DC2105 2nd Term Course Module PDF

Communication, Media, and Culture 1  Module Overview We have learned from the previous lessons how media ownership and the existing political environment can determine the media content that we will be exposed to. As economics and politics can affect not only w...

Communication, Media, and Culture 1  Module Overview We have learned from the previous lessons how media ownership and the existing political environment can determine the media content that we will be exposed to. As economics and politics can affect not only what information are shared and withheld from us but also how stories are framed, we must learn to analyze and be critical of the media content presented to us. Try to ask, if media has the power to influence individuals’ decisions and perceptions, how much power does it have over an entire society? In this module, we will learn about how media affects culture and the different facets of society such as class, race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. Through looking at different theories, we will question in media is really powerful in affecting our perceptions and decisions. Objectives After this module, you should be able to: a. Define communication as culture; and b. Relate communication media to social class, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality. Cultural Approach to Communication “Of all things, communication is the most wonderful” – John Dewey (1939) According to John Dewey, there could be two alternative conceptions of communication ever since the term first entered common discourse in the 19 th century, there are: a. Transmission View of Communication; and b. Ritual View of Communication Both definitions derive from religious origins, as with much in secular culture, though they refer to somewhat different regions of spiritual experience. Transmission View of Communication - It is defined by terms such as “imparting,” “sending,” “transmitting,” or “giving information to others.” - In the nineteenth century but to a lesser extent today, the movement of goods or people and the movement of information were essentially identical processes, and both were described by the common noun “communication.” 2  - The center of this idea of communication is the transmission of signals or messages over distance for control. - Communication is a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space to control distance and people. - Religion, aside from politics, economics, and technology, was one of the prime movers. Ritual View of Communication - This is an archaic or older view of communication - Communication is linked to terms such as “sharing”, “participation”, “association”, “fellowship”, and the “possession of common faith”. - A ritual view of communication is directed towards the extension of message in space but towards the maintenance of society in time, not the act of imparting information by the representation of shared beliefs. - Under the ritual view, then, news is not information but drama. It does not desire the world but portrays an overview of dramatic forces and action; it exists solely in historical time; and it invites our participation based on our assuming, often vicariously, social role with it. Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed. - Symbolic Production of Reality - Communication, through language and other symbolic forms, comprises the ambiance of human existence. - Is thinking private? Though involves constructing a model of an environment and then running the model faster than the environment to see if nature can be coursed to perform as the model does. - We not only produce reality, but we must likewise maintain what we have produced, for there is always a new generation coming along for whom our productions are incipiently problematic and for whom reality must be regenerated and made authoritative. - Reality must be repaired for it continuously breaks down; people get lost physically and spiritually; experiments fail. - To study communication is to examine the actual social process wherein significant symbolic forms are created, apprehended, and used. - If one tries to examine society as a form of communication, one sees it as a process whereby reality is created, shared, modified, and preserved. Communication “is the most wonderful” because it is the basis of human fellowship; it produces social bonds that tie men together and make associated life possible. References: Carey, James W. (2009), Communication as Culture Khan, Iqbal and Gazzaz (2012), Communication and Culture: Reflections on the Perspectives of Influence A. Understanding Culture 3  - All members of society who live in a society must face many difficulties, problems, and realities. They transmit, what they have, to the coming generations. This transmission of problems, beauties, and liabilities. This feature makes the culture known as social heritage. - No country or nation is culture-free. It is one of the basic ingredients of a society. It is the sum of all the tangible and intangible things including art and craft, customs and tradition, ideas, values, social and political norms and habits, etc. - Culture is a human medium that translates and governs man’s actions and gives meaning to what he does or consciously refrains from. - It has roots in the Latin word ‘colere’, which means ‘to build on, to cultivate. In other words, ‘culture’ is constructed while ‘nature’ is innate, and a society is a mix of ‘culture’ and ‘nature’. - The existence of societies that taught him to live in an orderly fashion and decorate his life with language, education, ideas, customs, habits, religion, manners, values, music, art, architecture, and other artifacts. - Loss of culture, loss of identity. - Culture exists in the minds and habit patterns of the members of a society. Individuals may not be conscious of what they do and the way they do it, but their behavior is streamlined