Transcript Slide 1

GCSE Sociology 2012-2013
28 Teaching Weeks
until your exam
Mass Media
Power
Social Inequality
Unit 1 Revision
Unit 2 Revision
EXAM
10th Sept – 23rd Oct
5th Nov – 18th Dec
7th Jan – 12th Feb
25th Feb – 26th Mar
15th Apr – 14th May
17th & 22nd May (prov)
What is different in year 11?
• Weekly homework
• 2 Assessments per half term
• Compulsory intervention if you achieve less
than a C
Homework due Monday 17th September
Bring in a newspaper that you have read. You
will be tested!
Mass Media: What are the Mass Media?
L.O:
•Define mass media
•Identify examples of traditional forms of mass communication
•Identify examples of the new mass media
•Explain why sociologists say that the mass media is an important agency of social
change
Key terms: mass communication, technological change, agency of social
change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7bVp3xfC
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Mass Communication
Reaching an audience of
thousands or perhaps
millions
TASK
How do you communicate with your friends and
family?
How many times a day do you phone someone, send a
text or email?
When did you last write a letter?
Task: Copy & complete this table:
Traditional forms of media
Newspaper
New forms of media
Online newspaper
What are the
key differences
between old and
new forms of
media?
In the past
•Family ties were broken by
separation
•Friends lost contact
•News travelled slowly
Today
•Easier to maintain contact
with friends and relatives
living in different parts of the
country or the world
Did you know?
Publishers of the first books were
motivated by religious reform.
They wanted people to have an
immediate and personal contact
with God.
Agency of social change: influencing
social attitudes and government policy
Why do sociologists argue
that the development of
communication is the most
important agency of social
change?
The mass media as an agency of social change
The mass media are one of the secondary agencies of socialisation. They are
part of the way individuals learn about the social world beyond the
immediate (primary) influence of the parents.
The mass media can offer alternative answers to some of the questions that we
may ask ourselves beyond the immediate circle of our family and friends.
What does it mean to be a man or a woman in the modern world? How
should we behave towards others? What can we aspire to achieve?
Obviously our family, our peer groups, our school or college will all have a
powerful formative influence on our aspirations and our behavior. However,
above and beyond this the mass media present us with powerful images that
dominate our waking moments.
Some people argue that the media have a responsibility to represent the social
world in such a way that they avoid biased or stereotypical representations
of reality. However, it is still the case that much of what we see in the media,
particularly on television or in films, relies heavily on stereotypes and
exaggerated representations of the social world.
Mass Media: Information overload?
L.O:
•Explain the relationship between media and its audience
•Critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the internet
Key terms: information overload, hyperreality, culture of simulation
Starter: Looking at these
pictures, what do you
think is meant by the
phrase “Information
overload”?
Hands up if…
• You feel lost without your mobile phone
• You check your mobile phone at least once an
hour
• You check facebook at least once a day
• You send at least one instant message a day
(e.g. text, facebook, MSN messenger,
blackberry)
Are we suffering from information overload?
We live in a world where people are instantly
available and instant communication continues
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In the past communication was time consuming
and expensive so people thought carefully
before contacting each other.
Consider the following……
•How many of your telephone conversations,
texts and emails are really necessary?
•Is it not a burden that that you cant get away
from family, friends or employers?
TASK - Answer the following questions
1. Are we suffering from information overload? In your answer cover both sides of
the argument.
2. How have new technologies benefited politicians images and campaigns.
The original purpose of the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMHY8I_
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Keyword
Internet – a
global system of
interconnected
computers.
Not designed for social and commercial
communication.
Began in the Cold War as a way of sharing and
safeguarding electronic information stored on early
mainframe computers.
The US military commissioned a system that used linked
computers in different places, computer data was
protected from the danger of nuclear attack.
It quickly became clear that it could be used to
communicate messages
Keywords
Old media – print media and
electronic communications
developed during the mid
20th century or earlier.
New media – computerised
communications technology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSfKlCmYcL
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Watch the clips and explain
the meaning of the keyword.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiiUTv98k
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Why might a hyper reality
appeal to people who feel
alienated in every day life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4CzcoU
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Some sociologists have suggested that relatively new forms of
communications technology have completely swamped
people with information.
They have become overloaded with ideas and images, to such an
extent that the difference between reality and images of
reality has begun to breakdown, creating a form of alternative
reality or hyperreality.
In other words, some people appear to be unable to distinguish
between what they see on television and encounter in the
virtual world of the internet, and the everyday world of lived
experience. We are creating a culture of simulation.
People who feel alientated from people in the real world begin
to place great value on what they see on the television
This is one explanation for the popularity of soap operas or
reality television programmes like The Only Way is Essex.
How can we link the
key terms
hyperreality and
social networking
sites?
Social networking sites – reality?
The internet – danger or opportunity?
Do you have unsupervised access to
the internet?
Do your younger siblings have
unsupervised access to the internet?
List the dangers of the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV1ZCF4ou
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThxmgXM
BpoM
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kid
sonline/view/
Do the opportunities
offered by the
internet outweigh
the dangers?
Give reasons for your
answer.
Mass Media: Active/Passive Audience?
L.O:
• Explain the ways in which audiences can relate to the new mass media
Key terms: hypodermic needle theory
Starter: Are we manipulated
by the media?
These images represent how in the past
sociologists have explained the relationship
between the media and individuals
How could Politicans
use the hypodermic
needle theory to
manipulate people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd88H_5k-rY
Syringe = Newspapers, internet, television etc
Drug = Media content
Patient = Audience
i.e. we are passive consumers and can be manipulated
An alternative theory is that the audience are
active consumers.
i.e. we engage in media because we want to.
Why do social
networking sites
make it more
difficult for
politicians to
How do social networking influence
sites and blogspeople?
support this argument?
Testing key terms
Define these key terms:
• Agency of social change
• Hyperreality
• Hypodermic needle theory
• Passive consumers
• Active consumers