Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
held by others at home or abroad. It's helped to de-parochialise everyday
life. In both a political and cultural sense, most citizens of wealthy countries
now enjoy a more global mass mediated experience than any previous
generation, especially when one takes alternative media into account. The
'imagined communities' to which (they feel) they belong can be multiple
and arrayed at more than one geographical scale.
In summary, well over a century after the mass media came into existence
their importance remains undiminished. Though we all lead ineluctably
local lives rooted in place, our actions, and those of others far distant from
us, are highly 'distantiated' both spatially and temporally. We affect, and
stand to be affected by, what others are saying and doing on the other side
of the world, not only in our home country. 'Deep integration' -
interde-
pendency
,notmere
interrelatedness
- defines the existential condition of most
people living today. The three functions of the mass media (distinguished
previously) allow us to benefit from, (often) recognise and (sometimes) think
critically about this interdependency and the effects it gives rise to. The mass
media allows Marshall McLuhan's famous image of 'the global village' to
be far more than a catchy slogan. It influences us in our roles as workers,
consumers, citizens, members of faith communities, immigrants, voters and
much more besides. It thus shapes our actions in the economic, political
and sociocultural arenas, with implications for what we call 'nature' and
its filial concepts. As Steve Fuller (2007a) aptly puts it in
The knowledge book
,
'The growth of the mass media in the modern era is most directly tied to the
value placed on the sheer quantity of people - voters, consumers, citizens -
whose opinions matter to achieve some desired social effect.'
Study Task:
How important is the mass media in your own life? To answer
this question you'll need to do several things. First, ensure you include the
Internet, television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Second, include situ-
ations where you consume mass mediated representations with others (e.g.
your immediate family), not just by yourself. Third, beyond simply listing
things you routinely watch/read/listen to or how many hours you interface
with the mass media, think too about their importance in your life. For
instance, if you read a favourite newspaper each day is this as important for
you as, say, watching a soap opera twice a week (and if so why)?
The effects of the mass media - more on social power
Given the huge prominence of the mass media in contemporary life, it's no
wonder that a large cadre of analysts have been attracted to it. For instance,
a great many universities now have departments of 'media and commu-
nications' close to celebrating their centenaries, while the interdisciplinary
field of cultural studies has devoted a lot of attention to the mass media. An
intellectually diverse epistemic community with some considerable pedigree
