Quick revision – what are the 5 functions of education
according to Functionalists? (S)
Social cohesion (political)
Quick revision – what are the 5 stages of education?
Secondary
SATS
GCSE/
BTEC AS/A2
Degree
Quick revision – What 5 factors affect educational
achievement?
E
Parental
attitudes
Labelling/
Halo effect
Structural
Poverty/
deprivation
Marxist
theories
Peer
pressure/
sub-cultural
theory
Feminist
theories
Why do girls do better in school than boys?
asculinity crisis
eminisation of education
aspirations
xpectations of teachers
iteracy
odels (role)
steem
spirations
issy/geek
aw
steem
Quick revision – What are the 5 agents of social control?
Families
Which are formal and which
are informal?
How do they ensure
conformity?
Quick revision – What 5 factors affect the distribution of
crime?
G
Sociological Explanations
• Inadequate socialization
• Relative deprivation
• Labelling theory
• Sub-cultural theory / peer
pressure
• Opportunity structures
• Marxist explanations
How do we get
our statistics on
crime?
Self Report Studies
(Defendants admit to
minor criminal behaviour
in surveys)
Victim Surveys
(public asked if ever
been a victim of crim)
Official Statistics
(Police statistics
gathered by Home
Office)
Quick revision – What is the impact of crime on victims &
society?
Social
Mass Media
Define mass media and give examples
Describe the relationship between the mass media and its audience and
explain how this may be affected by new technologies
Explain how the mass media is an agent of socialisation and how this
affects people's political views and social identities
Awareness of social debates e.g. whether media encourages violence
Describe the power of individuals and organisations who own or control
the media e.g, agenda setting, creating positive/negative images of
particular groups organisations, eg environmentalists, animal rights
activists and lone parents (folk devils)
Explain how the media can be responsible for stereotyping and labelling
In what ways does the mass media impact its audience?
Identities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hypodermic syringe
Uses & gratifications approach
Decoding approach
Deviancy amplification
Political spin
Norm referencing
Agenda setting
How does it impact its audience?
Hypodermic syringe approach – we receive daily
injections of information, which has a powerful
effect on what we think and how we think.
(Marxist)
Uses & Gratifications approach – people get uses or
benefits from the media e.g. information, entertainment,
escape from reality (hyperreality etc) (Functionalist)
Decoding approach – the audience actively de-codes
the message from TV programmes i.e. interprets or
makes sense of it. Programmes might mean different
things for different people depending on their age,
gender, social class or ethnicity.
Agenda setting – the news media have the power to ‘set the agenda’
i.e. focus on some issues but ignore others.
1)
Would this correspond with the conflict approach or pluralist approach?
2)
What would be an argument against agenda setting?
Norm referencing – the news media can influence the way we think of
different types of people by presenting them in a positive or
negative image. It also has the power to create folk devils.
1)
Can you think of a subculture within society that has been presented in a
negative image recently?
Hegemony – A marxist theory stating that our mass culture (i.e. the
culture of society) has been manipulated by the ruling classes &
the gatekeepers to reflect what they want society to be.
How is the media content influenced and by who?
Conflict approach – Press owners (gatekeepers) are in a strong position to put their own
political views across and those that support their economic interests (e.g. favour those who
donate money). Press ownership in Britain is concentrated in a few multimedia conglomerates
i.e. huge international companies with lots of different types of media such as tv, newspapers
etc. Marxists believe that this means that the media owners control the views of society
(Hegemony)
Pluralist approach – there are a range of different newspapers and tv channels owned by
different people and each showing a range of different views. We (the consumer) influence
what information we receive by choosing which newspaper to buy/tv channel to watch. We call
this market power. The press owners are drive by profit motive – they want to make money so
will ensure that we want to buy their product and will also try to keep the advertisers happy as
they pay for advertising time/space. This means that both the consumers and the advertisers
have an impact.
Laws– Laws such as libel ensure that lies are not told in the media. Media
owners can be sued if they present incorrect information.
Decoding Exam Questions
Describe one way in which the mass media can create negative images
of a social group and explain why this could be seen as a problem (5)
• Identify one way & describe it (2)
e.g The mass media could portray teen mothers or asylum seekers as folk
devils through norm referencing or through biased and one sided
reporting.
• Explain two reasons why this could be seen as a problem (3)
e.g. This could be seen as a problem because it could result in prejudice
and discrimination of certain groups in society. It could also lead to moral
panic regarding the group and its activities resulting in anomie.
Decoding Exam Questions
Describe one way in which the mass media may present stereotyped
images of some ethnic groups and explain why this stereotyping can be
seen as a problem. (5)
• Identify one way & describe it (2)
e.g People of Asian heritage are presented with stereotyped images by
focusing narrowly on particular themes such as forced marriage rather
than covering a range of news stories.
