University of Beira Interior 2005/2006

A REFLECTION ON:
SOCIETY OF COMMUNICATION
MARIO MATOS No. 18 672 SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
The communication society
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CONTENTS
I. Introduction ................................................. ..............
.................... pg.3 II. Brief history of communication ...................
........................... ...... pg.3 III. Critical development ..............
.................................. ............ pág.4 Bibliography ............
.................................. ...................................... p.8
The communication society
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I.
Introduction
As a student of the communication area have a special interest in taking a posit
ion on the attitudes of the media before their "consumers" and the consequences
of those attitudes. Thus, this paper will try to explain my understanding about
the issue and clarify some points that I find relevant, giving special emphasis
to the growing influence of mass media in shaping the social being (their behavi
ors, attitudes and thoughts). The preparation of this work was based on selectiv
e surveys that are presented here under my critical point of view, forming, ther
efore, not a reconstruction of the readings but an informed opinion of the facts
.
II.
Brief history of communication
The media have not always had much effect on society as one that cause today. Pr
oof of this was the importance of minority media before the call to the Press Re
volution came, above all, allow access to a larger number of people reading, to
books at a low price (achieved by the mass printing of texts) . The classic typo
graphy was based on small pieces of wood or metal embossed letters and symbols -
moveable type. There were already rudimentary types, originally invented by the
Chinese. But in the fifteenth century, were rediscovered by Johann Gutenberg, w
ith the invention of the mechanical press. The difference between the Chinese an
d the types of Gutenberg is the first that were not reusable. The reuse of the s
ame types to compose different texts proved to be effective and is still used to
today, the basis of the press for many centuries. This revolution that began th
e mass media was titled the "typographic man" for a Marshall McLuhan, who was a
massive press for printing text, inevitably lowering costs and making reading ac
cessible to a broader field of society and not restricted to an elite.
"The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, McLuhan, Marshall, Univers
ity of Toronto Press, 1962
1
The communication society
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This revolution came to change the direction of society, consequently, has been
attaching increasing importance to the media as they are developed by adapting t
o the times and constituting both a model of adaptation.
III.
Critical development
In the broadest sense of the term, the use of the name the media, also commonly
called media or mass media, refers to a "functional whole composed of a set of t
echnical, physical and human resources used for the transmission of messages 2,
enveloped in a complex organizational system infrastructure in order to reach a
heterogeneous audience. A "power" that has assumed greater importance after the
political upheaval, economic and social elapsed during the 80s, the so-called "e
ra of the media world or the electronic era" 2. Traditionally, for the media, we
assign the 1 st degree: press, radio, cinema, television and 2nd grade: disk, v
ideo, etc.. This distinction is principally in how we see the same importance an
d more or less assumed by them to the scene of the Notice. In today's society th
e media have an increasing importance, particularly since the emergence of new i
nformation technologies. Moreover, the media continue to function as an instrume
nt of social control. The new information came to make the complex and refined i
n domestic and simple, and, of course, be taken into account when we talk about
communication today. Their presence in our daily lives has become increasingly a
nd almost indispensable (see, for example, the phone and computer), and without
whom we could not pass, they are almost as an extension of ourselves, an extensi
on of our senses as how they contribute to our perception of the world.€There i
s currently no major media company that does not have a "sophisticated compressi
on technology" to convey two messages. These new technologies provide, arguably,
new "alternative routes to traditional forms of enjoyment of leisure, especiall
y in the context of leisure household" 3. At
March 2
"Integration and the media," Oliveira, JMP, Lisbon, Social Analysis, ICS 1992 "T
he Information Society, Lyon, D., Oeiras, Celta, 1998, 2nd Edition
The communication society
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Western world the proportion of households with access to these new technologies
is so high that there is an important means of delivery. The confluence of inte
rests between the industrial sector, power, information, services and communicat
ion networks has led to the conversion of multinational computer companies in in
formatics and communication. Confluence of interests that leads to the productio
n of media is geared more for the economically viable for a production that qual
itatively satisfactory. The media, like plants, grow in areas that target the la
rgest possible volume of buyers to extend / develop their huge networks. The con
centration and internationalization characterize the contemporary media as most
industries, but "the world of information is unique, in that, unlike other indus
tries, its main purpose is not to make money" but to play the four culture , pub
licize, inform, make it public. The relationship between the media and the power
is a result of this confluence of interests. Possession of a medium brings fame
, public recognition, credibility and its owner, in societies characterized by i
nconstancy of power in the ongoing competition for this, control of a medium rep
resents a great asset, a source of influence. Contemporary society is characteri
zed by so-called mass culture, that is, "a set of cultural goods produced and co
nsumed on an industrial scale within and articulated in a system capable of" 5 i
n which emerge two dimensions: the subject and form of production cultural prope
rty and the subject and form of consumption. Belonging to this, the man is const
antly on the contemporary social anonymity, annulment of "I" mischaracterized, g
uided by the relationship it has with the mass culture, a situation in which, ev
en thinking that he is a pawn controlled the chess player that moves as you want
, providing it with no choices, it may be, but what should be consumed. The man
of mass culture is being molded and shaped to what you want to sell, advertise.
