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Foreword
This Padlet is part of an assignment set for a unit within sociology. Any comments, unless referenced are my own.

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The Cambridge Dictionary (2018) describes mass as “having an effect on or involving a large number of people or forming a large amount”. So therefore, we can assume that anything involving the word mass, in sociological terms, will also involve a large amount of people.

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The Oxford Living Dictionary (2018) states that “the word media comes from the Latin plural of medium”. Upon further exploration, they have the following to say about the word ‘medium’; describing it as “an agency or means of doing something” and “a means by which something is communicated or expressed” (Oxford English 2018). Early forms of media include stone carvings and papyrus (Giddens 1997).

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In order to find out what mass media is, all we really need to do is blend the previous two definitions together. By doing this we can take a guess that the ‘mass media’ is a means of communicating to a large number of people. Browne et al. (2009) confirm this, stating that “The term ‘mass media’… may refer to: the technology involved in communicating with large mass audiences without any personal contact… the institutions and organizations concerned with mass communication in which people work… the products of those institutions”.

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Garzon/courtesy of cartoonmovement.com (Garzon 2014).

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[Anon]. (2014) Mass Media. [Image online]. Available from: https://projektmassmedia.wordpress.com/ [Accessed 19 March 2018].

BBC. (2018) Values. London: BBC. [Online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/whoweare/mission_and_values [Accessed 15 March 2018].

Browne, K., Blundell, J., Law, P. and Whalley, M. (2009) Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Cambridge English Corpus. (2018) Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Thesaurus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ekman, P. and Friesen, W.V. (1978) Facial Action Coding System. New York: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Giddens, A. (1997) Sociology 3 rd edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Oxford English (2018) Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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The mass media in the UK is owned by several large companies. Of these companies, seven alone publish 98% of all “national daily and Sunday newspapers” (Browne et al. 2009).  This is because individual newspaper companies are owned by larger conglomerate corporations (Browne et al. 2009). The same can be said for other forms of mass media too, with many conglomerate companies owning subsidiaries within film, television and publishing etc. (Browne et al. 2009).

Current information on who owns who can be found here www.mediauk.com

The mass media can not cover all of the events happening world wide and so it selects what it deems to be news worthy. These preferences for news stories or interests are directly in line with those of the private owners of each conglomerate company (Browne et al. 2009).

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How do the Marxists feel about the mass media?

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How do the Marxists feel about the mass media?

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Karl Marx famously believed that there was a class divide between the working classes, or proletariat, and the upper classes, or bourgeoisie (Giddens 1997). “The relationship between classes, according to Marx, is an exploitative one” (Giddens 1997). But where can we see exploitation within the mass media? Certainly, if we look back at how the private owners of mass media companies influence their subsidiaries, we may see some evidence of exploitation; if the media companies are all reporting the same views, politically for example, then that may influence the masses to vote in line with the media. Giddens (1997) states that “politics is stage managed in parliament and the media, while commercial interests triumph over those of the public”. It may be assumed then that the Marxists have a pessimistic view of the media and may believe that “Transnational corporations… control the Internet technology, the satellite channels and mobile networks. This poses a threat to democracy and enhances the power of the already powerful, as more and more of what we know is dominated and controlled by global corporations” (Browne et al. 2009).

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[Anon]/courtesy of wordpress.com ([Anon]. 2014)

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One to one communication is communication that takes place between only 2 people. This could include speaking privately, speaking over the phone, contact via email or private message on social media platforms and written letters or text messages.

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How do the functionalists feel about the mass media?

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How do the functionalists feel about the mass media?

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Functionalists believe that different institutions and social practices work within society like organs in a body, each having a role to play in the “continuation of society as a whole” (Giddens 1997). This belief is perfectly in line with the BBC’s core values which state that they will “enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.” (BBC 2018). Therefore, it can be assumed that the functionalist view of the media is a positive one. If this is the case they may believe that “There is now a far wider range of news sources, and a vast ocean of information available to all” (Giddens 1997).

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One to many communication is a form of communication that is sent by one person to many people. This could include news and weather reports on the television, mass email; where one email is sent to many people, mass private message; where one private message is sent to many people, websites; which may have only one designer and an audience, blogs; which have one author and an audience, books; which have one author and an audience.

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It is evident that there are many different types of communication; some that cater to many and some that are more personal. While the Functionalists believe that each form serves a purpose it would appear, on the surface, that the Marxists have an alternate view of the media and its intentions. These views will be explored in more depth over the coming assignments.

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Is there a different type of communication?

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Is there a different type of communication?

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Different forms of communication could include ‘non-verbal communication’ which Giddens (1997) defines as “Communication between individuals based on facial expression or bodily gesture, rather than on the use of language”. Several studies have been undertaken within the field of non-verbal communication, one by “Paul Ekman and his colleagues” (Giddens 2007), even going so far as to develop a Facial Action Coding System which characterizes the muscle movements that result in different expressions (Ekman and Friesen 1978).