LESSON 59: EFFECTS

After desensitisation and the addictive/exploitation issues of lesson 58 we now need to push deeper into the media theories that might offer us some understanding of the debates around these issues.

The whole issue is founded to some extent on the idea that there are two cultures operating in our society - popular [or low] culture and high culture.

Task:
What parts of our society's activities might be deemed to be popular culture [EG rap music; rock music]?
What aspects might be deemed to be high culture [EG opera]?

This idea underpins how some intellectuals have perceived the subject of their studies [popular cultures mass audience] and their vulnerability to such messages/influence.

The Guardian: Media influence on teenagers

Paul Lazarsfeld worked on analysing the impact of party political broadcasts on voters in the American elections during the 1940s and discovered some facts about what/who influenced voting choices.

We see how this idea - the 2-Step flow - has influenced the nature of the adverts that we watch and the way that companies use media to market their products.

This leads us into the whole issue of how we watch media products which has given rise to the work of Blumler and Katz based on the earlier ideas of Maslow. This is what we term Uses and Gratification theory.