according to the socially approved ways of society; hence, no deviance, and no cognitive dissonance. - Culture therefore is: o The product of social interaction. o Offers socially approved patterns for our biological and social needs. o A social heritage that gets transferred from one generation to another in each society. o Learned but every individual during his personal development. o Is one of the basic determinants of personality; and o Depends for its existence upon the continued functioning of the society and it is independent of any individual or group. Definition of Culture - For quite some time the terms “culture” and “society” have been used interchangeably. o Society – refers to groups of people or individuals and their interrelationship with one another to attain certain ends. o Culture – something that “binds people together” and transforms a group of individuals into a concept called society. - A thousand individuals do not make a society, it takes the presence of culture to wield this group of individuals into a form called society. a. Culture as Symbolic - Jocano (1992) defines culture as a system of symbols and meanings people use to: organize ideas, interpret experience, pass judgment, or make decisions; and guide their behavior. - Symbols are objects, sounds, and acts to which observers as well as actors endow certain realities of the object, ideas, sounds, and acts. - All behavior is merely a symbol of some idea. Each one reacts according to his perception of the meaning of the idea attached to an action or behavior. 4  b. Culture as Social Legacy - Social legacy is a complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. - It is the shared products of human beings acquired over time and transmitted from one generation to another. “Social life among human beings never occurs without a system of conventional understandings which are transmitted more or less intact from generation to generation… Culture is learned by individuals as the result of belonging to some particular group, and it constitutes that part of learned behavior that is shared with others. It is our social legacy, as contrasted with our organic heredity. It is one of the important factors which permit us to live together in an organized society, giving us ready-made solutions to other problems, helping us to predict the behavior of others, permitting others to know what to expect from us.” (Kluckhohn) c. Culture as System of Norms - Culture brings about stability to society, elicits among its members a common perception toward basic things, and displays characteristics that distinguish one group from another. - Culture regulates other lives at every turn. From the moment we are born until we die, there is constant pressure upon us to follow certain types of behavior that other people have created for us. d. Culture as Abstraction - Culture is abstracted from the collective behavior of individuals and from the way a population carries out its activities. - Culture is not a group of people or even a complete system of behavior. It is a conceptual abstraction that helps us analyze individual behavior as the behavior is “shared among groups”. e. Culture as Adaptive Mechanism - Culture is a means by which human adapts to its environment. The nature of the cultural system is a result of the interaction of technology and the environment. Technology here means “the sum total of techniques possessed by members of society, the totality of their ways of behaving in respect to collecting raw materials from the environment, and processing these to make tools, foods, clothing, shelter, means of transportation, money, and other material goods.” Cultural Relativism - Cultural relativism is a view “that human practice or institution must be understood in the context of its culture.” This enables one to “predict a good many actions of any person who share that culture and fosters better understanding between people. - The principle of cultural relativity does not mean that because the members of some savage tribe can behave in a certain way that this fact gives intellectual warrant for such behavior in all groups. Cultural relativity means, on the contrary, that the appropriateness of any positive or negative custom must be evaluated about how this 5  habit fits other group habits. Having several wives makes economic sense among herders, not among hunters. Media and Social Classes Classism and Media You may know that classism is an inequitable treatment based on someone's class. What you may not know is that this treatment is systemic: it is a part of society that we encounter every day, yet often do not notice. Class is a social construct, meaning that is a system created by society and seen as normal by members of that society. This social construct has made it so that we all understand what it means to be and appear wealthy (e.g. to have a nice car and to work in a specialized job) and what it means to be and look poor (e.g. to wear clothing that is torn or cheap). Because of this construct, we also know that our culture has an extremely negative view of poverty and poor people in general, while wealth is seen as the goal to which we all should aspire. When we talk about classism in the media, we are talking about how social class is portrayed in popular culture (movies, TV, books, comics, video games, etc.) and in news media, and how it favors images of wealth and ideals shared by wealthy people. We are also talking about how stereotypical images of poverty, working-class people, and homelessness, can be oppressive. How are different social classes represented in the Philippine mainstream media? Just imagine a common Filipino teleserye, how are the wealthy, the middle classes, the working classes, and the underclass represented? Generally, when we look at our news and teleseryes – the ‘lower’ the social class, the more negative the media representations are, arguably because