Mass information in mass communications. The concept of mass communication. The concepts of "communication" and "mass communication"

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Similar Documents

The concept, structure, functions and effectiveness of mass communication. The process of disseminating information through technical means(press, radio, television, etc.) to numerically large, dispersed audiences.

term paper, added 03/26/2005

Quality information technologies. The relationship between society and the media. general characteristics mass media. Radio and television, their role in PR activities. Special characteristics of television. The main differences between radio and television.

test, added 01/28/2011

Communication as one of the central components modern society. The social significance of mass communication. Forms of information consumption by different social communities. Ways to activate the information and consumer activity of the audience.

abstract, added 03/06/2015

Study of the composition and boundaries of print media audiences. Features of advertising in the mass media. Analysis of the activities of the newspaper "Metro": circulation, the target audience. Development of a strategy aimed at increasing the segment of the youth audience of the newspaper.

term paper, added 10/13/2017

Russian market advertising. Marketing situation in advertising. Globalization of information processes at the present stage. The activities of the mass media as the realization of the interests of various social actors. Media as the "fourth power" in society.

course of lectures, added 01/17/2011

The concept of a stereotype and the mechanisms of its formation in the process of mass communication. Stereotype about blondes: the essence and history of occurrence. Mass media as a tool for the formation of a stereotype about blondes, images of blondes in cinema.

term paper, added 01/19/2016

The study of the essence, objectives and functions of advertising. Classification of advertising media: all types of press (newspapers, magazines, weeklies); audiovisual means (television, radio, cinema, video); direct mail; outdoor advertising; Internet system.

AT modern conditions sharply increased attention to such a social phenomenon as communication. Communication becomes an object of study at various levels and in various concepts: sociological, cybernetic, political science, sociobiological, philosophical, psychological, linguistic, cultural, etc. This situation is quite natural and understandable, because. the global transformation of an industrial society into an information and communication society taking place in the modern world is accompanied not only by the penetration of communication into all spheres of the life of society, the emergence and development of a qualitatively new type of communicative structures and processes, but also by a deep rethinking of the communicative nature of social reality, modern changes in the social and communicative sphere, the place and role of communications in the development of society, their impact on the nature of social relations.

Communication in a broad sense is also understood as a system in which interaction is carried out; and process of interaction; and methods of communication that allow you to create, transmit and receive a variety of information.

Mass communication is the process of dissemination of information (knowledge, spiritual values, moral and legal regulations etc.) with the help of technical means (press, radio, television, etc.) to numerically large, dispersed audiences.

Mass media (MSK) are special channels and transmitters, thanks to which it will prolong the dissemination of information messages over large areas.

Mass communication is primarily characterized by:

the availability of technical means to ensure regularity and replication;

the social significance of information that contributes to increasing the motivation of mass communication;

the mass nature of the audience, which, due to its dispersal and anonymity, requires a carefully thought-out value orientation;

multi-channel and the possibility of choosing communication tools that provide variability and, at the same time, normativity of mass communication.

The main condition that determines mass communication is the specificity of the audience and the communicator.

In 1948, G. Lasswell identified three main functions of mass communication: review of the surrounding world, which can be interpreted as an information function; correlation with the social structures of society, which can be interpreted as an impact on society and its knowledge through feedback; transfer of cultural heritage, which can be understood as a cognitive cultural function, a function of the continuity of cultures.

In domestic psycholinguistics, four functions are distinguished that are typical for radio and television communication: informational; regulatory; social control; socialization of the individual - the instillation of the personality of those traits that are desirable for society.

The information function is to provide the mass reader, listener and viewer up-to-date information about the most diverse fields of activity - business, scientific and technical, political, legal, medical, etc. Receiving a large amount of information, people not only expand their cognitive capabilities, but also increase their creative potential. Knowing the information makes it possible to predict your actions, saves time. This significantly increases the motivation for joint action. In this sense given function contributes to the optimization of the useful activity of society and the individual.

The regulatory function has a wide range of impact on the mass audience, from establishing contacts and ending with control over society. Mass communication influences the formation of the public consciousness of the group and the individual, the formation of public opinion and the creation of social stereotypes. Here lies the possibility of manipulating and controlling public consciousness, in fact, to exercise the function of social control. Under certain conditions, this function serves the purpose of brainwashing.

People, as a rule, accept those social norms of behavior, ethical requirements, aesthetic principles that are convincingly promoted by the media as a positive stereotype of lifestyle, clothing style, etc. This is how the socialization of the individual takes place in accordance with the norms desirable for society in a given historical period.

The culturological function includes acquaintance with the achievements of culture and art and contributes to the awareness of the society of the need for the continuity of culture, the preservation of cultural traditions. With the help of the media, people get acquainted with the characteristics of different cultures and subcultures. This develops aesthetic taste, promotes mutual understanding, relieves social tension and ultimately promotes the integration of society.

The social essence of mass communication: it is a powerful means of influencing society in order to optimize its activities, socialize the individual and integrate society.

The study of a complex of problems of the emergence, development and functioning of the QMS is closely related to the concept of the effectiveness of their activities.

There are two types of means of communication: naturally occurring (language, facial expressions, gestures) and artificially created (technical), which includes such means as traditional (press, typography, writing) and typically modern (radio, television, cinema, Internet).

The first type that naturally arises in the QMS is the oral phase.

The development of speech and language is an objective process in the development of society. Speech is a reflection of thought processes and its culture reflects the level of human development.

People have strived to exchange news or information at all times, even in prehistoric times. Communication between people began with sounds, gestures, facial expressions, then through screams people transmitted information over a distance.

