June 6th, 2007

On Turf Wars and Revolutions:

Effects Versus Meaning

• Gerbner

• Gauntlet

• Kuhn

• Hall

About Research ProjectsAbout Research Projects

The presentations will be on July 18th

Still, it is time to start thinking about your topic. You can find them here

About Research ProjectsAbout Research Projects

Also, start thinking about how you are going to make your presentation: Via web page or Powerpoint The particulars are up to you, but you

must: Introduce your topic Explain the way(s) it relates to

communication and society Relate aspects/parts to one or more of

our readings

Did you see this article on the blog? Win in China Reactions

A perfect example of media, culture and society

Gitlin's parable From: Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of

Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives (2002)

Media (in America?) present a world of relentless sensation, instant transition, and nonstop stimuli fosters distraction and inattention;

"All-media, all-the-time" fuels celebrity cults, paranoia, and irony;

The attempt to ward off the media rush becomes an occasion for yet more media.

This "media torrent" encourages disposable emotions, casual commitments, and threatens to make democracy unimportant.

Gitlin’s Basic Thesis

• Bringing trucks back and forth for years over the border

• The guard is certain that some contraband (illegal goods) are being smuggled

• Finally (on retirement day) he asks. What is being smuggled?

• TRUCKS!

Does this story relate to media?

• Is this a “media effect”?

Gitlin’s “Truck Smuggler” Story

If the media institution is smuggling media, what does that mean (in practice)? What kind of effects might it have?

Answered a different way:

Marshall McLuhan: Famous Media Theorist

2 important sayings:

• “We live in a ‘Global Village’ ”

• The precursor to the idea of “globalization”

• “The Medium is the Message”

• Look at what we use to convey messages and that is the message that we should be focusing on

Relate the truck story to the media:

• Media is all around us;

• we get acculturated to it;

• we are cultivated into the logic of it;

• we “naturally” use it and (importantly) do not imagine NOT using it.

Gerbner: Cultivation --

Vivian: media can change the culture/society through continual presentation and exposure to the same kind of message over time.

• Ex: Getting used to violence as a “reality”

Next Discussion Point:

The Sociology of Knowledge

Defined:

•The Study of groups of knowledge (ideas/information that we learn)

•The Study of ideas/information held by/used by groups in society

Ｔｈｅ Ｔｈｅ Sociology of Sociology of KnowledgeKnowledge

Now, let’s relate that, in some ways to this academic conversation

3 Elements:1. How various social and cultural groups create

different knowledge “systems” (ways of thinking/seeing)

1. How a social context influences the ideas that are produced

2. How society shapes its knowledge, but also how knowledge (ideas) will influence or shape society

3. Studies the social psychology of consciousness and belief

1. meaning how much of human knowledge is second-hand reality

2. mediated uncritically through various people and institutions.

Social Psychology: defined

social = groups ;

psychology = way of thinking

• not a method, factors that influence thinking AND behavior

This is important in Sociology of Knowledge because it influences how groups think and act

Looks not only at how society shapes its knowledge, but also how knowledge (ideas) will influence or shape society

Examples of society knowledge? Copernicus recants on the idea that the

earth is not the center of the universe Perhaps Gauntlet’s claim that Effects

research is “conservative” and biased by its concern about control

Examples of knowledge society? Marx/Engels: The Communist Manifesto Concept of a “Market” connected with

“liberal ideology” Mill – 19th Century -- and 20th Century

economists like Hayak, Friedman) place preference on individual freedom and free will

Concept of rationality: Technicism became an important organizing

concept, based on an administration and organization

Leading theorist = Weber

Which is prior / more determinative?: humans (or) the structure they live inside of?

Do humans create structures? Or is structure there before them?

Even if structure is there prior to humans, do humans have the power to influence the structure?

The Sociology of KnowledgeThe Sociology of KnowledgeStudies the social psychology of consciousness and belief What is social psychology?:

The psychology (inner mental world) of a collection of people

Comment: that there are many kind (by size) of groups… From mass to class; small group to triad to dyad

Is it possible for a group to have an “inner mental world”?

Groups can build common knowledge Others cannot understand (tools shared by the group)

Example: private conversation in a language others cannot understand

NOTE: Groups often differ because culture, socialization or political parameters surrounding them

Thus, This third S of K element and the First S of K element have some connection

Example: Japanese Prime Minister goes to Yasukuni Shrine and the various significations that can result from this

Japanese nationalists, everyday citizens, and Chinese all process this information differently

Looking at Tuchman's writing, think about some examples of knowledge about media (that is, social research/academic ideas) that were influenced by context Look at the research/economic links Also think about the politics of producing

ideas in certain times, in certain countries

Sociology of Knowledge:Related to Tuchman’s

Reading

Related to Tuchman, the Sociology of Knowledge tells us that there are 2 main groups:

• Effects group (Gerbner)

• Meaning group (Gauntlet)

They have different views about:

• how to study media

• why we study media

• what media’s place in society is.

The next step is to think about Thomas Kuhn’s work on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions This answer I won’t supply, but think

bout it this way:

Questions: how can this be related to the story

being told in Tuchman’s writing? Do you see this in the exchange

between Gauntlet and Gerbner?

Which group does Hall belong to? Vivian: The meaning group TH: Why? Vivian: because he emphasizes encoding and

decoding TH: but if he emphasized the decoding he

might belong to the “Effects” group Vivian: he says that the message at the

beginning and the end may be different. TH: this is an important observation (by both

Hall and Vivian)

What is Hall’s Writing About?To answer that, think about:

What is Encoding? What is Decoding? What kind of Model does Hall build? What results from this modeling?

Hint: look at the class web-site in the “Study Aids” section

Autonomous character of the communication process

• What the encoder intends in his message may not be the same (or even close to) what the decoder takes from/gains out of the message

Important Dimension of Hall’s Work

Generally:

Hall’s model was brilliant!

It was a break-through

• Because it took the earlier “feeback/circular” models of the 1950s and built on them

• What did he add?

• Marxist ideas, Gramsci and theory (about ideology and hegemony)

Polysemy (defined): many meanings

Big debate inside the meaning school is:

• Even though there are many meanings in a message, are there:

• an infinite number of meanings

OR

• a limited number of meanings

Another Important Aspect of Hall

Thinking about Hall for next week:

At least 2 things:

1. The cultural circuit of meaning production and consumption: http://www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp/~holden/MediatedSociety/Images/Hall_Cultural_Circuit.jpg

• Two sides: encoding (production) decoding (consumption)

2.Three hypothetical positions of decoding TV “discourse”