Mass Society Theory

Purpose and pattern

To place communication technology into a

historical and theoretical perspective Theories assist us as we face challenges of new media Develop understanding through historical method Theories are never completely innovative and are always the product of the era in which they are constructed All social theory is human construction scholarly efforts to make sense of the social world

Five eras in the Development of Mass Communication Theory

The Era of Mass Society Theory The Emergence of a Scientific Perspective

on Mass Communications The Era of Limited Effects The Era of Cultural Criticism The Emergence of Moderate Effects

Defining Theory
Theories are stories about how and why

events occur Turner, 1981 THEORY: Conceptual representation or explanation of a phenomenon

The Mass Society Theory

Is an all-encompassing perspective on

Western, industrial society that attributes an influential but often quite negative role to media. Gives an idea that media has the power to shape our perceptions of the social world and manipulate our reactions and actions in subtle but highly effective ways.

History and Features

Wlliam Radolph Hearst (1896) From telegraph to wire services Era of penny press, nickel magazine and

dime novel Yellow journalism Functional displacement

Assumptions of the Mass Society Theory

1. The media are malignant, cancerous

force within society and must be purged and totally restructured. 2. Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people. (direct effects assumption) 3. Once peoples minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad, long-term consequences result- bringing not only ruin to individual lives but also creating social problems on a vast scale.

Assumptions of the Mass Society Theory (contd..)

4. Average people are vulnerable to the

media because they have been isolated and cut-off from traditional and social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation. 5.The social chaos initiated by the media will inevitably be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order. 6. Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline in civilization.

Bernard Berelson The great debate on cultural democracy

Participants of this debate Practicus : Media Industry Academicus: Mass Society Theorists Empiricus: Mass communication

researchers who used social science methods

Fall of the mass society theory

Collapse began by 1965 Inherent flaws became more obvious Simplistic assumptions and criticisms

rejected. Media do not subvert culture, but play a major and sometimes counterproductive role in cultural change. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (Ferdinand Tonnies) Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity ((Emile Durkheim)