The next stage in the development of the QMS is the written phase. Writing helped to solve the problem of storing information, it became possible to provide a connection between the past and the future (preservation of continuity in development). As the first form of modeling the natural and social world that is spatially separated from the subject, it opens society, in the strict, scientific sense of the word, as a civilization, that is, it makes it possible to operate with social semantic information without direct contact. Writing was a semiotic revolution in the sign ways of organizing society. It serves as one of the most important means of preserving the language in a living form.

Communication processes as a whole determine the social nature of a person. Industrial is the highest point in the development of book culture, but already at the time of its heyday, signs of its erosion are noticeable, for example, impersonal mass communication, oppositional information and documentary activities, as well as the spread of the myth of the information crisis.

Book information content began to reduce its effectiveness. A contradiction has developed between current literature flows and individual reading possibilities, and a situation has arisen where it is easier to discover a new fact or create a new theory than to make sure that they have not yet been discovered or deduced. Thus, there is a need for more advanced technical means to solve the problem of the information crisis. And how the way out of this situation was the purchase of a book electronic form from which the need to mechanize the process of mass communication originates. It is at this stage that telecommunications is born.

The discovery of magnetic and electrical phenomena led to an increase in the technical prerequisites for the creation of devices for transmitting information over a distance.

The appearance and development of modern communication cables are due to the invention of the telephone.

Today, information is transmitted different kinds communications: cable, radio relay, satellite, tropospheric, ionospheric, meteor. Cables, together with lasers and computers, will make it possible to create fundamentally new telecommunications systems. Nowadays, all this is replaced by a computer.

The computer phase is a new paperless stage in development social communications. Paper is necessary for the reproduction of visually designed documents. The role of systematization, storage, processing of information, as well as its transmission over long distances, was taken over by technology.

The main difference between electronic dialogue and interpersonal oral communication, according to Professor A.V. Sokolov, is the fact of communication not with a person, but with electronic memory. The dialogue "human - computer" is the main difference between electronic communication and oral or documentary, where there is a direct or document-mediated dialogue "human - human".

One of the colossal achievements in the field of computerization, which allows you to find out information from anywhere in the world, is the Internet or the global computer network.

The Internet is attractive because management network resources it is absolutely decentralized here - on their server or website, everyone is free to present any information in any order, provided that it is technically compatible with the supported system and browsers, technical protocols.

Without any degree of exaggeration, the Internet can be viewed as a kind of global media. It is as if in the pre-network era it suddenly became possible to subscribe to all newspapers, magazines, books and turn on all television and radio channels at the same time. The ability to have almost instantaneous access to all sources of information at the same time and at the same time make an individual choice.

Communication is one of the basic components of modern society. The status of an organization, firm, country today is also determined by its position in the information space.

Mass communication is a process of dissemination of information (knowledge, legal and moral norms, spiritual values, etc.) using technical means (television, press, computer technology, radio, etc.) to dispersed, numerically large audiences.

The main parameters that distinguish mass communication from group communication are quantitative parameters. Due to a significant quantitative superiority (an increase in individual communication channels, acts, participants, etc.), a new qualitative essence is being formed, communication has new opportunities, and a need for special means is formed (replication, transmission of information over a distance, speed, etc. ).

Conditions for the functioning of mass communication (according to V.P. Konetskaya):

mass audience (it is anonymous, dispersed, divided into interest groups, etc.);
the availability of technical tools and means that ensure the speed, regularity, replication of information, transmission over a distance, multi-channel and storage.

The first mass media in history was the periodical press. Its tasks have changed throughout history. So, in the XVI-XVII centuries. there was an authoritarian theory of the press, and in the XVII century. - the theory of free press, in the XIX century. the theory of the proletarian press appeared in the middle of the 20th century. the theory of socially responsible printing emerges.

From the point of view of perception of information, periodicals are more complex shape compared to television, radio and computer networks. In addition, from the point of view of the presentation of material, newspapers are less efficient than other types of media.

Periodic printed media delivery media have undeniable advantages:

one and the same newspaper material can be repeatedly returned;
the newspaper can be read almost everywhere;
the newspaper can be passed to each other;
newspaper material traditionally has all the signs of legal legitimacy, and so on.

The average citizen, according to sociological surveys, prefers radio communications as a mass medium in the morning, as it creates an unobtrusive informational background in conditions of time pressure, provides information and does not distract. In the evening, the preferred type of media is television, as it is the easiest in terms of perception of information.

Mass communication is characterized by the following features:

mass audience, communication of large social groups;
mediation of communication by technical means (providing regularity and replication);
organized, institutional nature of communication;
pronounced social orientation of communication;
one-pointedness of information and fixation of communicative roles;
multi-channel and the ability to choose communication tools that provide normativity, variability of mass communication;
lack of direct connection between the audience and the communicator in the process of communication;
social significance of information;
increased demands for compliance with accepted norms of communication;
the predominance of the two-stage nature of the perception of the message;
the "collective" nature of the communicator and his public individuality;
mass, scattered, anonymous spontaneous audience;
publicity, social relevance, mass character and periodicity of messages.

The social significance of mass communication is the compliance with certain social expectations and demands (expectation of assessment, formation of public opinion, motivation), impact (suggestion, persuasion, training, etc.). The expected message is better perceived when separate messages are formed for different target groups, taking into account the interests of the target audience.

The relationship between the recipient and the source in mass communication is also of a qualitatively new nature. The sender of the message is a mythologized individual or public institution. The recipients are the target groups, which are united by a number of socially significant features. The task of mass communication is to maintain links within groups and between them in society. Such groups can actually form due to the impact of mass messages (customers of the new firm, the electorate of the new party, consumers of the new product).

