Mass Society Theory

Mass Society Theory is heavily influenced by the work of the Frankfurt School in particular, Adorno and Horkheimer, and defends the merit of high culture, from what is perceived as the decaying effects of Mass Commoditization of culture. Mass Society is characterized by a nexus of interlocking power elites which manipulate the masses in spite of democratic structurization. Culture is seen as a part of the super structure of ideas determined by a societys economic base. Critiques of a mass society theory The Frankfurt view of the audience is Monolithic, giving little or no attention to the potential for audience diversity for readings or resistance to media text (Boyd-Barrett, 1995). They believed in a magic bullet theory of media effects, which assumed the direct impact of a media message. The Frankfurt School deliberately avoids empirical research because of their view that positivistic signs is a symptom of capitalist techno-rationality. Attributes excessive power to media and underrates the importance of social contexts of media consumption.

Mass Society and the Critique of Mass Culture

Writers in this tradition see the new media as a threat either to democratic institutions as they were (anarchy, mob rule, etc.) or to the elite cultural values; essentially a conservative, pessimistic view of mass education, democratization and modernization, suggesting the decline of deference and elite values. Less common now, at a time when most writers and politicians pay at least lip-service to mass democracy and when few would seek to defend a particular elite culture. In response to the implications of the 1871 Education Act, and the rise of a new reading public came Lord Northcliffes daily mail (1896) a newspaper designed for this new market. Intellectuals fear the emergence of the Human Interest Story and the pandering to what were often seen as womens concerns. Soon after, came the first tabloid The Daily Miller (1903), explicitly targeting women. The Classic Intellectual Account of the advent of mass culture in the early 20th century was by a Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega Y Gasset. His best known book, in translation, is The Revolt of the Masses (1930). Mass Education, with a mass culture in its wake, was seen as reducing the autonomy of the best people, while mass man was either brutal or prejudiced and unthinking. For an important reflection of this attitude, see the early ethos of the BBC under Lord Reith an ethos stressing the dissemination of elite culture to the masses. A Paternal Model this was a strong tradition in British radio and television. Even the work such as Kenneth Clarks Civilisation, a television series (1969) came to be seen as elitist and ethno-centric. Debates of this nature, in America, were rare.

Criticism: The Mass Culture or Mass Society approach is now less common but elements of it can still turn up, particularly in newspapers and journals which provide platforms to a range of conservative views. Some of these views are connected with nationalism and anti-Americanism. Example: notions of dumbing down including in America itself NOTE: That Mass Culture/ Americanisation can be seen in certain circumstances as liberating (and broadening cultural expression) rather than oppressing (and narrowing it). Arguably, the Mass Culture approach sees uniformities rather than diversities in the contemporary Mass Media/Culture.