Mass Society Theory

Purpose and pattern

To place communication technology into a

historical and theoretical perspective

Theories assist us as we face challenges of new
media
Develop understanding through historical method
Theories are never completely innovative and are
always the product of the era in which they are
constructed
All social theory is human construction scholarly
efforts to make sense of the social world

Five eras in the Development of

Mass Communication Theory
The Era of Mass Society Theory
The Emergence of a Scientific Perspective

on Mass Communications
The Era of Limited Effects
The Era of Cultural Criticism
The Emergence of Moderate Effects

Defining Theory
Theories are stories about how and why

events occur Turner, 1981

THEORY: Conceptual representation or
explanation of a phenomenon

The Mass Society Theory

Is an all-encompassing perspective on

Western, industrial society that attributes

an influential but often quite negative role
to media.
Gives an idea that media has the power to
shape our perceptions of the social world
and manipulate our reactions and actions
in subtle but highly effective ways.

History and Features

Wlliam Radolph Hearst (1896)
From telegraph to wire services
Era of penny press, nickel magazine and

dime novel
Yellow journalism
Functional displacement

Assumptions of the Mass

Society Theory

1. The media are malignant, cancerous

force within society and must be purged and

totally restructured.
2. Media have the power to reach out and
directly influence the minds of average
people. (direct effects assumption)
3. Once peoples minds are corrupted by
media, all sorts of bad, long-term
consequences result- bringing not only ruin
to individual lives but also creating social
problems on a vast scale.

Assumptions of the Mass

Society Theory (contd..)

4. Average people are vulnerable to the

media because they have been isolated and

cut-off from traditional and social
institutions that previously protected them
from manipulation.
5.The social chaos initiated by the media
will inevitably be resolved by establishment
of a totalitarian social order.
6. Mass media inevitably debase higher
forms of culture, bringing about a general
decline in civilization.

Bernard Berelson The great

debate on cultural democracy
Participants of this debate Practicus : Media Industry
Academicus: Mass Society Theorists
Empiricus: Mass communication

researchers who used social science

methods

Fall of the mass society

theory
Collapse began by 1965

Inherent flaws became more obvious

Simplistic assumptions and criticisms rejected.
Media do not subvert culture, but play a major

and sometimes counterproductive role in

cultural change.
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (Ferdinand
Tonnies)
Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity
((Emile Durkheim)