The conditions for the emergence of mass communication, according to W. Eco, are:

communication channels that ensure its receipt is not certain groups, but by an indefinite circle of addressees who occupy a different social position;
an industrial-type society, outwardly balanced, but in fact saturated with contrasts and differences;
groups of producers who produce and issue messages in an industrial way.

G. Lasswell names the following functions of mass communication:

regulatory (impact on cognition and society through feedback);
informational (survey of the surrounding world),
cultural (preservation and transmission of cultural heritage from generation to generation);
some researchers add an entertainment feature.

V.P. Konetskaya describes three groups of theories that are focused on the predominance of one or another leading function of mass communication:

indirect spiritual control;
political control;
cultural.

Predicted by M. McLuhan at the end of the 20th century. the globalization of mass communication has been transformed into the development of the worldwide Internet. The ability to connect almost instantly with the simultaneous use of the auditory and visual channel, non-verbal and text messages has significantly changed communication.

A category has arisen « virtual communication» . The network itself is not literally a mass media, it can be used for both group and interpersonal communication. However, the possibilities that it opens directly for mass communication speak of a new era in the development of communication systems.

Stages of development of mass communication

Communication in society and nature has gone through a number of stages:

tactile-kinetic in higher primates;
oral-verbal among primitive peoples;
written-verbal at the dawn of civilization;
printing and verbal after the invention of the printing press and the book;
multi-channel, starting in the modern world.

In the modern era of mass communication, multi-channel is characteristic: an auditory, visual, auditory-visual channel, a written or oral form of communication, etc. are used. arose technical capabilities bidirectional communication, both open type (interactivity) and covert type (reaction of the viewer or listener, behavior), mutual adaptation of recipients and sender. Since both channel selection and accommodation are influenced by recipient groups and society, it is sometimes said that the media is us.

Participants in the communication process are considered not only individual individuals, but collective subjects: the party, government, people, oligarchs, the army, etc. Even a number of personalities are presented as image mythologems: party leader, media mogul, president, etc. Modern scientists have come to the following conclusion: the function of informing in mass communication is giving way to the function of association, as well as management, subordination and power, maintaining social status.

The emergence and development of technical means of communication became the reason for the formation of a new social space - the space of mass society. Mass society is characterized by the presence of specific means of communication - mass media.

Mass media

These are special channels and transmitters, thanks to which information messages are distributed over large areas.

Technical means in mass communication consist of:

mass media (media): television, press, Internet, radio,
means of mass influence (SMV): cinema, circus, literature, theater, spectacles,
technical means (mail, telefax, telephone).

Mass communication plays the role of an integrator of mass sentiments; the role of the regulator of the dynamic processes of the social psyche; information circulation channel. It is for this reason that the organs of mass communication are a powerful means of influencing the individual and the social group.

The uniqueness of the communication process in the QMS is associated with its following properties (according to M. A. Vasilik):

diatopnost - a communicative property that allows information messages to overcome space;
diachronicity - a communicative property, due to which the message is preserved in time;
replication - a property that implements the regulatory impact of mass communication;
simultaneity - a property of the communication process, which makes it possible to present adequate messages to many people almost simultaneously;
multiplication - a communicative property, due to which the message is subjected to repeated repetition with relatively unchanged content.

The development of mass media in the XX century. led to the transformation of worldview, the formation of a virtual world of communication.

In the theory of mass communication, there are two main approaches:

a human-centered approach that supports the minimum effect model. The essence of this approach is that society rather adapts the mass media to its needs and needs. Supporters of this approach were based on the fact that people selectively assimilate incoming information. They accept only that part of the information that is similar to their opinion, and that which does not agree with this opinion is rejected. The models of mass communication here are: the "spiral of silence" by E. Noel-Neumann, the constructionist model of V. Gamson.
media-oriented approach. The essence of this approach is that a person is subject to the influence of mass media. SMC act like a drug that cannot be resisted. The representative of this approach is G. McLuhan (1911 - 1980). He was the first to study the role of mass media, mainly television, in the formation of mass consciousness, regardless of the content of the message. Gathering all spaces and times on the screen at once, television brings them together in the perception of viewers, while giving importance even to ordinary things. By drawing attention to what has already happened, television tells the public about the final result. This forms in the minds of the audience the illusion that the action itself leads to this result. It turns out that the reaction precedes the action. The viewer is thus forced to assimilate and accept the structural-resonance disunity of the television image.

The level of efficiency of information perception can be affected by the viewer's memory, life experience, his social attitudes, and the speed of perception. As a result, television strongly influences the spatio-temporal perception of information. The activities of the QMS have ceased to be for society a derivative of any events. The means of mass communication begin to act in the mind of a person as the root cause, which endows reality with its own properties. The process of construction, mythologization of reality by means of mass communication is carried out. QMS begin to realize the functions of political, ideological influence, organization, information, management, education, maintenance of social community, entertainment.

Mass media functions

Mass media functions:

contact with other people;
social orientation;
social identification;
emotional release
utilitarian;
self-assertion.

In addition to these socio-psychological functions, the QMS, according to the French scientists A. Catl and A. Kade, perform the functions of an amplifier, antenna, echo and prism in society.

Methods and models of mass communication research

Among the methods of research of mass communication stands out:

observations;
propaganda analysis;
text analysis (using content analysis);
surveys (tests, questionnaires, experiments, interviews);
hearsay analysis.

Content analysis (content analysis) is one of the methods for studying documents (texts, audio and video materials). Conducting content analysis involves counting the volume and frequency of mentions of certain units of the analyzed text. The obtained quantitative characteristics of the analyzed text provide an opportunity to form conclusions about the qualitative, as well as the hidden content of the text. Using this method, you can analyze the social attitudes of society.

