smoke pot for the first time, first exposure to something

continuity: moving onto another thing, linear movement eg liquor, alcohol, or dealing

Perception: once you are in it you keep looking for ways to move up

increased sophistication: finding better or smarter ways to do something

recognition: know them as the “guy”, peers know you and recognize you for something

Question 25

Adler and Adler (1983) shifts and oscillations in upper-level drug traffickers’ careers

Answer 25

exiting a deviant career: quitting or retiring

-dealers found it hard to leave their career
-because of the rewards( cash, sex, women)
-their social circle of friends that are associated with dealing drugs makes it hard to completely escape
-difficulty finding a replacement career (skills to be a dealer may not be so useful in other life careers)
-debts
-pressure to return

Question 26

Who is most likely to get into a deviant lifecycle?

Answer 26

people who have deviant careers in adulthood were often non deviant in their childhood, but they drifted at some point in their life

-if deviance starts in childhood though the chances of staying in that lifestyle or career is higher

Question 27

Moral Rhetoric

Answer 27

claims and assertions used to justify one’s deviant behavior

-used to neutralize the stigma ( personal characteristics negatively valued by others) associated with deviance

-Later, younger offenders use instrumental rhetoric to justify acts

Question 28

Instrumental rhetoric

Answer 28

For example, you are so good at stealing jewelry and now it is bravado, you use people and brag about your skill in using others as an “instrument” in your scheme

“I tricked him” “I am so good at my job”

Question 29

Social learning theory

Answer 29

-learning technique
-learning to perceive the effects
-learning to enjoy the effects ( you are buzzed or high, and you feel it and now you are recognize that it is okay and you are supposed to feel this way – so you enjoy the effects)

e.g. Becker: becoming a marijuana user

Question 30

Becker Deviant career theory

Answer 30

focused only on the first stage: the entry stage

-The assumption of the theory is that deviant motives lead to deviant behavior

-he argued that in the case of marijuana and marijuana users –> the deviant behavior- precedes the deviant motives

Question 31

The media _________ violence

Answer 31

Desensitizes

more exposure to violence (in media and real life) makes people more tolerant of violence

emotional-> lower levels of anxiety when watching a violent film

physiological–> lower heart rates and blood pressure when watching a violent film

e.g. people who spend years playing violent video games become more desensitized to violence

Question 32

Moynihan “the normalization of deviance”

Answer 32

why is there so much violence in inner cities?

he researched this and determined that violence and deviance have become normalized or expected

e.g. edmonton’s first homocide of the year –> we expect there to be more than this

Question 33

how is deviance normalized?

Answer 33

through music, swearing and music being full of profanity. older music did not used to be like this

-deviant behavior is so common that we are not even recognizing it anymore

Question 34

broken windows theory

Answer 34

crime occurs whenever/wherever social controls are not strong (where opportunity is)

-as signs of social disorganization become visible, poor communities degenerate into more crime

if an area looks abandoned, no one is watching, actual broken windows

Question 35

moral panic

Answer 35

an exaggerated and sensationalized concern over a particular phenomenon, characterized by:

-heightened concern
-hostility toward to offending group
-a certain level of consensus that there is a real threat
-disproportionality
-volatility

media is instrumental in sustaining a moral panic

Question 36

moral panic example

Answer 36

Salem Witch trials
-puritan (protestant group)
-accusations that women (and some men) were witches and practicing witchery in the community and they were put in prisons and tortured

hostility to the group
-mostly women
-distrust or fear of women
-seduced by the devil

consensus
-leader controlled message of the whole group
-consensus happened easily

disproportionality
- anxiety -> high paranoia
-accusing too many women
-community hysteria

volatility
- fear, and instability, could harm the whole community

women became the scapegoats for the high anxiety that people had about things they did not know

there are theories that people could have witnessed epilepsy but did not scientifically understand this concept so they said witches an evil spirits

Question 37

Stanley Cohen
-Folk devils and moral panics

Answer 37

Those who possessed characteristics that make them a suitable screen upon which society can project sentiments of guilt and ambivalence

e.g. folk devils HIV/AIDS
-> Gay men were scapegoats of moral panic for the HIV crisis
-> People were not as accepting of gay relations back then so people were stigmatized
-people held onto good and bad feelings, had ambiguity and then projected the bad feelings onto other people

Question 38

Stanley Cohen

Mods and Rockers

Answer 38

-1960’s England
-both working class and similar age
-mods: more modern, moped, preppy, modern clothes
-rockers: motorcycle, leather jacket, loud

moral panic around these two groups of young men
-> media was entirely responsible
-> The groups were not fighting, there was no animosity only minor vandalism
-media took photos and used word such as gang and violence to create headlines in the media

increased concern: kids who did not want to work, have sex before marriage
-youth of postwar Britain out of control

hostility: Cohen suggested in the media that they used /manufactured words like gang and violence, police etc

consensus: all the newspapers in England at the time made the same story and built a consensus (same exaggerated story)

disproportionality: exaggeration tactics

volatility: gang image alone makes us think of instability, things could get out of control

Question 39

Kerner Commission

Answer 39

1960s
-many violent riots
-La, Detroit, Newark –> most causalities from the riots

