Theoretical explanations ( media)

Question 1

Marixst

Answer 1

Milliband
Doyle

Neo -
Gilroy
The Sutton trust

Question 2

Milliband

Answer 2

Marxism
‘The State in a Capitalist Society’

ruling class use the media to control society by creating a false picture of reality that presents capitalism in a POSITIVE way. He suggests inequalities are presented as inevitable, justifiable and effective for society

‘the new opium of the people.’ Miliband believed that the media has replaced religion and stated that the institutions act like a drug to numb the senses and produce an illusion of happiness that is not real. This therefore means that the media takes the Proletariat’s attention away from exploitation and oppression of the capitalist system and allows the ruling class to control and dominate them.

Question 3

Doyle

Answer 3

Marxsim

Suggests that examination of ownership and control patterns is important for two reasons:

1. The first being that all points of view need to be heard if society is to be truly democratic.
2. The second is that abuses of power and influence by elites need to be monitored by a free media.

Question 4

Gilroy

Answer 4

neo- marixism

black crime, particularly in the 1970s, was a form of political resistance against the repressive, racist state (capitalist state). He denies that there was greater criminality amongst black people that white people and stated that the media created a folk devil surrounding black people which generated deviancy amplification

Question 5

The sutton trust

Answer 5

Neo - marxism

journalists and broadcasters tend to be white, middle class and male and more than 50% attended private schools.only 7% of the UK population attend private schools).

promotes ruling-class norms, values and ideologie

Question 6

Plurism

Answer 6

Two-step flow model
Whale
Halloran
Curran and Gurevitch

Question 7

Whale

Answer 7

what we see in the press / news is determined by its readers / audiences. Pluralism suggests that if social groups were represented unfairly, audiences would not continue to use media products being sold

Question 8

Two- step

Answer 8

pluralism
views of media representations. The key argument being that people decide whether they choose to accept media representations of social groups.

Question 9

Halloran

Answer 9

pluralism

claims that audiences are able to manipulate the media as they have the “plural views of society”

Question 10

Curran and Gurevitch

Answer 10

pluralism

States that audiences are therefore capable of conforming and accepting these representations, or rejecting them.

Question 11

Feminism

Answer 11

connell

liberal feminism
Mulvey
Lauzen

Radical feminism
Tunstall
Wolf

Marxist
Beechey

recent
Mcrobbie

Question 12

Mcrobbie

Answer 12

Recent feminism states that generally magazines do have an impact on the identity of their readers. She discusses how a ‘discourse of Western enlightened values’ is present throughout magazines, and suggests that a ‘Western’ version of femininity is promoted as the ‘ideal’ – Through this, the magazines have a distinct focus on fashion, lifestyle, love and beauty which promotes hegemonic femininity.

Question 13

Marxist feminism general views

Answer 13

state that the media industry within capitalist societies is patriarchal due to the male owners of corporations and dominance of male media professionals. Marxist Feminists state that this will not change until the capitalist and patriarchal system we live in are overthrown.

Question 14

Beechey

Answer 14

Marxist feminsim
women are part of the reserve army of labour - They are available to work when capitalism needs additional workers . The media encourages women to stay at home and take care of their husbands. This keeps the men in good running order to go to work and benefit capitalism

Question 15

wolf

Answer 15

radical feminism

“beauty myth” – Referring to the notion that women feel pressure to conform to the male image of what a woman should look like in terms of sex appeal, shape, size and weight. Wolf claims that the contemporary media takes these images and presents them as the “ideal”. Wolf and other Radical Feminists see this “ideal” representation of femininity as a ‘backlash’ against the women’s movement and potential developments that have been made. Wolf claims that these ideologies ensure that women develop a ‘false consciousness’ that distracts them from seeking to improve their position within society

Question 16

Tunstall

Answer 16

radical feminsim

Media emphasises women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities. Ignores the fact that a majority of British women work

Question 17

Mulvey

Answer 17

concept of the ‘male gaze’ to characterise cinema as an instrument of male spectatorship.
the female characters in Transformers are places ultimately to please heterosexual male viewers

Transformers the film - Female characters are often sexualised, which has no direct relation to the storyline of the films.

Question 18

Lauzen

Answer 18

liberal feminism

women accounted for only 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors. This is a decrease of 2% since 2012.

Question 19

Marxist general view

Answer 19

The Media is part of the superstructure (institutions of society) which is influenced and controlled by capitalism (the infrastructure - the economic base of society).

Question 20

Feminist general view

Answer 20

Traditionally patriarchal ideology (e.g. women seen in housewife roles) can be seen in media representations although. Traditionally men have been portrayed as breadwinners and women as the homemaker

Question 21

Pluralism general view

Answer 21

Pluralists claim that media representations are problematic because
they reflect society and what people want to see.  For example pluralists are positive when discussing the presentation of different social class groups.

Question 22

Postmoderism general view

Answer 22

Postmodernists discuss diversity and choice in media images which people can pick and choose from.

Question 23

postmodern

Answer 23

Mcluhan
Baurdrillard
turkle
Watson

Question 24

Mcluhan

Answer 24

‘global village’ – He coined the term “global village” to suggest that information would eventually be passed on electronically due to it “moving at the speed of light”.

new pattern of communication and social interactions.
media of the Internet and TV, brings information instantaneously from the four corners of the planet. Communities across the globe become entwined in one another’s affairs and the internet reduces the entire globe to the dimensions of a village – a ‘global village’.

Question 25

Baudrillard

Answer 25

postmodern

media saturation has altered reality and acknowledges that this can have negative impacts on society.

media saturation has made it incredibly difficult for people to distinguish what is reality and what is fiction. He states that people are so ‘engulfed’ (consumed) by communication and devices that this has lead to a state of ‘hyper-reality’ meaning that our physical reality has become blended with our virtual realities

e.g 
Second Life (studied by Boelstorff)

Question 26

Turkle

Answer 26

postmorden

using phones in meetings and classrooms, families denying each other attention, texting at funerals – removing ourselves from grief is now seen as normal. This poses risks to relationships and identities. We could ‘lose’ each other rather than connect with each other - She says that we are ‘Alone Together’. She also found that digital communication technologies give us more control to edit and delete our interactions

Question 27

Watson

Answer 27

Postmorden

social media has created a decline in the sense of community. People are no longer interested in building relationships in the real world.

Question 28

Connell

Answer 28

Feminism

patriarchal ideology that has historically been reiterated within the media, as a key agent of secondary socialisation. Complete the mind-map below that illustrates ways in which this has occurred, think of the social processes:
Direct instructions
Peer pressure to conform to norms
Imitation of role models
Criticism / praise related to performing or not performing hegemonic gender roles