EMERGENCE OF CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION

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REVISION:Positivistic perspective, Interpretive Perspective, Inductive approach >>

Theories of Communication MCM 511

LESSON 21

EMERGENCE OF CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION

Closed versus open systems

Two fundamentally different types of systems can be differentiated and used to model different forms

communication. Systems can be closed and homeostatic or they can be open and dynamically balanced.

Closed systems are like simple machines that perform a task endlessly. There is limited monitoring of

the external environment. The machine works well as long as all the parts interrelate in the same,

unchanging manner. If a part becomes so worn that it stops working or a wire that is part of

communication link frays, the system will fail. It has no capacity to adjust to problems. The role played

by communication in these closed systems tends to be highly structured and predictable.

They often communicate in very simple digital messages turn on and turn off.

Open system

An open system consists of parts that interrelate in such a way that overall system can monitor its

environment and adjust to both internal and external changes. The parts of open system can alter their

functions so that if one part fails, others can adjust and take over its function. These systems can be

capable of growth and change over time, often, their relationship to environment can change as well.

These systems are said to dynamically balanced- that is they are able to maintain their integrity and a

high level of organization while undergoing significant changes .They are able to combine stability with

change. A classic example of an open system is a biological organism.

In our body the various organs communicate in a variety of ways- using electrical and chemical

messages transmitted by the nervous and circulatory systems. The body can adapt in very complex ways

to the failure of some of its parts and changes in the external environment. Complex adjustments occur-

yet the body as a whole maintains its physical integrity- it can grow and change and yet remain highly

organized.

Systems theory had its greatest practical impact on mass communication theory several decades after the

burst of initial interests in the 1960s.

Criticism of systems models

Systems models have a limitation that some critics find troublesome. A status quo bias in systems

models can tend to concentrate our attention on observable structures and lead us to assume that the

primary function or role of these structures is to maintain and serve the overall system. We are led to ask

research questions like

Is a particular part doing what it should?

Is it communicating properly?

Is it maintaining a proper relationship to other parts?

Is it enabling the system to operate properly?

The value of each part is assessed by its contribution to the whole. When we view a system in this way

we might be concerned about communication but only in a limited way. We tend to view

communication as something that merely interconnects parts in much the same way that occur nervous

and circulatory systems interconnect h organs in our bodies. If the system is doing what we think it

should, then we conclude that communication must be appropriate. If we think the system is failing then

we look for communication problems. But sometimes systems should fail. Sometimes systems go

through necessary transformations in which existing structures break down and give way to new

structures. In such case communication will necessarily play a very different role.

Summary

In the last couple of sessions we have studied two bodies of thought social cognitive theory and system

theory, both of which came to mass communication theory from outside the discipline itself signaled

an important shift in thinking about mass communication.

Theories of Communication MCM 511

Emergence of critical and cultural theories of mass communication

Before we proceed lets briefly overview how the challenge to limited effects paradigm came from ideas

other than social cognitive learning and systems theories. As we know limited effects theory focuses on

whether media content can have an immediate and direct effect on specific thoughts and actions of

individuals. Researchers typically sought evidence for these effects in experiments or through survey.

However, there is another way of approaching the study of mass media effects. Instead of focusing on

specific effects on individuals we can focus instead on changes in culture, on how shared

understandings and social norms change. Instead of trying to locate hundreds of small effects and add

them all up. We can ask whether the development of mass media has profound implications for the way

we create, share, learn and apply culture.

Now we will trace the emergence of theories that directly address questions about the way media might

produce profound changes in social life. These new perspectives argued that media might have the

power to interfere into and modify how we make sense of our social world and ourselves. These theories

are quite diverse and offer very different answers to questions about the role of media in social life.

Nevertheless, in all these theories, the concept of culture is central.

Media affect society because they (media) affect how culture is created, shared, learned and applied.

Cultural theories offer a broad range on interesting ideas about how media can affect culture and also

provide many different views concerning the long-term consequences of the cultural changes affected

by media.

Two ways used by cultural theorists

Now we will discuss the two widely used ways used by cultural theorists to differentiate the various

theories of media.

1. There are microscopic, interpretive theories that focus on how individuals and social groups use

media to create and foster forms of culture that structure everyday life

2. And there are macroscopic, structural theories that focus on how social elites use their economic

power to gain control over and exploit to propagate hegemonic culture as a means of maintaining their

dominant position in social order,

They are called political economy theories because they place priority on understanding how economic

power provides a basis for ideological and political power.

Differences between Microscopic and Macroscopic Theories

Cultural studies theories are less concerned with the long-term consequences of media for the social

order and more concerned with looking at how media affect our individual lives. These theories are said

to be micro level or microscopic because they de-emphasize larger issues about the social order in

favor of questions involving the everyday life of average people.

Critical theories and political economy theories by contrast are macroscopic cultural theories, which are

less concerned with developing detailed explanations of how individuals are influenced by media and

more concerned with how the social order as a whole is affected.

These theorists until recently microscopic and macroscopic theories developed in relative isolation.

Theorists were separated by differences in geography, politics and research objective. But that may be

changing, as we will discuss in the coming sessions.

Microscopic cultural studies researchers prefer to understand what is going on in the world immediately

around them. They are intrigued by the mundane, the seemingly trivial, and the routine. They view our

experience of everyday life and of reality itself as an artificial construction that we somehow maintain

with only occasional minor breakdowns. They want to know how mass media have been incorporated

into the routines of daily life without creating serious disruptions. Perhaps the media do cause problems

that are somehow being compensated for or concealed? If so, how is this being done? Will there be a

Theories of Communication MCM 511

breakdown eventually- or are we being systematically desensitized and trained to be aggressive? Or is

everyday life being transformed in useful ways are we becoming kinder and gentler.

Whereas macroscopic researcher are troubled by the narrow focus of microscopic theory. These

researchers demand answers to larger questions.

How do media affect the way politics is conducted, the way that a national economy operates or the

delivery of vital social services? Macroscopic researchers want to know if media are intruding into or

disrupting large-scale social process. E.g. have media disrupted the conduct of national politics and

therefore increased the likelihood that inferior politicians will be elected? Macroscopic researchers

believe that such large-scale questions can't be answered if you begin by looking at individuals.

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