-president Lindon Johnson
-> Kerner commission –> sent to watch what was going on in the riots

“black unrest”
-most blamed the riot on African American young men

-headlines circulated said african american men caused things and associated with problems

-Commission report blamed white racism (rather than black anger)
-critical of the media coverage of the event

Question 40

Kerner Commissions Report: 1. Media failed to accurately reflect the scale and character of the riots

Answer 40

first charge

the disorders were less destructive, less widespread, and less of a black-white confrontation than the media portrayed

1. scare headlines
2. some reporters staged riot events
3. estimates of damage were inaccurate and officials were inexperienced
4. portrayed as race riots
5. stacking stories -> leading to a problematic cumulative effect (making it look bigger than it really is)

the media focused on race rather than the true injustice

Question 41

Kerner Commission Report: 2 Media failed to adequately report on the underlying problems of race relations

Answer 41

written from the perspective of a white man’s world

absence of voice: when interviewed: police, mayers (white american men) they never interviewed african american people

-white bystanders, white policemen, African Americans shown as aggressive and violent
-reporters chose what to promote in the media and what they photographed

-they tended to focus on one black man who fit this image of violence and put it on camera and missed the ones who were helping

Question 42

Kerner Commission Report: 3 Media Post-Riot Reviews Lacking

Answer 42

The post-riot reviews emphasized
-legislation which should be sought to control future rioting behavior
-control of riot/containment strategy
-underlying causes of riots analyzed
-post-riot reactions by middle-class African Americans and those who lived in the ghetto not sought

the true issues were: lack of opportunity, poverty, and injustice so these issues were misdiagnosed and mistreated

Question 43

Kerner Commisions Report:
Interviews with african-americans

Answer 43

african americans reported white bias in the media –> police bias and also media bias

e.g. failure to report false arrests, how many residents helped the police

-failure to give to the community that was affected

-journalists were all white and told from white perspective

some reported the people looted because the media was there, they were compelled to put on a show and some were encouraged by journalists

Question 44

How the Kerner Commission rectified the situation?

Answer 44

they brought members of the African-American community to speak

wyatt case: media sent out helicopters in the area –> this promoted violence, instigated people

Question 45

what position do administrative approach align with?

Answer 45

objectivist

Question 46

Critical theories example

Answer 46

e.g. shipyard in St johns NB where there was labour unrest in the shipyard and the higher-up people ensured that critical information was not put out against them or their company in the media

Question 47

Graeme Gribson

Answer 47

• Margaret Atwoods husband
  -Canada losing it’s culture
  -we do not want Americans dictating to us what happened in Canada today

it is important to maintain Canadian voice in the culture and media

Question 47

The media frames society

Answer 47

the media frames individuals, health issues, social issues, social groups

Question 48

what are the three types of framing?

Answer 48

conflict frame, human interest frame, economic consequence frame

Question 49

examples of conflicts in two groups?

Answer 49

puritan and Salem

mods and rockers

Question 50

implications of social group framing?

Answer 50

1. where a social group is not represented
   -internalized meaning: e.g irrelevant; experienced as oppressive
2. where a social issue is associated with a specific social group
   -e.g. demonstration on poverty with a specific social group
3. where media presents a singular image
   -internalized meaning eg violent, criminal, hooligans
4. framing impacts social policy
   -e.g. more law/order/social control versus programs to address poverty, racism

-need to diagnose the actual issue to implement a social policy

Question 51

media ownership

Marxist approaches

Answer 51

• ownership of the means of production = power

-ownership influences content

-ownership increasingly concentrated; corporate empires control message

ownership influences context

Question 52

trends in the media

Answer 52

convergence= individual companies own multiple forms of media
-Edmonton Journal, bigger media purchased smaller ones

conglomeration= companies merge or buy out others, creating larger companies
-e.g. post-media bought out other media

concentration= a small number of companies control most media products

Question 53

administrative approaches

positivist, objectivist orientation

Answer 53

-focus on cause and effect relationships; the effects of media messages on individuals

-focus on determining what types of messages will result in certain outcomes in individuals

-sometimes focused on determining what is needed to change people’s behavior

e.g. what is the best condom- promotion campaign?

e.g. how do we convince people to stop smoking? limit drug/alcohol consumption?

Question 54

media victimized or deviantized

Answer 54

-books, music etc.

bear
- book about a woman who has sex with a bear
-bestiality’s
-banned in Canada
-criticized
-written by Marian Engel

you can learn about culture by what is banned and where

Question 55

media is a site for the deviance dance

Answer 55

the deviance dance: the interactions, negotiations, and debates among groups with different perceptions of whether a behavior or characteristic is deviant and needs to be socially controlled and if so how

-media is tool for deviant acts (e.g. cybercrime) - child pornography, stealing money
-media is tool to exert social control (e.g. catching digital pirates)

-media is site for claims-making and counter claims-making (wikiLeaks)

-you can catch criminals, you can study media to understand the deviance dance

claims making: a demand made by one party to another that something be done about some putative conditions

Question 56

The media-deviance Nexus

Answer 56

-the media as a cause of deviance

• the media as socially constructing deviance and normality

-the media as a tool used to commit acts of deviance

-the media as a site where the deviance dance is played out

-the media deviantized itself/subjected to measures of social control