Preview

Mass Media Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1093 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mass Media Society
Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture

Mass media, over the years, has had a profound effect on American society, on its culture, and on the individuals exposed to the media. Mass media is a form of socialization, having a long-term effect on each member of American society. While mass media targets the individual in short-term intervals, the overall influence on them has been established as the consumer moves from one impressionable age category to another. The long or short- term effects of mass media are separate and distinct when its role in America is evaluated. Mass media effects people differently because of varied amounts of exposure and formats.

Mass media has a socialization function in American society, in the culture, and on individuals. Mass media has played a role of socialization in our society over the years: Socialization is a long-term process that every human being undergoes as he or she becomes a functioning member of society. Socialization refers to the internalizing of all of the lessons from many sources concerning ways of behaving that are approved or expected by society, as individuals mature through every stage in the life cycle.

Mass media educates its customers on how to think and to act, as they are conditioned to what the media portrays as suitable responses and behavior to experiences in American life. This long- term process is established over the years as media influences the impressionable age groups, as they are gradually exposed to distinct messages of mass media. These distinct age consumer groups are targeted by mass media, and while the effects of mass media are short-term, the subtle impression is long-term. The effect on American society and culture is more prominent as the change of individuals’ personalities are observed.

Mass media has had a history of having distinct short-term effects upon its public. One of the most shocking and ridiculous examples of mass media’s manipulating

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    It would be impossible for most people to live even one day without mass communication, and yet, many people know little of how the media work and how it influence their lives positively and negatively. However, society has always needed effective and efficient means to transfer information in which mass communication media is the result of this need. Mass communication plays a significant role in modern society. For instance, broadcasting of news and other accurate information represents one of the functions of mass communication. People now days have an abundance of sources at their disposal for acquiring news, in particularly, television medium…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There is no doubt that the mass media is omnipresent, mediating every aspect of our lives. How one relates to and interprets the world is largely colored by how the media informs us. In the world today, media has become as necessary as food and clothing. It is considered as the “mirror” of the modern society. It informs people about current affairs and entertains through the latest gossip and fashion. The role of media has become one way of trading and marketing of products and prejudice. Communities and individuals are bombarded constantly with messages from a multitude of sources including TV, billboard and magazines, to name a few. These messages promote not only products but moods, attitudes and a sense of what is and is not important. Mass media makes possible the concept of celebrity: without the ability of movies, magazines, music and news media to reach across thousands of miles, people could not become famous. (Chandler 2000) emphasizes the role of mass media in the reproduction of status quo.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violate Social Norms

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Furthermore, I had never before analyzed the meaning behind the media messages, and the different functions they serve; for example, they can promote consumption, confer status, enforce social norms, and socialize. Although most see the media as a way to get the news, these messages also persuade the audience what to buy, how to act, and who to idolize as well. I know that the mass media has influenced not only my perceptions of other people, places, and things, but also my thoughts and ideas. There is no doubt that I would be a completely different person than I am now if I lived in a world with no mass…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are different perspectives on the controversial issue of what the media’s affects are on the population that it is intended to serve. The truth of the matter is that what the public sees, what they hear, and what they read is being controlled by fewer and fewer large multinational corporations. In regards to the news, it is no longer…

    • 2531 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curtis, A., & University of North Carolina at Pembroke (2012). Mass Media Influence on Society. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/Media&Society/MassMediaInfluenceOnSociety.html…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Real World Sociology

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The mass media in recent time has become an important agent of socialization, oftentimes overriding the family and other institutions in instilling norms and values.…

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass media draws the public’s attention to particular issues, placing more emphasis on certain topics, so they appear to be of more importance to the…

    • 1726 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Truman Show

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It is quite often oblivious to all of us, the effect that media has on us. However, where ever we look the effects of media have altered the coarse of living. The clothes we wear, the sports we play, the music we listen to and our political opinions, are all aspects that are influenced by the media. Advertising is the chief culprit in many cases. We often see others responding to the effects of media whether it is consciously or subconsciously.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Technology Argument

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The mass media, including T.V., radio, and newspapers have been around for almost a generation. At least one of these pieces of media has been in every household in America, if not all of them. They give people an insight into what’s going on in the world. It also informs people of the newest trends from clothing to music. All this time the media has been in American homes it has influenced those who watch, listen, or read it. Although it has influenced adults, its main target has been the younger generations. The advertising and T.V. shows have been made to be appealing to them and have swayed their opinions. The media has influenced younger generations’ style, way of life, and ultimately put pressure on them to be the perfect person.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the age of information technology, we cannot underestimate the role of Mass Media as a great “agent of change” in the society. Nowadays we frequently encounter media campaigns on TV, Radio, Internet or newspapers or magazines. Media has become a very effective and powerful weapon through which “authorities manipulate social attitude and behavior. The rapid rise of mass media utility and their potential influence has led many to wonder about the actual role and behavior. Mass Communication are all powerful that they determine thought and action to a major degree…

    • 1915 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Com/156 Week 9 Final Paper

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages

    However, these changes not only affect society but it has also affected the way business is done today. With the dawn of media convergence, globalization of media, audience dependency, concentration of ownership, and issue of media literacy; all the parties in the mass communication process are forced to think dramatically about their positions in it. Mass media can affect knowledge, attitudes, opinions and behavior of individuals. These effects can be immediate or delayed, for a short duration or long-lasting.…

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Communication Theories

    • 4154 Words
    • 17 Pages

    It has become something of a cliché to observe that despite many decades of research and hundreds of studies, the connections between people's consumption of the mass media and their subsequent behaviour have remained persistently elusive. Indeed, researchers have enjoyed an unusual degree of patience from both their scholarly and more public audiences. But a time must come when we must take a step back from this murky lack of consensus and ask - why? Why are there no clear answers on media effects?…

    • 4154 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Newspaper Headlines

    • 5797 Words
    • 24 Pages

    In today’s hectic world one of the most important factors is information. The means of information provision are quite different which can be summarized in one word: mass media. The media is the whole body of communications that reach large numbers of the public via radio, television, movies, magazines, newspapers and the World Wide Web. All of them, alongside their informative essence, are aimed at influencing huge audiences. That audience has been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass media techniques such as advertising and propaganda.…

    • 5797 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass media has attributed to every part of our lives. From the morals we follow, to the political parties we choose to support, to the products we buy, and even to our daily routines. Every part of our lives is a direct repercussion of what we have been exposed to on the television set and the World Wide Web.…

    • 2099 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mass Media Effects

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To understand the effects of mass media, you must first understand what mass media is. According to, “The Free Dictionary” (2012), mass media is defined as, “ a means of communication that reach a large number of people in a short time, such as television, newspaper, magazine, radio, and internet.” When you look back as just the last 50 years, our technology has increasingly been on the uprise allowing for major advancements in not only the original form of communication and news exchange, but in our entertainment area as well. We used to have to actually go to a post office and mail a letter, and now we can send an email. Our population used to gather at the lucky enough families home that owned a radio and they would gather to hear presidential address, and now we get them stream live straight to our phones. To say that we have upgraded is an understatement.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays