McQuail, ch 13
Structuralism and Semiology
A word as a combination of sound and concept
A sound,
e.g. “horse”
Signifier
A concept, e.g.
Signified
McQuail, ch. 13
Denotative and connotative meaning
Horse, (häst, Pferd, cheval)
Denotation
Connotation
The Knowledge, Attitudes,
Feelings, Values etc., that
you associate with a horse
McQuail, ch. 13
Justice,
Happiness,
Love
Denotation
?
Connotation
McQuail, ch. 13
A myth is a set of connotation(s) that have
acquired a special position within a given
culture and thus comes close to a
denotative quality. An example could be
national emblems:
McQuail, ch. 13
“The concept information has proved difficult to define”
…
“For present purposes , the central element” (of
information) “is probably the capacity to ‘reduce
uncertainty’. ”Information is thus defined by its opposite
(randomness or chaos).”
Randomness, chaos = Entropy
Negentropy = information
Albertazzi and Cobley, Part 5
Representation
“Because the rendering of any object in the world cannot
be what it renders, representations are never
straightforward presentations.” (A & C, p. 393)
The picture of something or a verbal descriptions of it is not
the phenomenon itself, but it represents this phenomenon
(more or less accurate or true or objective)
This observation itself is not particularly complicated. In
fact, it is rather banal. It is what follows from it that is
interesting, and that is the theme for Part 5 in Albertazzi’s
and Cobley’s book.
Albertazzi and Cobley
Ideology
An ideology can be defined as a set of ideas and
assumptions about the nature of society, often of a
normative kind, i.e. expressing opinions about how society
ought to be organized and governed (conservatism,
liberalism, socialism).
Ideologies often rest on assumptions about the nature of
society (secular/religious), of man (good/evil), of
governance (democratic/autocratic).
Albertazzi and Cobley
Discourse
Discourse can be defined as a “systematic and ordered way
of talking about something in order to develop concepts and
theories about it and/or deepen the understanding of it”.
The political discourse
The socialist discourse
The feminist discourse
The scientific discourse
The natural sciences discourse
The medical discourse
The religious discourse
The Christian/Islamic/Jewish /Hindu discourses
Albertazzi and Cobley
Consequently, this section (part 5) deals with how
mainstream media, by the way they represent
various aspects of life, play an important role in the
formation and pursuing of the discourses about
these aspects (cultural, social, political, economical
etc. aspects) and what this means for the prevailing
ideology/ies, i.e. for the dominant ideas and values
about how society should be construed, organized
and governed.
Albertazzi and Cobley
Social constructionism
All knowledge is derived from social/human
interaction, and the nature of this knowledge is
strongly influenced and shaped by the prevalent
discourse and ideology.
Typical examples would be our conception of, say,
sexuality, gender roles, normality.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 27 - Sexuality
Most of what is said about sexuality in ch. 27 is
rather self-evident, but let’s note that sexuality is one
of man’s strongest instincts, and something that
characterizes all men and women (and, for that
matter, all living creatures).
In addition, sexuality generally represents something
positive.
These facts provide at least part of an explanation of
the frequent presence of sexuality in mainstream
media.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 27 - Sexuality
“What does an artistic photo have to do with the real world”
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 27 - Sexuality
Stereotypes and prejudices!
Now, stereotypes is something that we cannot live
without. We need to classify, to group different
elements together, to generalize, to simplify –
otherwise maneuvering through the social
landscape would be impossible.
The problem with stereotypes is that they
sometimes develop into prejudices.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 28 - Gender
By using the term gender (instead of sex), one
signals a constructivist approach to the question of
masculinity and femininity.
Still, the chapter on gender focuses almost
exclusively on how men and women (i.e. different
sexes) are depicted in the media.
And they are represented differently – men as strong
and active; women as weak and submissive – which
influences us and has an effect on our way of
performing our sex or gender roles.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 28 - Gender
The perhaps most interesting thing with the gender
issue is that it permeates into almost every aspect
of human life.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 29 – Social Class
Karl Marx
Pierre Bourdieu
Social position and power
based on the ownership
of financial and/or fixed
capital
Social position and power
(influence) based on the
possession of cultural
capital
The comparison between on one hand Britain and
the US and on the other France.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 30 – Race and Ethnicity
Definitions:
Species = individuals who are able to breed
with each other
Race = individuals who share some exterior
characteristics
Ethnicity = individual characteristic based on
geographical origin.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 30 – Race and Ethnicity
Three different approaches to ‘reading’ race in the
media:
1. Issues of production and consumption;
2. Textuality and Content;
3. Power and Politics
Problems inherent in a quota-based admission to
managerial positions within the media
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 30 – Race and Ethnicity
“Stereotypes, in themselves” are not necessarily
offensive or harmful, but the interests they can serve
and the context in which they can be used have the
potential to be precisely that.”
A & C, p. 447
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 31 – Media and Religion
Two events, that attracted very much attention:
1. The airliners that were crashed into WTC and Pentagon on
Sept 9, 2001
2. The murder of the controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh
on Nov 2, 2004.
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 31 – Media and Religion
News frames:
“To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived
reality and make them more salient in a
communication text, in such a way as to promote a
particular problem definition, causal interpretation,
moral evaluation and/or treatment recommendation.”
A & C, p. 462
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Conflict frame
The Human interests frame
The Economic effects frame
The Morality frame
The Responsibility frame
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 32 – Youth
This chapter basically consists of a more or less
outdated review of the media coverage of social
and moral troubles associated with young people.
Two opposing media stereotypes
Youth-as-fun vs. youth-as-troubles
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 33 – The Body,
Health and Illness
Health is one of man’s most cherished values
Oscar Pistorius – the Blade Runer
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 34 – Nationality
Albertazzi and Cobley, ch. 34 – Nationality