G. G. Pocheptsov, when describing the model of mass communication, developed a standard unified classical model of communication, consisting of a number of elements:

source,
coding,
message,
decoding,
recipient.

Often the transition to the message is built with some delay, which includes the processes of various transformations of the primary text, an additional stage is introduced - "coding". As an example, consider a speech delivered by a group of assistant directors of a company. In the analyzed case, the coding of the original ideas into a report is clearly presented, which is then read out by the director.

constructionist model. W. Gemson, an American professor, believes that various social groups want to impose on society their model of interpretation of an event.

Prior to the W. Gemson model, two models were developed:

maximum effect,
minimal effect.

Maximum effect model was based on a number of factors for the successful use of communications:

the success of propaganda during the First World War, which is the first systematic manipulation of the mass consciousness of society;
the emergence of the PR industry - public relations;
totalitarian control in the USSR and Germany. Considering it, scientists concluded that communication can influence a person and nothing can be opposed to it.

Minimal effect model based on factors such as:

transition to considering a person as a part of society from considering him as a single individual;
selective perception. People perceive information selectively: they perceive the information that coincides with their opinion, and they do not perceive the information that contradicts their views;
political behavior during elections. Scientists in the field of electoral technologies became interested in the resistance of voters. They came to the following conclusion: it is impossible to change the predisposition of the voter, the stereotype, the struggle can be continued only for those who have not yet made a final decision.

These two models (minimum / maximum effect) can be represented as an emphasis either on the recipient or on the source (in the case of maximum understanding, everything is in his hands).

W. Gemson forms a constructionist model based on some modern approaches. Based on the fact that the effect of mass media is by no means minimal, he lists a number of components:

work with the category "ideas of the day", reflecting how the mass media gives people the keys to understanding what is happening;
work in the presidential elections, where the press influences people's assessments;
the phenomenon of the spiral of silence, reflecting how the press, giving a voice to the minority, forces the majority to feel in the minority and not pretend to speak publicly;
the effect of cultivation, when, with its massive display of artistic television, for example, violence, it influences municipal politics, dictating priorities.

W. Gemson singled out two levels of his model:

cultural,
cognitive.

The cultural level is the level at which messages are "packaged" in ways such as visual images, moral references, metaphors. This level characterizes the style of mass media.

The cognitive level is based on public opinion. At this level, the available information is adapted to the life experience and psychological prerequisites of each person.
The interaction of these two levels, which function in parallel, forms the social construction of meanings.

Mass communication audience

The audience of mass communication as an object of information impact is divided into specialized and mass. Such division is carried out on the basis of a quantitative criterion, although a specialized audience in some cases may be either more or less numerous than a mass one, based on the nature of the association of people who make up the audience.

Theoretical ideas about the mass audience are ambivalent. This term refers to:

random associations of people who do not have common professional, political, economic, cultural, age and other interests and characteristics (a crowd of onlookers who gathered to listen to street musicians or a speaker, etc.),
all consumers of information that is distributed through media channels (radio listeners, readers, buyers of audio and video products, viewers, etc.), where mass character is the main sign of the audience.

In the scientific community that studies the processes of mass communications and their means, there are a number of interpretations of the category of "mass audience". In a number of cases, the "mass audience" is defined as an inert, unorganized mass, passively absorbing everything that the media offer. In this case we are talking about the mass audience as some kind of amorphous formation that does not have clear boundaries, is poorly organized and changes depending on the current situation.

On the other hand, the mass audience is presented as a social force that is able to actively influence the "mass media", demand that they satisfy their own special (cultural, age, ethnic, professional, etc.) interests and desires (meaning a systemic, organized , well structured education).

The separation of these interpretations is carried out within the framework of two approaches.

The theoretical basis of the first is the concept of two-stage communication by P. Lazarsfeld and other researchers in this field. They studied the mass audience not as a multitude of consumers, but as complete system, which consists of groups. These groups have their own "opinion leaders" who are able, through interpersonal relationships, to structure and organize a mass audience, to develop certain ideas about the media and about information - its purpose, form and content. However, many modern theories pay attention to the increasing massive indifference of the audience, its destructuring, entropy, the result of which is the increasing manipulation of its consciousness by the media.

Quantitative socio-structural characteristics of the audience (i.e. data on age, gender, education, place of residence and occupation, their preferences and interests) are undoubtedly needed, but this is just the first stage. This can be explained by the fact that with this spectrum of its study, a large number of processes that arise in people's minds as a result of the perception of media products remain out of sight. For example, television ratings answer the questions "what" and "how much", but do not answer the questions "with what result" and "why". Answers to these questions require a qualitative analysis of both the audience and the processes of the media, which includes the study of communication technologies and their impact on the pictures of reality that arise in the minds of viewers.

A specialized audience is a fairly definite and stable whole with more or less clear boundaries, which includes a large number of individuals. People in them are united by common goals, interests, mutual sympathy, lifestyle, value systems, as well as common cultural, demographic, professional, social and other characteristics. This audience can be considered as a wide segment of the mass media audience if, for example, we are talking about:

about the audience of a certain mass communication channel (about viewers of RenTV or ORT; about radio listeners of Radio Russia or Retro-FM; readers of newspapers Kommersant or Vesti, etc.);
about the audience of certain types of messages (headings) - sports, news, cultural, criminal, etc.;
about the audience of a particular type of mass communication (only about newspaper readers, TV viewers, or only about radio listeners, etc.);
etc.

The presence of specialized audiences is an indicator that the public perceives information depending on their social, cultural, educational, professional, demographic, age and other characteristics. The ability to structure the audience, identify the necessary segments (target groups) in it largely determines the success of communication, no matter what specific form it takes - party propaganda, election campaign, advertising of goods and services, commercial transactions, environmental or cultural events.

