02 research traditions
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Research traditionsWk 2: Introduction to Mass CommunicationsRegent’s College, London
Dr Zoetanya SujonEmail: [email protected] hours: Wednesdays 12:00 – 13:00, DB12
Overview Making sense of media use
What can we learn from media deprivation exercise?
Research traditions and key paradigms Dominant paradigms Critical paradigms
Power, pleasure and pattern (Meyrowitz 2008)
Qualitative and quantitative research
Conclusion Homework
Media deprivation This week’s required reading: McQuail, chapter 3
Media deprivation exercise Class discussion:
Share with the class a summary of your experience (100 words or less)
Note any common or distinct experiences. Does this exercise help make sense of the media
landscape? How?
Blackboard and course blog http://sujonz.wordpress.com/ http://sujonz.wordpress.com/wp-admin
Approaching media research Research traditions are contingent and
fragmented, based on: Discipline Focus Politics and perspective Methods
Research “paradigms” and “narratives” McQuail = dominant and critical paradigms Meyrowitz = power, pleasure and pattern
Livingstone, media theories and concepts (2008)
Dominant paradigm Mass culture, mass media, dominant
ideologies Undifferentiated audiences / views Strong media effects and reinforcement
of existing political order Functionalist and behavioural frame Focus on linear media effects Mostly quantitative research methods
SOURCE MESSAGE TRANSMISSION RECEPTION
Critical paradigms Problematize linear or transmission model Critical view of power View meaning as “constructed” and
contextual Focus on interpretative Media as “meaning-giving” and making
(McQuail 2010: 69) Draw from qualitative research methods Based in “Frankfurt school”
Research traditionsWk 2.1: Introduction to Mass CommunicationsRegent’s College, London
Dr Zoetanya SujonEmail: [email protected] hours: Wednesdays 12:00 – 13:00, DB12
Overview Last class
Media deprivation exercise Media research history
Dominant and critical paradigms (McQuail)
This class Media profiles Critical paradigm background (Frankfurt
school) Purpose and politics
Research “narratives” (Meyrowitz) Power, pleasure and patterns
Homework II: Media profiles Keep track of your daily media use:
What do you watch / read / surf / listen to When do you use media Make note of your surroundings and reflect
upon the role of media in your daily life. Keep point form notes
In groups, find similarities and differences in your media use.
What does your group’s media profile say about your media landscape?
Media profiles in US and UK UK (Ofcom Communication Market
2010) http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/
research/cmr/753567/UK-context.pdf Figure 1.21, pg. 26 (36)
Pew Research Centre, ‘Generations 2010’ http://pewinternet.org/Infographics/2010/
Generations-2010-Summary.aspx
The Frankfurt School Critical social theory = on mass culture and
communication in social reproduction and domination. Late 1920s and early 1930s Based on Marxist theory of capitalism,
inequality and class struggle German and American theorists working at
the Institut fur Sozialforschung in Frankfurt, Germany E.g. Max Horkheimer, T.W. Adorno, Herbert
Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal, and Erich Fromm Analyzes the processes:
of cultural production and political economy the politics of cultural texts, audience reception and use of cultural artifacts
(Kellner 1989 and 1995).
Theory trading cards, by David Guantlett at http://www.theorycards.org.uk/main.htm
Purpose and politics Applied or “administrative” research:
Often “carried out in the service of some kind of administrative agency of public or private character”
Historically follows “dominant paradigm in media research
Predominantly questions of what, where and how much
Critical research: Often involves that “the general role of our media
of communication in the present social system should be studied” (Lazarsfeld, 1941)
Also includes questions of why and how
Multi-disciplinary Cross cutting and intersectional issues and/or
concerns: Cultural (e.g. globalization, content, flow, cultural
life, expression, values, identity) Social (e.g. mediation of social experience, links to
deviance, social dis/order, inequality, hegemony, power, dominance)
Political (e.g. government, state, national, elections, campaigns, citizens, democracy, war, terrorism, foreign policy, influence, power, resistance)
Economic (e.g. degree of concentration, commercialization, dependency, wealth, power, inequality, elite)
Psychological (e.g. behaviors, perception, uses and gratifications, values, ideals)
(McQuail 2010: 9-10)
Power and resistance narratives Critical and cultural studies Media viewed as sites of struggle
Social, economic, symbolic and political resources
Involves raising questions of power Ideology, hegemony, ruling ideas
Conflict = basic feature of human relations = inequalities
Critical tradition (e.g. political economy, critical news and/or journalism studies, cultural studies, audience, reception studies, everyday life)
Purpose and pleasure narratives Based on “uses and gratification” theory Focuses on individuals People regarded as “rational agents” Media = tools for meeting individual and
collective needs and desires Audiences are active choosers Media systems aim to please audiences
Emerged in 1970s and draws from Motivational and behavioural psychology (e.g.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) Focuses on functions and dysfunctions of
media
Structures and patterns narrative Based on medium theory and media
ecology People are environmentally and
contextually situated “Fosters some interactional possibilities
and discourages others” (Meyrowitz 2008: 642).
Media are material and technological extensions = alter some human senses
Communication systems are part of material and symbolic environments Oral culture different from print culture
Conclusion: Applying research traditions Tensions between:
Structure and agency Power and process Functions and forms Disciplinary boundaries and multi-
disciplinarity Research traditions:
Paradigms: Dominant vs. critical Narratives: power, pleasure, patterns Purpose and politics
Research approaches are contingent
Where do you stand and what do you think?
Assignment 1: Media diary Due: Monday February 7th
Word length: 500 words Worth: 10% of final grade
Focus on your relationship with ONE kind of media. For example, you might focus on content like a TV programme or a film; or choose to focus on a media technology like your mobile phone or computer. Discuss your daily routine with this kind of media and what this means for you.
You must use two academic sources and make at least two citations in your assignment.
References Online sources
Books and book chapters
Journal articles
http://libguides.library.uwa.edu.au/content.php?pid=43218&sid=381001#1145857