The Era of Mass Society Theory

“Mass communication is concerned with transmitting information, thoughts and opinions, entertainments etc. at a time to a large number of heterogeneous audiences.” (Metha)

Hence mass communication is a process of exhibiting information to large audiences through mass media such as radio, television, newspaper, movies etc. The transformation of media theories throughout the nineteenth century has been laid out in four distinct eras which was facilitated in the understanding of mass communication throughout the last two centuries. (The Business Communication, 2015)

The Four Eras of Mass Communication Theory are:

•  The Era of Mass Society Theory
•  The Era of the Scientific Perspectives
•  The Era of Limited Effect Theory
• The Era of Cultural Theory

In the nineteen century, when the printing press was holding a large amount of power due to the print media’s creation spread wide among the population. The industrial revolution transformed many rural areas to urban areas and even forced a lot of people from rural areas to take part in the industrial revolution. Many theorists blamed the media for disturbing the peace of rural areas. Even though the theory of mass society has properly criticized the errors of that particular era, a new version of this theory was never stated. (Baran and Davis, 2011)

The idea of mass society theory is that the taste and value of bourgeois (rich people) is considerably more significant than proletariat (average people). The media injected the idea of working class to readers and viewers which created a disturbance in the social order. It made people believe that they belong to the lower class and that the capitalists are in control. This theory was derived from the critical theory which is described by Horkheimer and Adorno as “the bourgeois idealism” they argued that the development of capitalism will make the life of the bourgeois better and worsen the life of proletariat but they also stated that the growth of industry will bring new forms of knowledge to life. These theorists belonged to a school of social theory and philosophy called Frankfurt School. (Cowen, 2003)

In Marxism, a theory defined by Karl Marx society is divided into two parts the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois are capitalist wealthy people who owns corporates they are less in number but have the power to control mass media on the other hand proletariat are more in number but are considered working class and have a low social value in society. (AllAboutPhilosophy.org, 2016)

People among the bourgeois who owned factories and industries came to be known as capitalists. Capitalism is a system in which a country’s economic system is controlled by capitalists. Marx stated that under capitalism the rich will keep on getting richer and the poor will get more and more poorer. He suggested communism as the solution of the problem where corporates are publicly owned and workers are paid according to their ability.

Mass society theory recognized that the media is being controlled by the bourgeois and they have been corrupting the minds of average people and illustrating them to believe that they are lesser beings whose worth is merely nothing. Every step is a huge leap towards success and identifying this exploitation was the beginning of a new era as this open secret was spoken of and discussed among the proletariat, the average, the population.

References:

AllAboutPhilosophy.org. (2016). What is Marxism. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

Baran, S. and Davis, D. (2011). Mass communication theory. 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing.

Cowen, H. (2003). The Significance of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. [online] BRLSI. Available at: http://brlsi.org/events-proceedings/proceedings/18097 [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

The Business Communication. (2015). What is Mass Communication? [online] Available at: https://thebusinesscommunication.com/what-is-mass-communication/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].