Each of the groups requires its own strategy, its own ways of informing and forms of communication. And the more accurately the audience differentiation is carried out and the parameters of the target group are determined, the more successfully communication will be carried out.
The creation and consumption of mass information is directly interconnected with the psychological processes of perception and assimilation.

The main role in the process of consumption is played by the audience - the direct consumers of this information.

Audiences can be stable or unstable in their preferences, habits, frequency of appeal, which is taken into account when studying the interaction between the source and recipient of information.

The characteristics of the audience largely depend on its socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, income, level of education, place of residence, marital status, professional orientation, etc.). Also, when receiving mass information, the behavior of the audience is mediated by factors of an objective nature (the uniqueness of circumstances, the external environment, etc.). The relevance for consumers and the significance of the mass information itself and the source of its transmission are often indicated by the quantitative parameters of the audience: the larger the audience, the more important the information and the more significant its source.

Audience types

The ability of population groups to access certain sources of information underlies the typology of the audience. Based on this feature, the following types of audiences can be distinguished:

potential and real (who is the audience of this media in fact and who has access to it).
irregular and regular;
non-targeted and conditional (to whom the media does not directly target).

Audience analysis occurs in two directions:

methods of handling the information received,
according to the form of information consumption by different social communities.

Stages of interaction between audiences and information:

contact with the channel (source) of information;
contact with the information itself;
receiving information;
development of information;
formation of attitude to information.

The entire population is divided into audience and non-audience by access to the information itself and the source of information. Today most of societies in developed countries relate to the potential or actual audience of the QMS.

Non-audience happens:

relative (people with limited access to the QMS - no money for a computer, newspapers, etc.),
absolute (who do not have access to the QMS at all, but there are already few such people).

It should be noted that SMC products, which are formally available to a large number of the population, are consumed in completely different ways.

Features of assimilation and consumption of mass information are directly proportional to the level of readiness of the audience to accept information, which can be determined based on the following features:

the degree of understanding of a particular text;
the degree of proficiency in the vocabulary of the media language in general;
adequate reflection of the meaning of the text in speech;
the degree of development of internal operation (rational semantic interpretation of the text).

A. Touraine, a French sociologist, described four cultural and informational strata of modern society:

"technocrats" (managers, producers of new values and knowledge, combining aristocratic art and professional interests);
active consumers of QMS products - employees who are oriented towards superiors who carry out other people's decisions (this includes PR managers and journalists);
low-skilled workers (mainly focused on entertainment products);
the lowest level - peripheral in relation to modern information production, representatives of forms of social life that are fading into the past, actually excluded from the sphere of mass information consumption (representatives of the elderly population, immigrants from developing countries, degrading rural communities, lumpen, unemployed, etc.).

Today, people need social information, the consequence of which is the activation of information and consumer activity of the audience. It includes the reception, assimilation, memorization and evaluation of information and is expressed in the following types:

partial - superficial view without analysis and significant conclusions;
full - full listening, viewing, reading and analysis;
refusal to receive a message due to its irrelevance (disinterest in the program or article) or oversaturation with information of a certain direction or topic.

Misunderstanding information

A significant problem of information-consumer activity of the mass audience is misunderstanding. There are two types of misunderstanding:

objective - due to social stereotypes and peculiarities of personal perception, ignorance of new words, as well as various kinds of distortions in the transmission of information in the media;
subjective - the unwillingness of individual subjects and the audience to understand the problems, memorize and assimilate the terminology.

Today, the media are trying to qualitatively improve the process of information and consumer activity. To do this, establish feedback between communicators and audiences:

audience survey;
epistolary (by mail);
instant (" hot phone", "hot line", interactive survey via computer or telephone network);
assessment of the activities of a particular media outlet (study of reviews, reviews and reviews of a mass media source);
rating studies ("measurements" based on sociological research daily dynamics of the real audience of programs and publications);
conferences are held (discussion of media products).

In general, the consumption of mass media is a complex and psychologically active process, subdividing the audience according to economic, socio-demographic, cultural and other characteristics. The process of mass information consumption is associated with the fact that the audience themselves produce mass social information, both directed through certain channels (for example, letters or requests to the media or government bodies), and "non-canalized" (diffuse), circulating in poorly structured networks of interpersonal communication ( rumors, conversations, etc.).

Mass Communication Functions

G. Lasswell in 1948 identified three basic functions of mass communication:

the transfer of cultural heritage is a cognitive-culturological function, a function of the continuity of cultures;
relationship with the social structures of society - the impact on society and its knowledge through feedback, i.e. communicative function;
review of the surrounding world - an information function.

K. Wright, an American researcher, in 1960 proposed to allocate next function mass communication as an independent - entertaining.

In the early 1980s McQuail, a specialist in mass communication at the University of Amsterdam, introduced another function of mass communication - organizational and managerial, or mobilizing, meaning the specific tasks that mass communication performs during various campaigns.

Domestic scientists-psycholinguists distinguish four functions that are characteristic of television and radio communication:

informational;
social control;
socialization of the individual (i.e. the education in the personality of the traits necessary for society);
regulatory.

Informational the function is to provide the mass listener, viewer and reader with up-to-date information about various fields of activity - scientific, technical, business, political, medical, legal, etc. A large amount of information gives people the opportunity to increase their creative potential, expand their cognitive capabilities. Possession of the necessary information saves time, increases motivation for joint actions, and makes it possible to predict one's actions. In this sense, this function contributes to the optimization of the activities of the individual and society.

Regulatory The function is characterized by a wide range of impact on the mass audience, from establishing contacts to controlling the society. Mass communication influences the organization of the public consciousness of the group and the individual, the creation of social stereotypes and the formation of public opinion. It also makes it possible to manipulate and control public consciousness, in fact, to exercise the function of social control.

