Methods of Analysis of media products

Different types of ideologies need to be applied to analysing media. Ideologies are systems of belief. You may have preconceived notions about how you interpret or analyse media as a result of a system of belief you may ascribe to.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11711855/Media-Theory

McLennan in The Power of Ideology set out 3 conditions which must be fulfilled if beliefs and ideas are to be considered ideological.
1. The ideas must be shared by a significant amount of people
2. The ideas must form some kind of coherent system
3. The ideas must connect in some way to the use of power in society.

Coates describes 4 traditions of thought as a way of understanding society
1. Liberalism - sees society as "rational individuals in pursuit of their own self interest". This belief structure would argue that the state provides "external defence and internal order" and where individuals are not only motivated by self-interest but also for society's general good. Liberalism is derived from Adam Smith's economic theories of self-interest being of benefit to society.

The role of the mass media [in a Liberal

society] is to provide accurate and reliable information, upon which rational economic decisions can be made; the

media must respect the rights of the individual; the media are made up of groups of energetic entrepreneurs; the media should not be run by the state, although sensible regulation is necessary.”

(Price, p.14)

2. Marxism - Karl Marx was of the belief that individuals only truly existed in social relationships and that only by mutual co-operation could society benefit from this. His descriptions of the class system who owned property and the means of production (the bourgeois) hindered the lower classes development as they simply worked for them.

“The mass media [in a Marxist view of capitalist society] exist to maintain the capitalist state in power.”

(Price, p.15)

3. Social reformism - developed from the thoughts of John Stuart Mill who believed in the moral development, reform and education with the greatest amount of people possible participating in society by way of these activities.

“The role of the mass media [in a Social-Reformist

society] is to play a constructive part in a mature democracy.”

(Price, p.15)

4. Conservatism - is a belief of maintaining the status quo. They believe that "the present with all it's inequalities, is based on the accumulated wisdom of previous ages".

“The role of the mass media [in a Conservative society] is to act as a force for social cohesion.”

(Price, p.15)

• Semiological (Semiotics)

In it's simplest definition, semiotics are seen as "the study of signs"by Saussere.

Semiotics: the study of signs

Uploaded on Nov 4, 2007 by Digitmatt

http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/sem11.html

(Taken from the link above) 

Dominic Strinati notes:


How can we know that a bunch of roses signifies passion unless we also know the intention of the sender and the reaction of the receiver, and the kind of relationship they are involved in? If they are lovers and accept the conventions of giving and receiving flowers as an aspect of romantic, sexual love, then we might accept... [this] interpretation. But if we do this, we do so on the basis not of the sign but of the social relationships in which we can locate the sign... The roses may also be sent as a joke, an insult, a sign of gratitude, and so on. They may indicate passion on the part of the sender but repulsion on the part of the receiver; they may signify family relations between grandparents and grandchildren rather than relations between lovers, and so on. They might even connote sexual harassment. (Strinati 1995, 125).

Advertising and Semiotics

Uploaded on Feb 18, 2011sloman87

Gender Representation

Miss Representation Extended Trailer

Uploaded on Oct 13, 2011 by Anthony M

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11711855/Media-Theory

E. Anne Kaplan argues that feminist thought can be divided into the philosophical and the political. 

The Philosophical approach is either ‘essentialist’ or ‘anti-essentialist’.

1.Essentialist argue that women are a distinct group of people “in terms of an essence that precedes culture and is ultimately biological in origin.” Women

therefore possess essential humaneness to combat men’s competitiveness.

2.The anti-essential view is one that does not look for the essential femininity but tries to understand the process by which the female is ‘constructed’ by a male-dominated society.

The political categories are:

1.Bourgeois feminism means the concern of women to obtain equal rights

and freedoms within a capitalist system

2.Marxist feminism which links the specific oppression of women within the

larger structure of capitalism

3.Radical feminism which sees women as different from men and pursues

completely separate communities for women with their specific needs and desires

4.Post-structural feminism where we analyse the language order “through

which we learn to be what our culture calls women”

Meehan conducted a survey of prime-time US drama series in the 1970’s and came up with ten types of representation of women and called for new representations:

“it’s time to tell the stories of female heroes - heading families, heading corporations, conquering fears, and coping with change.”

(Price, p.311)

Marxist Theory

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11711855/Media-Theory

Growing out of some elements of Marxist thought, McQuail has described a number of alternative models of society.

1. Mass society theory where the institutions with power (the establishment)

support each other; the population is offered entertainment by the media as a diversion from their subordinate or lower position.

2. Classic Marxist theory

states that the capitalist class dominates and exploits the working class, whilst the mass media, being owned by the capitalists, circulate ideas that will keep them in power.

3. Political-economic theory

stresses that information which circulates in society is valued according to its possible profitability; the uneven distribution of resources prevents critical voices being heard. One development of 

this theory is that the media’s role is to produce and deliver audiences as

sources of profitability.

4. The theories of the Frankfurt school

and Marcuse suggest that the working class has been diverted by the mass production of goods, ideas and culture, and that marginal groups in society can resist and change even

though they do not have the same control over the working class

5. Theories of hegemony

come from the belief that the dominant ideas of the ruling classes reproduce themselves in the minds of the subordinate

. Ruling ideas would become the ideas of the whole of society and capitalism is able to survive.

6. Social-cultural theory

tries to understand how marginal group in society make use

of mass culture offered by the media and how in turn mass culture

draws these younger people and ethnic minorities into society.

Marxism Theory (Media)

Published on Aug 23, 2012 by HollyFieldMedia