the mainstream media professionals disproportionately come from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Upper Class and Wealth According to most studies, the very wealthy are generally represented positively in the media. The constant media focus on the lifestyles of wealthy celebrities tends to glamourize such lifestyles, suggesting this is something we should all be aspiring to, rather than focusing on the injustice of how much these people are paid compared to ordinary people. In the Philippine media, the wealthy are often presented as either the “kontrabida” (villain) character or the savior of the lower-class character. Middle Classes and Working Class Most T.V. presenters are middle class, and so they are more likely to identify with middle- class guests compared to working-class guests, reinforcing the concerns of the former as more worthy of attention. Most journalists and editors are privately educated which means that the news agenda is framed from a middle-class point of view. 6  There are relatively few shows which focus on the reality of the lives of working-class people. In common Filipino teleseryes, characters belong to either the upper class or the lower. There are very few representations of the working and middle classes in the Philippine media. Lower Class and Poverty Coverage tends to focus on the poverty of individuals rather than the structural features of society such as government policy which created the underclass. Media coverage of the underclass is generally negative, and they are often scapegoated for society’s problems. By constant exposure to images and stories through films, advertising, and the like, we learn to want things associated with wealth and look down on the things that are not. People unconsciously develop attitudes of bias that favor the goals and lifestyles of the upper class. This is called internalization, and it is one thing that perpetuates the cycle of classism. The media that we consume does not ignore poverty or working-class life altogether. However, most of what we learn is negative and stereotypical. Stereotypes are common assumptions about people that are both overly simple and not true for everyone. For instance, news media discusses homelessness in terms of numbers, percentages, or lines in a piece of legislation. However, we also know homeless people are human beings with real needs. This dehumanization of the homeless is one thing that allows us to hang onto negative stereotypes. When we see people as less human, we are less able to empathize with their situation, and therefore, less able, or willing to care. Furthermore, classist ideas about poverty and social mobility (the ability to rise to a higher social class) cannot be talked about without talking about race and ethnicity. There are many examples in TV and movies of people rising above poverty and leading more manageable lives; however, most of these characters are white. Characters of color are more likely to have labor-intensive or stereotypical careers, to be threatened by gangs or cartels, or to have criminal records. This lack of diversity in media has made it exceedingly difficult for us to stop internalizing classist stereotypes about poverty, race, and violence. Media, Race, and Ethnicity Racial stereotypes flood today’s mass media – from news to entertainment. People of color and other racial groups are often stereotyped and misrepresented. From both psychological and sociological perspectives, these misrepresentations can influence how people view their racial group as well as other groups. Furthermore, a racial group’s lack of representation can also reduce the group’s visibility to the public. Such is the case for ethnic groups and other cultural minorities who are not seen in the media. People of color are commonly represented negatively. Television casts people of color in villainous or despicable roles and lower-class roles. On the other hand, indigenous people and cultural minorities are underrepresented in the media. Sometimes, they are presented it is either in documentaries or cultural celebrations. Amaya is one of GMA’s teleseryes which represents history and culture, however, the characters are “mestizo” (white) as the Philippine media prefer white actors and actresses. 7 Media and Religion Religious stereotypes pervade all forms of media and all types of religions, from the portrayals of Eastern religions seen in Kung Fu Panda and Avatar, which conflate diverse faiths such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism into one ‘mystical’ tradition, to the action-packed portrayals of Christianity seen in The Da Vinci Code. At the same time, many religious groups see media as inherently secular and view new media as a threat to traditional religion. Because of this complex relationship, it is important to be aware of the ways in which media outlets stereotype religion, as well as the most common religious issues covered in contemporary media. In the Philippines, only Christianity is frequently covered by the media. Other religions such as Islam and belief systems of the cultural minority are underrepresented on the small and big screen as well as other media platforms. Further, news coverage of terrorist attacks in Mindanao is often associated with “Muslims” and the Islamic faith. Media, Gender, and Sexuality Of the many influences on how we view men and women, media are the most pervasive and one of the most powerful. Woven throughout our daily lives, media insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every turn. All forms of media communicate images of the sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and limiting perceptions. According to Julia T. Wood (1994), three themes describe how media represent gender. First, women are underrepresented, which falsely implies that men are the cultural standard and women are unimportant or invisible. Second, men and women are portrayed