People, as a rule, accept those social norms of behavior, ethical requirements, aesthetic principles that have been promoted by the media for a long time as a positive stereotype of lifestyle, clothing style, form of communication, etc. This is how it goes socialization subject in accordance with the norms desirable for society in a given historical period.

Culturological the function is to familiarize with the achievements of art and culture and forms the awareness of the society of the importance of preserving cultural traditions, the continuity of culture. With the help of the media, people learn the characteristics of various subcultures and cultures. This contributes to mutual understanding, develops aesthetic taste, helps to relieve social tension and, ultimately, contributes to the integration of society. The concept of mass culture is interconnected with this function.

Taking into account the main functions and characteristics of mass communication presented above, its social entity consists in a powerful impact on society in order to integrate, optimize its activities, and socialize the individual.

If you notice a mistake in the text, please highlight it and press Ctrl+Enter

The concept of communication comes from the Latin communicatio - exchange, connection, conversation. mass communication-- the systematic dissemination of messages among numerically large dispersed audiences with the aim of influencing the assessments, opinions and behavior of people"; "Mass Communication represents the institutionalized production and mass distribution of symbolic materials through the transmission and accumulation of information. "Mass communication is a kind of spiritual and practical activity, i.e. the activity of broadcasting, transferring to the mass consciousness (public opinion) assessments of current events recognized as socially relevant. The essence of mass communication as an activity is the impact on society by introducing a certain system of values into the mass consciousness. Its essence always remains unchanged, and the phenomenon, content and forms of implementation can change depending on the conditions for the functioning of the entire mass media. The purpose of mass communication is to change social actors in the interests of other entities or society as a whole.

In modern scientific and everyday language, along with the concept of mass communication, the concept is used "media". The concept is of Latin origin. The means of communication occupy a middle, intermediate position in the communication chain sender - channel - recipient of the message. Media is a communication mechanism between the sender and receiver of a message.

Mass communication is an activity based on a system of rules and norms, as well as on developed control over their implementation. Features of mass communication are:

The sender of the message is part of organized group and often a representative of the institute.

The individual acts as the host. It is often considered by the transmitting organization as part of a group with inherent common characteristics.

The message channel is a technologically complex information dissemination system. They include a significant social component, since their functioning depends on the legal norms of society, the habits and expectations of the audience.

Messages usually have a rather complex structure.

Public character and openness

Limited and controlled access to transmission media

Mediation of contacts between the transmitting and receiving parties

A certain inequality in relations between the transmitting and receiving parties

Multiple message recipients

The complexity of mass communication as a phenomenon predetermined its study within various research disciplines. The sociological study of the reality around us assumes that the individual is a product of social relations. Accordingly, when evaluating the role of the QMS in connection with various manifestations of human activity, we must necessarily take into account the peculiarities of the political, social, economic, cultural and technological context of this activity.

The differences between mass communication and interpersonal communication are manifested practically in connection with all components of the communication process. The source of the message in interpersonal communication is the family, neighbors, etc. In mass communication, however, it is a certain institution. The channel of distribution of interpersonal communication can be called “face to face”. The mass channel implies the presence of distribution technologies. The transmission time in interpersonal communication is direct, the distance is minimal, closed; in the mass - the transmission time is direct or with a delay in time, the distance is significant, or even unlimited. The receiver in interpersonal communication is the family, neighbors, i.e. immediate environment; in the mass - an anonymous heterogeneous audience. In interpersonal communication, there is the possibility of a direct reaction of the addressee ( Feedback). In mass communication, the reaction is predominantly “delayed” (in some cases, direct). The nature of the regulation of interpersonal communication is personal, individual; mass - using systems of rules and control.

1. Media as a social institution. The concept of a social institution. Definition of a social institution. Characteristics of a social institution. Characteristics of the media as a social institution

“Institutions of public life are considered to be a special type of integrative groups , the integrity of which is based on impersonal objective connections, the nature and direction of which does not depend on the individual properties of the people included in these institutions. Unlike non-institutional groups (like a friendly company), institutions such as the state or the army are not a collection of living people, but a system of interrelated social roles, performed by such people and imposing severe restrictions on their possible and acceptable behavior.

A social institution is “historically established forms of organization and regulation of public life (for example, family, religion, education, etc.), which ensure the performance of vital functions for society, including a set of norms, roles, prescriptions, patterns of behavior, special institutions , control system.

After analyzing various points of view in the definition of a social institution, we can conclude about the main characteristics of the latter, which are:

* role-playing system, which also includes norms and statuses;

* a set of customs, traditions and rules of conduct;

* formal and informal organization;

* a set of norms and institutions that regulate a certain area of public relations;

* a separate set of social actions.

A social subject is a source of purposeful activity, an individual or a group of individuals that implements independently chosen action programs that contribute to the achievement of independently chosen and set goals. This is the main difference between the subjects - only the subject carries out goal-setting activities and determines the conditions and means of achieving it. At the same time, in order to achieve the goal, the subject may involve other individuals or groups of individuals with different goals.

The social subject has specific interests and needs, which, as a rule, are in conflict with the interests of other social groups. The subject is a social instance whose need is satisfied by the product of this activity. For the subject, his needs are most important, but in order to satisfy them, he must realize his interest, i.e. perform the type of activity that the system needs. That. for the subject, interests are a means of satisfying his needs, and for the system, satisfying the needs of the subject is a means of realizing his interests.

The subjects of MC as such are social groups that realize their needs related to ensuring the conditions of their own existence. These needs are connected with the need to introduce social attitudes expressed in their own ideology into the mass consciousness. Based on these needs, social groups are interested in producing mass information.

