SOC 880 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Paul Lazarsfeld, Mass Media, Heteronormativity
14 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Paul lazarsfeld and richard k. merton identified some functions and dysfunctions of the mass communications industry and how mass communications bears an influence on political action. Enforcement of social norms : mass media also provides a reflection and encouragement of social norms, by constantly presenting models of both idealized and aberrant behaviour. This could involve glorifying celebrities who conform to standards of beauty and heteronormativity (the assumption that heterosexual behaviour is the social norm) or by exposing and thus reinforcing. deviant behaviour when covering scandals or criminal cases. Narcotyzing dysfunction : overexposure to news breeds political complacency. Where people tend to get their views reinforced more than they get their views challenged. Sunstein argues that the web is becoming increasingly personalized, and this personalization breeds polarization. According to sunstein, politics online tends more toward divisiveness and extremism than it does toward public debate.