But curiously, this mass culture is not created by the mass of society (the work
force, the people), but before the media that transmit the models that engage t
he upper classes, trying to convey a value system in a way homogeneous and gener
ally practiced. A transmission of values that is based on the support of social
institutions (such as school, the youngest). This is more of the functions of me
dia, to join his equally crucial task of
4
5
"Mass Media", Sorlin, P. Oeiras, Celta, 1997, 1st Edition "Communication and Cul
ture of the Everyday," Ferin, Isabel, Chimera Publishing, 2002
The communication society
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keeping society informed and agreed to its surroundings and the events that happ
en a little everywhere, a function "void the narcosis" 6 in which the company is
at a given time, maintain the "social actor" awake and attentive to the world t
hat surrounds and stimulates. Nowadays the power of evolution and constant adapt
ation to new realities is one of the features that the media should have to endu
re and prosper in time and economy in modern capitalist society. Currently only
large international companies have the resources needed to promote "commercial"
and only with the profits of commercial contracts one can produce communication,
so that many media to choose the most appealing even if it has quality. If you
sell it produces, transmits: it is one of the maxims of modern mass media. The n
otice is issued, worldwide, strategies and models that, as the communication evo
lves, will gradually transform the choice in a more restricted, we are seeing fe
wer and fewer options to choose from and all of this common man "in favor of vic
tory in the fierce battle which is the commercial competition (...) enhancing th
e profitability "7. One of the most neuralgic of the media is the "illusion of p
roximity" created in eight people less attentive,€that is, the feeling that wha
t we are told happened that way and not another, that the media give us the trut
h, but there is already a clear awareness that there is a large discrepancy betw
een what happens every day and that is counted. What credibility does not remove
the media that truly are, but leads us to be more careful in the selection of s
ubjects to which we attach credibility. Without the media would ignore most imme
diately what is happening around us, but force us to for us to perceive things t
hrough their "prejudices" that increasingly provoke hostile reactions against se
nsationism the press or television because to their misleading representations o
f reality. Today, as with any product, items sold through the mass media are dri
ven by technological change, the degree of standardization and increased demand,
but those who hold power of the media use it to strengthen its field
June 7
"Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man," McLuhan, Marshall, 1964, London, S
phere Books 3 Ibid, pg. August 3 Ibid, 4, pp. 3
The communication society
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economic, are the "magnates of communication", holders of an important body in c
ontemporary society who use it to advantage próprio9. In the past our fellow in
terpreted the world obeying the word of a god or a king now do it through the me
dia. They inform us about what is happening in the world but we are not passive
beings and we must have the spirit of its own initiative and choose what really
interests us and the extent to which something may or may not be relevant or cre
dibility. "Man is not an automaton that accepts willingly what is without questi
on imposes an order of 10, the man is a rational being who has always had an ave
rsion to taxation since the dawn of civilization and should not now be the time
to choose the acceptance by the conformism and passivity. Thus, communication so
ciety can be taken into account as synonymous with industrial society, modern, c
apitalist societies it is these that the media exert greater influence both in s
erving and shaping public opinion as performing the role of one of more agents s
ocialization of the modern human. Mass communication was born and developed afte
r the "profound transformations in the social fabric of industrialized societies
" 11 and since then its development has been growing so large that fewer disting
uish the boundary between the company itself, primitive and communication societ
y (mass). All human interaction is based on communication and how it is made. Co
mmunication is inherent and essential to man, the man without communication woul
d not be able to convey ideas, thoughts, knowledge. Now, after thinking about th
e communication society, can we answer the question: Is the Man some day be able
to live without communication, get rid of this communication society?
Take the case of (former) Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (2001-2006) o
wned a chain of communication and business (the second largest in Italy after th
e Fiat with three television stations and printed publications) and president of
AC Milan (since 1986) that used in all his campaigns ploÍticas the media that
has to advertise its image. Today is the richest man in Italy, the world number
25 10 Ibid, 6, pp. April 11 Crespi, Franco, quoted in Robinson, Donizete, "Intro
duction to Sociology of Communication, University of Beira Interior, 2004
9
The communication society
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Active Bibliography
(Sorted alphabetically by title)
"Integration and the media," Oliveira, JMP, Lisbon, Social Analysis, ICS 1992, "
The Information Society, Lyon, D. Oeiras, Celta, 1998, 2nd Edition, "Communicati
on and Culture of the Everyday," Ferin, Elizabeth Publisher Chimera, 2002, "Intr
oduction to Sociology of Communication," Rodrigues, Donizete, University of Beir
a Interior, 2004 "Mass Media", Sorlin , P., Oeiras, Celta, 1997, 1st edition, "T
he Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, McLuhan, Marshall, Universit
y of Toronto Press, 1962," Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, "McLuhan,
Marshall, Sphere Books, 1964, London
Bibliography Passive
(Alphabetized by reference)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi (media persona
lity) http://www.rtp.pt/index.php?article=241908&visual=16, "Elections in Italy
with
holdings below 40 percent, "MF, the Lusa Agency, May 2006, www.bocc.ubi.pt,€Rea
ding some texts on the subject of work (not cited)