The subjects of mass communicative activity do not have the goal of comprehensive and complete informing the audience. For them, their goals and their need for profit or special treatment for a mass audience always remain in the first place.

In the process of mass communication activities, the quality of subjects acquires:

Carriers of social interests (their goals are to influence the mass consciousness)

Owners of individual QMS as subjects of realization of commercial interests

Journalists (communicators) as subjects of realization of creative and professional interests

Mass audience as a set of subjects having a common goal - obtaining information for orientation in the environment of existence.

Subjects of MK as a species social activities, as a rule, social groups are involved in the translation of spiritual values into the mass consciousness. Each of the participants in this activity is also a subject, but the subject of a different activity series. Any subject himself determines his goals and ways of their implementation.

There are two types of social subjects - institutionalized (i.e. backed by legislation - minors, pensioners, students) and non-institutionalized (youth, elderly) subjects.

The main social subjects of society:

1) power and citizens

2) employers and employees

3) rich and poor

4) employed in social production and unemployed in social production

The type and features of the functioning of mass communication are determined by the type of society, its social, and above all, political structure, the institution of mass communication is most associated with politics as a social institution and a certain type of social activity. Politics is not the only kind of regulatory activity related to power. Another such type can be called administrative regulation, which in essence is not the relationship of people about power, but the direct actions of power, that is, power structures of various levels that administratively regulate the functioning and interaction of various parts and structures of society.

Social communication throughout a long period of human history has existed in the form of information activities that serve to establish links between various structures of society. However, the quality and organizational forms(as a social institution of mass communication) this type of activity has been formed relatively recently - since the emergence of mass media, the difference between which and simple communications is not quantitative, but qualitative, determined by the impact of mass communication precisely on the mass, that is, the practical consciousness of society.

MC is a type of regulatory activity, characterized as a subject-object relationship, where the object is mass consciousness as a level of consciousness of society, directly included in practice. The object of mass communication is such a state of mass consciousness, which is characterized by appraisal, namely public opinion, the formation of which through the implemented assessments is the goal of spiritual and practical mass-communicative activity, the products of which satisfy the subjects of this activity. The subjects of mass communication can be not only the subjects political activity, but also any other, for example, economic, subjects with the goal of evaluative impact on the mass consciousness.

Mass communication is the process of disseminating information (knowledge, spiritual values, moral and legal norms, etc.) using technical means (press, radio, television, etc.) to numerically large, dispersed audiences.

Mass media (MSK) are special channels and transmitters, thanks to which the product spreads information messages over large areas.

Mass communication is primarily characterized by:

availability of technical means to ensure regularity and replication;
social significance of information that contributes to increasing the motivation of mass communication;
The mass character of the audience, which, due to its dispersal and anonymity, requires a carefully thought-out value orientation;
· multi-channel and the possibility of choosing communication tools that provide variability and, at the same time, normativity of mass communication.

Mass communication plays the role of a regulator of the dynamic processes of the social psyche; the role of an integrator of mass sentiments; channel of circulation of psycho-forming information. Due to this, mass communication organs are a powerful means of influencing both the individual and the social group.

The uniqueness of the communication process in the QMS is associated with its following properties:

- diachronicity - a communicative property, due to which the message is preserved in time;
- diatopicity - a communicative property that allows information messages to overcome space;
- multiplication - a communicative property, due to which the message is subjected to repeated repetition with relatively unchanged content;
- simultaneity - a property of the communication process that allows you to present adequate messages to many people almost simultaneously;
- replication - a property that implements the regulatory impact of mass communication.

History of the study of problems of mass communication. The beginning of mass communication research is associated with the name of the German sociologist M. Weber. In 1910, he methodologically substantiated the need to study the press in a sociological aspect, convincingly showing the orientation of the periodical press to various social structures and its influence on the formation of a person as a member of society. He also formulated the social requirements that are imposed on a journalist, substantiated the method of analyzing the press.

Of great importance for the study of mass communication was the work of W. Lippmann "Public Opinion", published in 1922. According to Lippman, human thinking is reduced to reactions in response to external stimuli. The sum of such reactions, obtained from the experience of previous activities, forms certain stereotypes - illusory constructors in the human mind, replacing reality. Since most people do not have the opportunity to independently investigate and evaluate certain facts, their thinking is based on stereotypes. For the formation and consolidation of stereotypes in the creation of people, superficial assessments of various phenomena or events are sufficient. In the modern world, it is the mass media that create the majority of stereotypes, forming a “pseudo-environment” in which the majority lives. modern people. Therefore, according to Lippmann, by exploring the complex processes of stereotyping, one can also study the phenomenon of mass communication.

In the future, the study of mass communication was carried out in three aspects - theoretical, pragmatic and experimental-applied.

Known theories are built mainly on a functional approach to understanding the essence of mass communication, the difference lies in the justification of the dominant function and the consequences of its actualization. Despite the many interpretations of mass communication, these theories can be grouped into three groups according to the dominant function: 1) the function of political control, 2) the function of mediated spiritual control, 3) the cultural function. A special place is occupied by the theory of "information society", within which the role of mass communication is studied. Let us briefly consider these theories in order to highlight the theoretical problems of mass communication and approaches to their solution.

In the first group of theories, in which mass communication is interpreted as a function of political control, as an expression of the concentration of political power, there are two subgroups. In the first subgroup, the dominant factor is material and economic, in the second - ideological. The first subgroup includes the theory of mass society and variants of the theory based on the Marxist understanding of the QMS, primarily as means of production, which in a capitalist society are private property.

