1. Media Studies: Key Thinkers and Approaches
Week 4: Media Effects and Mass Communication
1950’s De Soto Ad Campaign

7. Mills “The Mass Society”
C. Wright Mills ( )
American Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, New York
Concerned with the formation of a “Power Elite” in post-WWII America and asserted the need for responsible and engaged public intellectuals.

8. Mills “The Mass Society”
Mills outlines how “the public” has been replaced by “the mass” in post-WWII America.
The public, in political theory, is seen to be the “seat of all legitimate power” (p.298).
The importance in democratic societies of the free ebb and flow of discussion.

9. Mills “The Mass Society”
Ideally the process (from public opinion to political action) would involve the following steps:
the people are presented with problems
they discuss them
they decide on them
they formulate viewpoints
these viewpoints are organized, and they compete
one viewpoint ‘wins out’
then the people act out this view, or their representatives are instructed to act it out, and this they promptly do

10. Mills “The Mass Society”
This process depends on a notion of a public where: 1) virtually as many people express opinions as receive them (ratio of givers of opinion to receivers) 2) there is an opportunity to answer back any opinion expressed in public 3) opinion formed in public readily finds an outlet for effective action 4) authoritative institutions do not penetrate the public, which is thus more or less autonomous in its operations
But this classic democratic image of the public is not how the system of power works in America of the 1950s, according to Mills.

11. Mills “The Mass Society”
Mills contrasts the image of the public with that of the mass in which: 1) far fewer people express opinions than receive them 2) the communications are so organize that is difficult for the individual to answer back 3) the realization of opinion in action is controlled by authorities who organize and control the channels of such action 4) the mass has no autonomy from institutions

12. Mills “The Mass Society”
So why does Mills feel American society is moving from the public to the mass?
A move from widely scattered little economic powers to concentrated powers and attempts at monopoly control.
The existence of powerful forms of mass media manipulating the masses from centralized points of control.

13. Mills “The Mass Society” (recap)
The specific problem of mass media:
From instrument of discussion to one in which the public is seen as a media market.
An increased scale and intensity of “opinion-making.”
We come to accept or reject specific opinions not by the force of logical consistency, but by their emotional affinity and the way in which they relieve anxiety.
No longer possible to “play one medium off against another” as people tend to select media that share there existing views and there is very little in terms of varying content between the various media forms.

14. Mills “The Mass Society” (recap)
The specific problem of mass media:
The media supply the images through which we shape our own self-image. They give us identity, aspirations, techniques for attaining our goals, and confirmation that we have achieved them even if we have not.
The media encroach on small scale discussion and fail to connect the world news they provide to the individual’s life or to a course of action.

15. Mills “The Mass Society” (recap)
So why does Mills feel American society is moving from the public to the mass?
Mass education has become another mass medium.
“The function of education shifted from the political to the economic: to train people for better-paying jobs and thus to get ahead” (p.317).
He argues that “In a community of publics the task of liberal education would be: to keep the public from being overwhelmed; to help produce the disciplined and informed mind that cannot be overwhelmed; to help develop the bold and sensible individual that cannot be sunk by the burdens of mass life” (p.319).

16. Mills “The Mass Society”
So why does Mills feel American society is moving from the public to the mass?
The growing size of voluntary associations - making them inaccessible to the individual and immune to his or her influence.
The leaders of these mass associations begin to see themselves less as a representative of its members, and more as part of “an elite” - the views of other “elites” begin to count more than the views of the members - the middle no longer connects the bottom with the top.

17. Mills “The Mass Society”
In contrast to the mass organization, Mills defines a functioning voluntary organization as: 1) being a context where reasonable opinions may be formulated 2) where reasonable activities may be undertaken 3) and which is a powerful enough unit, in comparison with other organizations of power, to make a difference
These organizations, Mills claims, are different from “crowds of demonstrators,” where “people in the crowd disperse again - as atomized and submissive masses” (p.309).

23. G-20 Protests - London
Are current protest movements functioning voluntary organizations according to Mills’ terms? Are they merely crowds? Do we agree with Mills’ distinction between the two?

24. Clashed with Mills over different visions of the role of sociology
Lazarsfeld and Merton
Paul Lazarsfeld – key figure in the formation of 20th Century American Sociology.
Jewish scholar from Vienna who came to America in the 1930s and stayed due to the political situation in Europe.
The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research.
Championed rigorous empirical social science methods in work such as his Radio Research Project.
Clashed with Mills over different visions of the role of sociology
Paul Lazarsfeld ( )

25. Lazarsfeld and Merton
Begin by questioning the commonly held assumption that mass communication is shaping the structure of our society.
These anxieties over mass communication come from a general consensus that mass media are ubiquitous (they are everywhere); that they create audience conformism; and that they lead to a debasement or deterioration of taste and aesthetics.
Despite arguing that the social effects of mass media are over-estimated they claim that the media do have certain social functions.

26. Lazarsfeld and Merton
Status Conferral Function: mass media legitimize particular figures and their messages
The Enforcement of Social Norms: mass media initiate social action by “exposing” deviant behavior or violations of common norms and values (closes gap between “private attitudes” and “public morality”)
The Narcotizing Dysfunction: mass media tend to create political and social apathy. Time is spent intaking information (reading, listening, watching) rather than participating in organized action.

27. Lazarsfeld and Merton
If the mass media are to be used for a form of positive propaganda, a “propaganda for social objectives” it must meet one or more of the following three conditions in order to be effective:
Monopolization of mass media (minimize oppositional messages) - social movements do not generally have access to this level of media ownership
Canalization (capitalize on pre-existing behaviours, attitudes or values) - difficult approach when you are trying to encourage social change
Supplementation (supplement mass media messages with face to face contact) - programs can be expensive to implement