in stereotypical ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender. Third, depictions of relationships between men and women emphasize traditional roles and normalize violence against women. Fair gender portrayal in the media should be a professional and ethical aspiration, similar to respect for accuracy, fairness, and honesty (White, 2009). Yet, unbalanced gender portrayal is widespread. The Global Media Monitoring Project finds that women are more likely than men to be featured as victims in news stories and to be identified according to family status. Women are also far less likely than men to be featured in the world’s news headlines, and to be relied upon as ‘spokespeople’ or as ‘experts’. Certain categories of women, such as the poor, older women, or those belonging to ethnic minorities, are even less visible. Stereotypes are also prevalent in everyday media. Women are often portrayed solely as homemakers and carers of the family, dependent on men, or as objects of male attention. Stories by female reporters are more likely to challenge stereotypes than those filed by male reporters (Gallagher et al., 2010). As such, there is a link between the participation of women in the media and improvements in the representation of women. Men are also subjected to stereotyping in the media. They are typically characterized as powerful and dominant. There is little room for alternative visions of masculinity. The media tends to demean men in caring or domestic roles, or those who oppose violence. Such portrayals can influence perceptions in terms of what society may expect from men and women, but also what they may expect from themselves. They promote an unbalanced vision of the roles of women and men in society. 8 Queer Representation in the Media Today, queer people have a global media presence. Unlike before, now we see lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people on television and in mainstream film. But how are they represented? Is it positive or negative? In the Philippine media, we often see gays in entertainment and comedies and lesser in more serious roles. Also, same-sex relationships are not well represented in the local media. Theories of Media Effects Can the media we use influence our culture and society? What is the implication of giving priority to one type of media? (a) If a society is using a certain platform as dominant, then what does it imply? If we are heading to media convergence, then people are now heading to more globalized content. (b) The “Medium is the Message” by McLuhan “The medium is the message” because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The content or uses of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human association. The main question in this lesson is: “Does media really influence us?” With this, there are two propositions: a. Audience is weak and media is strong; or b. Audience is strong and the media is weak. Audiences are weak and media is strong 1. Hypodermic Needle / Magic Bullet Theory - The "Magic Bullet" or "Hypodermic Needle Theory" of direct influence effects was based on early observations of the effect of mass media, as used by Nazi propaganda and the effects of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along". The "Magic Bullet" theory graphically assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of the "shooting" paradigm. It suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience. This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages. The public essentially cannot escape from the media's influence and is therefore considered a "sitting duck". Both models suggest that the public is vulnerable to the messages shot at them because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media's effects on the masses at the time. It means the media explores information in such a way that it injects it into the minds of audiences as bullets. 9  The "magic bullet" and "hypodermic needle" models originate from Harold Lasswell's 1927 book, Propaganda Technique in the World War. Recent work in the history of communication studies has documented how the two models may have served as strawman theory fallacy or even a "myth". Others have documented the possible medical origins of the metaphor of the magic bullet model. 2. Minimal Effects Model - Because propaganda was again employed extensively during the Second World War, research on media effects received renewed interest from scholars who questioned its exact efficacy. In addition, alarm over the rise in violence after the war accompanied the advent of television, sparking off a moral panic. However, establishing causation, as pointed out earlier, is extremely difficult in media research due to the multiple factors that are present. Also, most media research relies on content analysis and surveys where the subjects are asked to self-report. This has been criticized as unreliable, and at best can only establish a correlation. To demonstrate causation, all other factors must be controlled. Usually, this can only take place under laboratory conditions and not in a real-life context where factors are complex and unpredictable. This did not prevent researchers from trying and in 1961 Albert Bandura’s controversial “Bobo doll experiment” demonstrated how, in a laboratory context, children’s behavior can model itself on adult violence. 