• Explain two reasons why this could be seen as a problem (how/why)
(3)
e.g. This may be seen as a problem because it can lead to norm
referencing, meaning that the stereotype will continue. It may result in
prejudice and discrimination, which can contribute to the creation of
moral panic.
Decoding Exam Questions
Describe one way in which the mass media may contribute to the
process of gender socialization and explain why the media’s role in this
process can be criticised. (5)
• Identify one way & describe it (2)
e.g The media contributes to gender socialization by presenting
stereotypical rather than realistic images of gender e.g. in lads’ mags, TV
advertisements or in tabloid reports of women’s sport.
• Explain two reasons why this can be criticised (how/why) (3)
e.g. This may be criticised as over time, it may influence people’s attitudes
to gender resulting in negative stereotyping reinforcing gender
expectations and invisible walls between jobs e.g. men becoming
mechanics and women working in childcare. This can also reinforce
sexism and discrimination reinforcing the glass ceiling for women in the
workplace.
Decoding Exam Questions
Describe one way in which individuals or groups can create content on
the internet and explain why they might want to produce content in this
way (5)
• Identify one way & describe it (2)
e.g People could create content on the internet by setting up a website,
blogging, tweeting, contributing to a social network site or uploading
music (describe any one of these).
• Explain two reasons people may want to produce content in this way
(3)
e.g. People may want to create content on the internet to publicise a
pressure group or a political cause or to engage in political debates. The
internet is any easy and cheap (free) method to communicate with many
people on a mass scale so it can be used to organise events or
demonstrations.
Decoding Exam Questions
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that technological developments such as the
internet help to spread power more widely among individuals and groups in modern
Britain. (12)
• Intro (define key terms if necessary)
Define power & technological developments
• Some sociologists (name them?) would agree because:
- Technological developments help to spread power e.g. via the internet. Anyone can become a producer of media content
rather than just a consumer (become more active)
- The power of media owners (gatekeepers) is reduced as they cannot control the content that is written
- Groups can use the internet to recruit members & supporters, debate & participate in the political process (examples)
• Some sociologists (name them?) would disagree because:
- Digital divide – not everyone has access to the internet and it is not widely used by some members of society e.g. the
elderly.
- No everyone uses the internet for this purpose, many use it for shopping or entertainment rather than participation in the
political process (Uses & gratifications approach)
• Conclusion
- Some sociologists would agree that technological developments such as the internet spread power more widely by giving
people more power to communicate, debate or participate
- Most would say that in practice, power is still concentrated rather than distributed widely in Britain and media owners
(gatekeepers) still have more power than other individuals or groups to influence public opinion (Hegemony / Conflict
Decoding Exam Questions
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that exposure to violence in
the media can encourage violence in every day life(12)
• Intro (define key terms if necessary)
- Define media
• Some sociologists (name them?) would agree because:
- Exposure to violence in the media can encourage copycat violence in everyday life as the media is an
agency of socialization (Hypodermic syringe theory)
- Possible reference to culture of simulation & not being able to separate reality from imaginary
• Some sociologists (name them?) would disagree because:
- Little evidence that there is a strong link between viewing and violence from experiments, which
goes against earlier research in laboratories
- Decoding approach – views actively interpret media messages
• Conclusion
- Some sociologists would agree that exposure to media violence can encourage violence in real life
- Most sociologists would agree that there is insufficient evidence from research to support this
Decoding Exam Questions
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the mass media is the
most powerful agency of political socialization in Britain today (12)
• Intro (define key terms if necessary)
- Define mass media & agency of political socialization
• Some sociologists (name them?) would agree because:
- Media is an agency of political socialization as a key source of information about politics and current
affairs whether through party political broadcasts, news reporting, political spin, viral videos,
internet
- Evidence that mass media can influence peoples’ voting behaviour e.g. the Sun newspaper backing
different political parties leading to their election
• Some sociologists (name them?) would disagree because:
- Other agencies of political socialization are more powerful e.g. education system (although could say
that this is also influenced by government), families, peer groups, workplaces
• Conclusion
- Many sociologists would agree that the mass media is a powerful agency of political socialization
- Other agencies will also influence
Decoding Exam Questions
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that the press owners in
Britain control the content of the newspapers(12)
• Intro (define key terms / introduce content)
- Outline the pattern of press ownership in Britain (concentration of ownership by conglomerations)
• Some sociologists (Marxists) would agree because:
- Press owners (gatekeepers) do control content as large conglomerations and closely connected with
politics (Conflict approach)
• Some sociologists (Functionalists) would disagree because:
- The consumers have an influence over the content of the newspapers by exercising their market
power – if we didn’t like the content then we wouldn’t buy them (Pluralist approach).
- There are many other influences on media content e.g. Laws such as libel, advertiser power (profit
motive) and the views of editors (involved more in the day to day running)
• Conclusion
- Power is clearly concentrated in a small number of people but there are many other influences.
Though they may be able to control the media content, this is within the confines of the law and
must be supported by both the public and the advertisers in order to be profitable