reading reflection 11

CommunicationA Critical/Cultural
Introduction
Deanna L. Fassett | John T. Warren | Keith Nainby
COMMUNICATION
A Critical/Cultural Introduction
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CHAPTER 11: MEDIATED CULTURE(S)
Overview
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Explore what media, in all
its forms, is and how it
relates to culture
Articulate the role of power
as produced through media
Define our responsibilities
as consumers of mediated
images/messages
Explore how media shapes
our identities
Apply critical
communication theories to
our use of media
Co-Constitution: Media in Our Cultural Lives
• Co-Constitution means that we use and create
media even as media use and create us
– Reflect on your experiences as a member of this media-rich
world:
• What media do you encounter on a routine basis?
• How aware are you of its influence?
• Do you ever find yourself setting aside some time away
from particular media?
Consuming Mediated Messages
• Representation is the representation of something that is
already present—a replica or mirror
or reflection of something already
there/occurred.
• Interpellation frames how
individuals become who they are
through a call-and-response
communication pattern.
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Michel Foucault:
Basic Tenets of Power
Power is sustained by maintaining a careful watch on those we might wish to watch
The operation of power cannot be separated from the treatment of knowledge and
discourse.
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– Forms
of domination are built into the very understanding of the common activity or
goods sought or whatever forms of the substance of a relationship.
– All individuals exercise, and are subjected to power through a net-like organization.
– The effectiveness of power increases as the visibility decreases.
– Power is productive and creative, not only repressive or prohibitive.
– Power
operates as a creative force that facilitates, produces and increases qualities
and conditions.
Fig. 11.3: Copyright © Friman (CC BY-SA 3.0) at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Presidiomodelo2.JPG.
John Fiske:
Media Use, Culture(s), and Power
• Media polysemy argues that
people do not use media
mindlessly, but instead actively
and creatively engage with it to
reinterpret media texts to suit
their own purposes (culture &
power)
• Media hegemony is not allpowerful. It needs to be
maintained, repeated, reinforced
and modified in order to respond
to, and overcome, forms that
oppose it.
Michel deCerteau:
Everyday Life and Strategy
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A strategy is something people already in power
use to maintain power.
– Communication as a strategy draws upon
individualized or shared understandings.
– Communication as a strategy in our
mundane use of language can become
complementary or divisive.
– Communication as shares our sense of
Belonging, marked as an ”other,” or a
subversion.
– tactic is temporary in that it is
always subject to response from
those in power.
Strategies do not determine individuals’ actions
“Observing and managing our own thoughts, feelings, and
actions. Monitoring is possible because humans are symbol
users.” ~Berger & Luckman, Social Constructions of Reality
Public Advocacy:
Media Aids and Organization
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Media Aids Mediated examples can have a powerful effect.
– building your message so that it is effectively organized for both you
and your audience, meeting your own and your audience’s needs and
expectations.
• What sorts of strategies and tools did/do you observe in media that
is employed most effectively?
Organization
– Develop your topic along its central points, organizing them in such a
manner as to help the listener follow your argument.
– Limit the number of main points.
– Choose a way of organizing your speech that best suits your topic
READING REFLECTION CHAPTER 11
Instructions:
1. After reading chapter 11, write-up your responses to the prompts below.
2. Submit your reading reflection as a .pdf in Moodle.
Reflection questions:
What was the most meaningful, interesting, or significant thing you learned from
this chapter?
Next, answer the following:
1. What are some of the negative aspects of media technologies (using tech to
communicate; aka computer-mediated communication) on relational
maintenance?
2. How do you think the United States is represented in mass media around
the globe? What examples can you think of that support this? (Hint- it
might be fun to look at some global media sources reporting on the USA.)