Media and Society
Lecture 1: Introduction

The unit
Contemporary society as a media society
1. How do the media represent the social

world?
2. How are media texts produced?
3. How are the media consumed and what are their effects on consumers?
. 2 seminar groups
 Key readings to be done BEFORE the lecture/seminar Term 1
23rd Sept

NO TEACHING THIS WEEK

30th Sept

Introduction

AM

7th Oct

Women’s magazines

KM

14th Oct

Men’s magazines

AM

21st Oct

Reality TV

KM

28th Oct

Makeover TV

AM

4th Nov
11th Nov
18th Nov
25th Nov
2nd Dec
9th Dec

EMPLOYABILITY WEEK
Advertising
Film
Methods 1
Methods 2
Media project case study: film screening Media project preparation

KM
AM
AM
AM

16th Dec

Term 2
13th Jan Frankfurt school
20th Jan Screening: The Power of Nightmares.
Adam Curtis (Dir)
27th Jan Media and Social change 1: Globalisation
3rd Feb Media and Social Change 2: Celebrity
Culture
10th
Media effects 1: mass media audiences
Feb
17th
EMPLOYABILITY WEEK
Feb
24th
Media effects 2: new media consumers
Feb
3rd Mar Media and Identity 1: Popular music
10th
Media and Identity2: New Media
Mar
17th
Employability 1: Media and Creative
Mar
Industries in the UK today

KM
KM
KM
KM
AM AM
KM
AM
KM

Assessments
Assignment 1: Media project (50%)
Critically analysis of a media text.
2500 words.
deadline is 7thFebruary 2014.

Assignment 2: Essay (50%)
One essay question from a list of titles.
2500 words.
deadline is 30th April 2014.

Seminar Group 1: Monday 3-4 (GM
231)
Ahmad, Maimoonah
Ahmed, Ayesha
Ali Fadhil, Seham
Atwal, Kieranjit
Begum, Rupa
Farghaly, Darryl
Green, Rebecca Louise
Hornby, Fiona Adele
Ismail, Nazneen
Jackson, Ben
Javed, Sana
Kabadeh, Asma

 Lane, Hannah
 Lechareas, Anezoula
 Liscombe, Rebecca
 Maxwell, Reiss
 Mcshane, Kelly-Ann
 Mermagen, Tom
 O'Malley, Liam
 O'Reilly, Evie
 Ssali, Florence
 Steel, Bethany
 Walker, Benjamin Mark

Seminar Group 2: Monday 4-5 (GM
231)
Ahmed, Amina
Ahmed, Ansir
Ali, Bana
Alikhan, Naziya Alina
Challenger, Liam
Clark, Daniel
Dewan, Rosina
Disley, Lewis David
Fayle, George
Iftikhar, Farhana
Iqbal, Iffat
Islam, Nasrin

 Jamil, Iram
 Kerfoot, Nathanial
 Mart, Joshua
 Mistry, Asha
 Morgan, Thomas James
 O'Hanlon, Layla
 Ranger, Yinka
 Richardson, Robert
 Spencer, Sophie Jeanne Marie
 Tufail, Khafia
 Zaman, Anisah

The media

(Croteau and Hoynes 2003)

The media as institutions and

industries
The media as producers of media

texts:
Media texts are symbolic pieces

signifying meaning
Wide meaning of ‘text’ in media and cultural studies
Key question: power of the media

in society

Social construction of reality
(Hall 1997; Webb 2009)
‘Reality’ as a socially constructed picture of the world
Physical reality has no inherent meaning but is made to

mean
Social construction is active process of meaning attribution
Key role of media in the process

Achieved through representations:
discourses and ideologies
e.g. language choices: benefit recipient vs welfare scrounger
e.g. media trials: Amanda Knox trial; disappearance of

Madeleine McCann
Mediated nature of reality in 21st C

Media ideologies
Ideologies as sets of ideas and beliefs
Marxist definition of ideology (Abercrombie et al

1980):
1. Dominance:
Produced by the dominant groups in society
 Work in the interest of the dominant groups
 Dominant ways of thinking in society


2. Distortion


Misrepresent reality; inaccurate

. False consciousness

The media and the dominant ideology (Abercrombie 1990)
Media endorse and promote dominant

word views
Media owned and controlled by elites
Media promote ideologies which

misrepresent reality
Media have power to ideologically

indoctrinate the masses

Example: Osborne’s announcement
29/09/2013: ‘Help-to-work’ scheme

Crackdown: Chancellor George Osborne insisted this 'no option of doing nothing for your benefits'

 Dominant ideology of the unemployed:
as lazy and idle
to blame
don’t try very hard