Media & Communication Theory Lecture 1 PDF

Media & Communication Theory Lecture 1: Introduction Dr. Michael L. Wayne Assistant Professor of Media and Creative Industries About me [email protected] Van der Goot building – M8-39 (office hours by appointment) Research Today: What can we learn by stud...

Media & Communication Theory Lecture 1: Introduction Dr. Michael L. Wayne Assistant Professor of Media and Creative Industries About me [email protected] Van der Goot building – M8-39 (office hours by appointment) Research Today: What can we learn by studying media & communication theories from a sociological perspective? 1. Introduction/course set-up 2. Theory 3. A short history of the media 4. Reading and note-taking strategies 4 Course objectives Upon successful completion, students have knowledge and understanding of: The main theoretical approaches and perspectives to the study of mass mediated communication in historical perspective; Key concepts and approaches to the study of media contents, media production, media reception, media uses and media influences; Influences on media contents; processes of media production, distribution and reception; uses and influences of media. 5  1. Introduction: Course set-up 6 Wk. Subject(s) Literature Assignment Introduction - What can we learn by studying the media industries 1. Chapter 1 - from a sociological perspective? Technology - How can we understand the relationship between 2. Chapter 2 Individual presentations (tutorial 2) technological developments and social change? Industry - How do economic and political forces influence the media 3. Chapter 3 & 4 Individual presentations (tutorial 3) industries? 4. Industry - How do media professionals go about their work? Chapter 5 Individual presentations (tutorial 4) Content - How can we understand the relationship between media 5. Chapter 6 & 7 Individual presentations (tutorial 5) content and society? Individual presentations (tutorial 6) 6. Users - What are people doing with media? Chapter 8 Written group assignment 1 (deadline: Monday, October 14 @ 1700) 7. Users - What are media doing to people? Chapter 9 Individual presentations (tutorial 7) Conclusions – Media and communication technologies, media 8. Chapter 10 Individual presentations (tutorial 8) industries, content and users in a globalising world. 9. Final exam (see online timetable) Canvas (canvas.eur.nl) 8  Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. & Childress, C. (2022). Media/Society (7th ed.). London: Sage Bring your book to the tutorials! 9  Exam material An example that illustrates specific developments, concepts or theories. 10 Exam (30 mc questions + 2 open questions) The focus of the exam is on theories and concepts. Furthermore, the exam covers general developments/trends in the field of media and major research findings as discussed in the book. Everything that is covered in the lectures can be subject of an exam question, including topics, concepts, or theories that are not mentioned explicitly in the book chapters. You do need to know the names of researchers associated with particular theories or concepts (e.g. Stuart Hall, Marshall McLuhan, Daniel Boorstin). 11  2. Theory: Introduction 12 Today’s main messages Mass media are pervasive. One key sociological concern is the tension between structure and agency. 13 Why media and communication theories? A theory is “a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of life” (Babbie, 2017, p. 8). 14  Why media and communication theories? There are many popular assumptions about the effects of media Media have become a dominant social institution in our society The mass media are a powerful socializing agent 15 Where do media and communication theories come from? 16 Where do media and communication theories come from? Industries Audiences production research distribution culture marketing ideology Content genre narrative status 17 Where do media and communication theories come from? 18 Why a sociological perspective? A focus on social relationships Between the Between the media and Within the media and the other social media industry public institutions 19 Why a sociological perspective? 20 Simplified model of media and the social world, Croteau & Hoynes (2019)  Socialization The process whereby we learn and internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of our culture and, in so doing, develop a sense of self. 21 22  Social construction of reality The process of shaping reality through social interaction. While reality exists, we must negotiate the meaning of that reality. 23 The Production of Social Reality 1. People create society 2. Over time, these creations come to seem objectively real 3. People internalize the norms and values of their culture 24  Structure Agency 25 Imagine … You are working as a content executive at a streaming television service. Your job is to ‘greenlight’ new series for the platform. How do you choose what to produce? 26  Ted Sarandos Talks Storytelling and Selecting Creative - at the 2019 Producers Guild Awards 27 https://youtu.be/K3OGZ5LKSro  …is a television content executive fully autonomous in his or her decisions? 28 29  Agency (independent What choices are based purely on action) autonomous decisions, actions and creativity? Structure What choices are influenced or (constraints) constrained by other things and thus not so autonomous (e.g. patterns, taken for granted ways of doing things)? 30  Social structure Any recurring pattern of social behavior. Agency Intentional and undetermined human action. 31 Producing television content is shaped by: Human agency e.g.: personal style, creative decisions, personal preferences Structural e.g.: Economic considerations, genres, constraints routines, television history 32 Studying the production, texts, and reception of mass media Structure Agency 1.There is (infinite) tension between structure and agency 2.Structure is partially shaped by agency 3.One can be more shaping than the other 33 Tug of war 34 Tension between ‘commerce’ and ‘creativity’ in the media industries 35  3. A short history of the media 36 37 The Fifth Estate (2013)  A short history of ‘the media’ Year Media-related advancement 100 Papermaking is developed in China 600 Printing using carved blocks of wood begins in China 800 First books are printed in China, using a single wood block for an entire page of text 1000 Movable clay type –with one piece of type for each character- used in China 1200 Movable metal type developed in Korea 1450 Modern, hand-operated printing press with movable type is developed in Germany 1600 First newspapers appear in Germany, France and Belgium Recreated Gutenberg press at the International Printing Museum, Carson, California 38  The advent of mass communication and mass media A known sender One-way flow Large-scale and an anonymous of content audience 39 Bell & Howell 2709 movie Ica Bobby 35mm film projector camera (1920s) (1925) Embassy Theatre (New York City) 1925 Kate Smith performing with studio musicians September 1942. Rochester, New York. for a radio broadcast, 1946. 41 Betty White (left) during a broadcast (mid-1950s) Family watching television 1958  Cinema admissions per capita: USA, 1929–2017 Data Sources: Motion Picture Almanac, US Bureau of Census, the-numbers.com, NATO 42 Digitization 43 Why a sociological perspective? 44 Simplified model of media and the social world, Croteau & Hoynes (2019)  4. Reading and note taking strategies 45  versus Relevant sources: Gupta, N., & Irwin, J. D. (2016). In-class distractions: The role of Facebook and the primary learning task. Computers in 46 Human Behavior, 55, 1165–1178. Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. Reading strategies Find the organizational pattern of the text Identify key terms and arguments Distinguish theories and concepts from examples Take notes Review your notes Evaluate understanding 47 Next lecture Subject Preparation lecture Media Technologies Chapter 2 48