Chapter 5 - Summary of the lecture in the Sociology book PDF

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Summary of the lecture in the Sociology book...

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Chapter 5 Mass Media and Social Media What Is the Media? 1. 5.1 Explain the meanings of three key concepts: media, mass media, and social media. Media refers to channels of communication. Mass media refers to the means for transmitting information from a single source to a vast number of people.  Through most of human history, people engaged in face-to-face interaction.  The era of mass media began about the year 1800 as newspapers increased circulation followed by the spread of radio and television in the twentieth century and the expansion of the internet in recent decades.  Although earlier mass media transmits information in one direction, today’s social media permits interactive communication and encourages people to form communities of interest.

Definitions: Mass media: refers to all media that transmit information from a single source with the potential to reach a vast number of people. Social media: media that allows people to communicate with one another, to share information, and to form communities based on interests and goals. Media: channels of communication.

Media and the Message: Media Bias and Media Literacy 1. 5.2 Investigate the issue of media bias and the need for media literacy. 

Marshall McLuhan claimed that media not only transmit but also shape the message.

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Because the media can shape the message and because there are so many sources of information, it is important to develop media literacy skills to assess bias.

Definition: Media literacy: the capacity to be a critical consumer of mass media.

The Evolution of Mass Media and Social Media 1. 5.3 Describe the historical evolution of mass media and social media. 

Newspapers first appeared in Europe in the seventeenth century; after 1800, circulations increased dramatically making papers a true mass medium.

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Radio (beginning in the 1920s) and television stations (becoming nationwide in the 1950s) became more popular than newspapers and shaped public awareness of society and the world.

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Cable and satellite radio and television provide an extensive and diverse programming.

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The development of the internet in the later decades of the last century set the stage for development of social media.

Definition: Digital device: the differences in access to the internet for various categories of people around the world or within a nation.

The Effect of Social Media on Individuals 1. 5.4 Explore how the use of social media affects individuals. 

Social media encourage individual to “present” themselves in ideal terms.

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The response of others to online presentations shapes individuals’ selfimage and self-esteem.

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Research links use of social media to lower empathy, conformity, reduced attention span, and the risk of addiction.

Definitions:

Cyber-bullying: the use of the internet to embarrass, abuse, or manipulate another person. Multitasking: engaging in more than one mental or physical task at a given time.

The Effect of Social Media on Relationships 1. 5.5 Assess how the use of social media may affect social relationships.  

Social media supports relationships over great distances. People who use social media have larger social networks and many report this technology enhances the quality of their relationships.

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Social media can increase parental control over children’s lives.

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About 15 percent of U.S. adults report using social dating sites.

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Marriages that begin online are three times more likely to end in divorce than marriages that begin in more traditional ways.

The Effect of Social Media on Society 1. 5.6 Identify several effects of social media on society. 

Especially for young people, much popular culture is based on the internet.

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Social media now plays a major part in socialization and also in transmitting messages about race, class, and gender.

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Research links use of social media to “shallow” culture that highlights superficial issues such as beauty and popularity.

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Computer technology supports the service work done by most U.S. workers.

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Social media has increasing importance for political campaigns.

Theories of Social Media 1. 5.7 Apply sociology’s major theories to social media.

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Structural-functional theory links social media to socialization, advancing a uniform culture, integrating people into communities, social control, entertainment and stability, and social change.

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Symbolic-interaction theory explains how social media plays a central part in the social construction of reality.

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Marxist social-conflict theory highlights how social media supports the capitalist economic system.

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Feminist theory highlights ways in which the mass media creates and perpetuates gender inequality.

Definition: Media consolidation: the trend by which an increasing share of the mass media is owned and controlled by a small number of individuals and corporations....