3. Cultivation Theory - Cultivation theory suggests that exposure to media, over time, subtly "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality. Gerbner and Gross assert: "Television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors. Its function is in a word, enculturation". Within his analysis of cultivation, Gerbner draws attention to three entities—institutions, messages, and the public. Though most researchers tend to focus on television as it is the most common form of media consumption in the world, Cultivation Theory has been shown to encompass many different forms of media, such as newspapers, film, and even photographs. This can apply anytime social observation occurs in any form outside a natural environment. Persistent long-term exposure to TV content has small but measurable effects on the perceptual world of audience members. Mainstreaming: Heavy viewers from different groups develop a similar outlook. Resonance: TV content “resonates” with real-life experiences to amplify the cultivation effect in certain groups. TV places marginalized people in symbolic double jeopardy by simultaneously under- representing and over-victimizing them. 4. Two-step flow model - The two-step flow of communication model says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media. In contrast to the one-step flow of the hypodermic needle model or magic bullet theory, which holds that people are directly influenced by mass media, according to the two-step flow model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretation of information in addition to the actual media content. 10  5. Agenda-Setting Theory - Agenda-setting describes the "ability (of the news media) to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda". Agenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern about salient issues by the news media. The study of agenda-setting describes the way media attempts to influence viewers and establish a hierarchy of news prevalence. Nations with more political power receive higher media exposure. The agenda-setting by media is driven by the media's bias on things such as politics, economy and culture, etc. Audience are strong and media is weak 1. Social Action Theory – this theory was developed by Anderson and Meyer which states that audiences are not hapless nor passive. Media audiences participate actively in mediated communication; they construct meanings from the content they perceive. Social action theory sees communication interaction in terms of actors’ intent, receivers' interpretations, and message content. Meaning is not delivered in the communication process, rather it is constructed within it. 2. Media dependency theory - Developed by Ball-Rokeach and DeFluer which explains that audiences depend on media information to meet needs and reach goals. Social institutions and media systems interact with audiences to create needs, interests, and motives in the person. The degree of dependence is influenced by: The number and centrality of information functions. Media functions include: a. Entertainment b. Monitoring government activities c. Education d. Social Cohesion Social stability - When social change and conflict are high; and established institutions, beliefs, and practices are challenged; people make new evaluations and choices. In such cases of instability, reliance on media may increase. 3. Uses and Gratification Theory – Developed by Jay Blumler and Denis McQuail. The uses and gratification theory (UGT) is an audience-centered approach that focuses on what people do with media, as opposed to what media does to people. Uses and gratification theory seeks to understand why people seek out the media that they do and what they use it for. UGT explores how individuals deliberately seek out media to fulfill certain needs or goals such as entertainment, relaxation, or socializing. Four uses of media: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, and surveillance 11 Mass Media Effects on Culture The relationship between culture and mass media is complex; it is difficult to distinguish modern culture from how it appears in the various mass media. Culture in the developed world is spread through mass media channels. Just as society forms and is formed in part by messages in the mass media, so it goes with culture. Cultural products and their popularity can influence which media channels people prefer. Conversely, changes in media and ICTs can lead to changes in how we produce culture. As we have learned in the media effects theory, media holds a great influence on its audience and therefore can ultimately affect people’s lives and culture. Media has no direct influence on society, but it has a lot to do with how we understand and interpret the society we live in. Media, therefore, is connected to social classes, religion, gender and sexuality, politics, and governance, as well as other facets of society. Classical and dominant approaches to communication and culture 1. Classical Marxist Theory - Mass media are the “means of production” which are controlled by the ruling class. - It produces “false consciousness” of the working class - Mass media as amplifiers that produce viewpoints of dominant social institutions in a society - Produces ideas that glorify the dominant institutions and ways of life - Mass media are used to create ideas and naturalness of what the ruling class deemed appropriate for society 2. Frankfurt School - Mass media as a source of entertainment and information that helps develop attitudes, habits, and intellectual and emotional reactions of individuals, and social systems. - Media outputs are irresistible and create a one-dimensional thought and behavior among the masses. - Dehumanization and over-production of consumer societies are due to capitalists’ use of mass media to manipulate the false needs of individuals. - Passivity and victimization of the audience are caused by the eroding of authentic culture by the commercialized mass media. - “The end of the individual” is “cultural industries” which are employed to eradicate the individual and produce mass society. 3. Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) - Mass Media as “Social Institutions” has the primary responsibility of creating acceptance of dominant ideologies and values of a social system. - Ideologies represent the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence. - Mass media creates a culture of compliance to and obedience to these ideologies among the masses. 12