Text 11

Sociology of Mass Communication

Sociology is the scientific study of human social behavior.

As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities: economic, social, political, and religious. Sociologists study such areas as bureaucracy, community, deviant behavior, family, public opinion, social change, social mobility, social stratification, and such specific problems as crime, divorce, child abuse, and substance addiction. Sociology tries to determine the laws governing human behavior in social contexts.

Mass communication refers to the process of transferring or transmitting a message to a large group of people. Typically, this requires the use of some form of the media, including newspapers, television, and the Internet.  The study of mass communications is a broad, multidisciplinary field to which sociology has made major contributions.

Mass media is communication—whether written, broadcast, or spoken—that reaches a large audience. This includes television, radio, advertising, movies, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, and so forth. Mass media dominate the mental life of modern societies, and therefore are of intense interest to sociologists. Mass media is a significant force in modern culture and sociologists refer to this as a mediated culture where media reflects and creates the culture. As defined by an American sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1956, the mass media have two important sociological characteristics: first, very few people can communicate to a great number; and, second, the audience has no effective way of answering back. 

Mass communication is a one-way process while sociological research reveals that mass communications are intermediated in complex ways, and that their effects on the audience depend on factors such as class, social context, values, beliefs, emotional state, and even the time of day. Public relations is a field concerned with maintaining a public image for businesses, non-profit organizations or celebrities and politicians. Public relations practitioners deliver information through the media to target audiences. PR technologies are bound up with sociological processes taken place in the society. To be effective PR specialists should use verbal and nonverbal methods to prepare public for the understanding of offered information. There are various tools that can be used in the practice of public relations. Traditional tools include press releases and media kits.

With the creation of social networks, blogs, and even Internet radio public relations professionals are able to send direct messages through these mediums that attract the target audiences. Methods used to find out what is appealing to target audiences include the use of surveys, conducting research or even focus groups. PR specialists should know the basic theoretical frameworks to assess accurately the principal trends of the society`s development and interaction among people.

Questions:

1. What is Sociology?

2. What areas do sociologists study?

3. What does mass communication refers to?

4. What is mass media?

5. Why is mass media of intense interest to sociologists?

6. What are the two important sociological characteristics according to an American sociologist C. Wright Mills?

7. What is Public relation?

8. How do public relations practitioners deliver information?

9. Why should a PR specialist know the basic theoretical frameworks of sociology?

10. What are the tools that can be used in the practice of public relations?