The theory of mass society proceeds from the position on the interaction of authoritative and powerful institutions of society, as a result of which the QMS are integrated into these institutions and, as a result, support the political and economic course of power structures. This theory emphasizes the role of the QMS in shaping public opinion. At the same time, the dual role of the QMS is noted: on the one hand, they can manipulate public opinion, on the other hand, they help people survive in difficult conditions. Political-economic theory, in which Marxism is most consistently used, puts forward the role of economic factors that determine the functions of the QMS. Political factors are also taken into account, since QMS are in the hands of private owners. The representatives of this theory are the English sociologists G. Murdoch and P. Golding. The political-economic theory also includes the economic-sociological tradition of studying mass communication and the political-sociological direction. The economic and sociological tradition of studying mass communication (J. Wedell, D. McQuail, D. Kellner, T. Vestergaard, K. Schroder) in the process of implementing sociocultural functions informing the audience about events at the local, national and world levels, entertainment, education and enlightenment ) highlights the goals associated with the formation of consumer behavior, stereotypes of perception of economic reality and lifestyle, and also considers the processes of production, distribution and consumption of media products (information, entertainment and sociocultural samples) in society as intangible public or private goods. In this context, the QMS are the "fourth power" in the sense that they do not depend on the traditional three, do not merge with them, but have their own "power" over the minds of people. At the same time, the state can act as an arbitrator, setting the rules of the game for market participants, producers, television and radio channels, newspapers and magazines, journalists, advertisers, and an independent entity participating on behalf of society in the process of creating public goods produced by the mass media through public mass media channels. It is in this context that Western scientists are analyzing the trends in the commercialization of QMS, their deregulation and the planned re-strengthening of regulation. Accordingly, the processes of regulating the interaction of the mass media, society and the state, representatives of this direction are associated with the regulation of relations and property rights to mass communication channels. The second subgroup includes the theory of "hegemony" and the theory of mass communication, built on the basis of Marxist methodology. The QMS hegemony theory has a conventional name in which the word "hegemony" is interpreted as the dominant ideology. The impetus for the emergence of this theory was the position of the critical theory of the media as a powerful mechanism capable of implementing changes in society. The most consistent representatives of this theory are the Greek sociologist and political scientist N. Poulantzas, who lived in France, and the French philosopher L. Althusser.

In the second group, the most significant are the theories developed on the basis of the methodology of structural functionalism. The theories of the third group are characterized by a sociocultural approach to understanding mass communication and the role of the mass media. At present, this approach is clearly gaining momentum, which is explained by a new wave of interest in the human person and the general trend towards the humanization of sciences. Theories of the "information society" are singled out in a separate group. The basis of these theories is the concept of a post-industrial society, developed by the American sociologist D. Bell. The most typical postulates of these theories are as follows:

- information is the main source and means of production, as well as its product;
- QMS are a powerful incentive for the consumption of information and its evaluation, they also stimulate communication technologies, thanks to which vacancies are created (in the USA, up to 50% of employees are somehow connected with the process of preparing, processing and disseminating information);
- changes in society, "revolutionary potential" are not in the content of information, but in the ways and means of its transmission and its further application (in other words, it does not matter what, but how important).

The considered theories of mass communication, with all their variability, are mainly focused on the role of the media. In terms of forecasting, some scientists predict an increase in the differentiation of power over the mass media, a decline in the cultural level of society, since the cultural function is not controlled by anyone, and a weakening of the integration of society, since it will be tied to its local interests. Others, on the contrary, emphasize the advantage of the QMS in conditions of free choice of information, since under these conditions it is possible to avoid the centralized pressure of the QMS, and integration, although narrowed, will be deeper and more stable under the new conditions. This opposition goes back to the difference between the so-called critical and administrative studies, which was substantiated by the American sociologist P. Lazarsfeld as early as 1941.

Lazarsfeld's ideas contributed to the development of the so-called positivist approach to the study of mass communication. According to this approach, the media convey information to the audience through "setting the agenda". Moreover, the media deliberately “inflate” any problem, devoting all their time to it, artificially elevating it above other events, thus constructing a special reality. Mechanisms for constructing artificial reality are the subject of study of representatives of this school.

Mass communication specialist McQuail gives a number of constructive suggestions for theoretical research:

-search for convergence of social and individual use of communication;
- creation of the concept of correlation of information and culture in terms of their objective capabilities and conditions of functioning;
- a more thorough analysis of the relationship in the process of communication in order to balance the practiced transmission of information and the real demands of society.

Behind these proposals is viewed the main problem how to combine the mass and individual in communication with the greatest benefit for society and the individual, how to avoid the dehumanization of society in the conditions of scientific and technological progress and consumerism.

Practical-applied methods of mass communication research. As for the methods of studying mass communication in a practical-applied aspect, this includes: observation of mass-communicative situations and private communicative acts; experiments ("field" and laboratory) with the participants of communication; description of QMS in their historical development and identification of their functions; system-theoretical analysis of communicative acts or the functioning of the QMS in society.

The study of mass communication can also use the methods of various socio-humanitarian sciences, for example, methods of researching focus groups, questioning and polling the audience of the mass media from sociology; methods of conversation with communicators and recipients from sociolinguistics, etc.

A particularly important method of studying mass communication in the metatheory of communication is system-theoretical analysis, which consists of four levels.

At the first level of system-theoretical analysis, the researcher must characterize the structural elements that make up the organization of a particular mass communication process or the entire system of mass communication, establish their relationship with the entire structure of a given society. At the second level, establish the mechanism and features of the interaction of elements within the system under study. At the third level, identify the functions of the system under study in relation to external environment. At the fourth level, put together the typological characteristics of the system under study and establish the meaning and significance of the broadcast and received mass information based on the functions of this system and the scale of its influence on society as a whole.