Mass Media - PLEASE HELP!!?

Question

How do functionalists and marxists see the mass media

also, are there any other perspectives i need to know about for GCSE sociology?

thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

Marxism is a strong tenent of socialism.

Historically Marxism views the media as a tool for controlling the masses, you controll public opinion by controlling the media, you tell them what to tell the people and the majority of people will simply accept it as fact. It is very effective and also very dangerous.

Funtionalists see the media as another spoke in the wheel of society, a nessessary part of the larger stucture. Not nessesarily good or evil by itself but  one of many parts that lend strenght to the whole.

In america the media was originally given freedom of the press so that could function as a watch dog against the government, sound the alarm when things started to get out of hand.

However today most of the mass media has lost it's objectivity and they seek to influence popular opinion for the benifit of themselves and those that they ally themselves with.

You can see this happenning today and it shows you what a powerfull force the media can be, Its power has been used for great good in the past, but also great evil,and people are foolish to underestimate it.

Hope this gives you an interesting and informative perspective for your class.