Sociology of the Media an Overview
Test Yourself
Tests
What is media?
Media Effects
Cultural Effects Model (inc polysemic; ‘preferred’ and ‘negotiated’ readings)
What is the relationship between ownership and control of the media?
Pluralist view of media owners
Neo-Marxist view of media owners
Media influences on voting behaviour
Rupert Murdoch’s influence on voting behaviour
Social Construction of the News
Moral panics and deviancy amplification
False reporting and the creation of moral panics
sociologytwynham.com 
Is the mass- manuiplative model neo- marxist ? I am confused as one of my books says yes the other says no and only considers hegemonic seprately as neo- marxist and includes mass mauiplative model along with traditional marxist . I am getting a little confused can u pls help me out here .
Thank you
Hi – The argument the media manipulates its audience into desiring consumer goods, what Marcuse (1964) terms ‘false needs’ is a Marxist perspective – the hypodermic syringe model is used to explain how the audience is manipulated into such a false consciousness. To put it another way, businesses market iPhones as being more essential than they really are is known as ‘commodity fetishism’ and creates a ‘false consciousness’ about what is important in our lives through ideologies transmitted in the media. This is often referred to by Marxists as the the ‘political economy’ of the mass media.
What neo-Marxists do is offer a better explanation as to why people are so easily manipulated, for example why can’t they see they’re being manipulated. They use the cultural effects model to explain how the audience is controlled. According to Gramsci, we can judge ideology to be effective if it is able to connect with the ‘common sense’ of the people. What Gramsci is referring to is the ruling-class rule through consent. Consent establishes common-senses, one being it is ‘important or necessary’ to own an iPhone. Such common-senses are achieved through consent. This consent is achieved through ideas of for example ‘wanting an iPhone’ through advertising constantly raining down on people through a variety of media products. When everyone sees desiring an iPhone as normal, hegemony has been achieved – hegemony means when an ideology dominates. Therefore hegemony is achieved if arguing against the established view point that desiring an iPhone is a bad idea, is seen as odd.
Hope that helps 🙂