Mass+Society+and+Modernity

Understanding Media Theory: Mass Society and Modernity

=toc Modernity and the Beginnings of Media Theory= Media is the means of communication. It includes but is not limited to speech, writing, print, photography, telegraph, telephone, radio, television, public relations, advertising, blogs, newspaper, film, and the internet. Mass Media is the simultaneous transmission of information and messages to a large heterogenous mass audience. The birth of mass media promoted change in western societies and has come to be known as the arrival of modernity. The two theories go hand in hand.

=Mass Society Theory= Mass society theory was not developed during the 19th century but rather in the 1930s and 1940s. The German sociologist, Ferdinand Tonnies, used the concepts Gemeinshaft and Gesellschaft. These two terms helped distinguish between traditional and modern society. Gemeinshaft, which can be translated to community, is the regulation of behavior by responsibilities to a social institution. In Gemeinshaft there is a sense community in which people were bound together by personal and traditional ties which keeps humans together as members of a totality. Gesellschaft can be translated to society. Contrary to Gemeinschaft, this term shows how people in a society are isolated and are not treated or valued based on their individually but are brought together by needs. "...everybody is by himself and isolated, and there exists a condition of tension against all others...". (Quoted in De Fleur and Ball- Rokeach, 1989: 154).

=The Frankfurt School= T.W. Adorno a leading scholar at the Frankfurt School believed that mass media was the destruction of individuality. During this time he felt that mass media was struggling to reproduce high culture. He was skeptical that mass media could reproduce the authenticity of hearing an orchestra play live or reading a great work of literature rather than a magazine. He emphasized that mass media shaped individuals into mass society and that the real high culture was diminishing.

=Mass Society Theory of Media= 1. Mass media are a disruptive force in society and need to be controlled. 2. Mass media have the power to directly influence the attitudes and behavior of people. 3. The social changes brought about by the disruptive influence of mass media will result in the advent of more authoritarian and centrally controlled societies. 4. Mass media demean and destroy cultural standards and values.

=Marxism= Marx believed that social change was explained by the struggle between two forces in society - the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. The 'haves' were the bourgeoisie, the capitalist owning class, who demonstrated power in their roles as landowners or factory owners. The 'have nots' were the working class or also considered the masses. The power of the bourgeoisie is developed through gaining surplus value from the working class and making a profit. Marxism emphasizes the idea that class struggle is central to the historical development of society. Marx also believed that the bourgeoisie control the 'production and distribution of ideas' because of their control of the 'means of material production'. Thus it is their ideas, their views and accounts of the world and how it works, that dominate the outlook of capitalist society. The outcome is that the ideology of the bourgeoisie becomes the dominant ideology of the society, thereby shaping the thinking and action of all other classes in society, including the working class or proletariat. This ideological domination is crucial in the maintenance of the inequality between the social classes. Marx, therefore, makes a direct connection between the domination of the economic organization of society and the exercise of ideological control, the control of the ways in which we think.

=Liberal Theory of Press Freedom= Theological: the need to make decisions between good and evil Lockean: natural right to decide and publish Utilitarian: best way to ensure good government Mill: needed for ascertaining the truth

=Key Terms=

Mass Media
the simultaneous transmission of information and messages to a large heterogenous mass audience

Gemeinschaft
regulate behavior by responsibilities to a social institution (community)

Gesellschaft
people in societies are isolated (society)

Mass Culture
consumed by a lot of people and according to the early writers of media and modernity it is not artistic and made for people who are unintelligent

Hypodermic Needle Model of Culture
the media that is consumed and the behavior that occurs after

Propaganda
manipulation of people for government ends

Solidarity
social stability

Mechanical Solidarity
society in which individuals were forced to perform certain roles, whether they wanted to or not

Social Facts
established, expected or conventional ways of behaving laid down in custom, law and precedent

=__**Outside Research- B**ourgeois and Proletarians; The Communist Manifesto__=

History:
//The Communist Manifesto//, an 1848 publication written by political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, was one of the most important documents of the 20th Century, outlining Communism and class struggles and what was perceived as the most viewed and praised work of Communism in the 20th century. The publication discussed class struggles and how economic success depended on certain things from each class, and most of all the economic relationship between the Bourgeois and the Proletarians.

Bourgeois and Proletarians:
Marx believed that the rise of one class would lead to the success and freedom of the rest of society. He believed that the Bourgeois exploited the Proletarians. In his work, he describes how the wealth of the bourgeois depended on the Proletarian. He also said that Capitalism was inherently dangerous, and that eventually it would collapse from its own weight. He believed that the lower class would eventually take place in a revolt and the system would inherently turn into a balanced economical system. After the Proletarians would be defeated, he stated that a new classless society would naturally form, where all things were shared by everyone in an equal system. Private ownership would be eliminated. He believed that the state would eventually disappear, and society would become a peaceful place and everyone would live happily. This has caused obvious debate throughout the past century due to the fact that this system eliminates private ownership of property and other goods. It is also not certain that everyone would be happy in this "ideal" society because the hope of earning more and calling something your own is completely gone. Instead, the people would live as equal, and no one would be able to truly earn wealth, including those who truly deserve to make more money based on the work they do. The fact that everyone would live in happiness is also very subjective because it is almost not certain to predict emotionally how a society would react to such economic and social changes in their lives. These points have made //The Communist Manifesto// one of the most controversial and studied works in recent history. = =

Key Passages (Taken from //The Communist Manifesto)//:
"The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors”, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment”."

"In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property"

"The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty."

Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. //Manifesto of the Communists.// New York: International, 1886. Print.
 * Works Cited:**

"The Communist Manifesto - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." //The Communist Manifesto - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat//. The British Library, n.d. Web. .

__**Additional** Material__
Here is a link to a banned "Donald Duck" cartoon which portrays Donald Duck as a Nazi and turning to be an American patriot at the end. Very interesting example of American World War II propaganda

media type="custom" key="24399312"

This is a video where 2012 Republican candidate for Presidency, Ron Paul, briefly talks about media bias on Fox News. He explained that he was only mentioned once in the reviews of the debates, compared to the other three candidates, who he says were mentioned about 80 or 90 times. The interviewer the proceeds to quickly interrupt and say they will go to a commercial break, right after Ron Paul's remark - which is bias and controlling of the media in itself.

media type="custom" key="24526448"

====Here is the example of the propaganda in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was famous with its Marxism- Leninism ideology, promoting communism through their propaganda. It`s goal was to create a new man, that is how Soviet pioneers and komsomols appeared. Soviet Union propaganda was famous with it`s posters, for example like the one you see below. This poster is made by Dmitri Moor, called “Have you enlisted in army?” On this poster you can see an image of the soldier wearing red clothes, because he is a Red Army soldier (red was a communist party color), who is questioning and invoking people of the Soviet Union to contribute the nation in taking part in the October Revolution, thus fight for Bolsheviks against the Imperialism. ====
 *  Stephany Kaykov **





A recurring theme in Nazi propaganda before 1939 was that Hitler was a man of peace. The figure of peace is shown in the background of this image, blowing a trumpet fanfare. According to this magazine Hitler was determined to recover German territories that were lost as a result of the Versailles Treaty. As we all know, however, Hitler was not a man of peace. Jackie Callahan