MCQUAILâ€™S FOUR KINDS OF THEORIES:Social scientific theory, Critical theory

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Theories of Communication MCM 511

LESSON 09

MCQUAIL'S FOUR KINDS OF THEORIES

Social science is controversial because it suggests causal relationships between things in the

environment people's attitudes, values and behaviors. Society and media relationship is a causal

relationship.

Theory is any set of ideas which can help make sense of a phenomenon, guide action or predict a

consequence.

Theories help us understand or explain phenomena we observe in social world. They are the net with

which we catch the world or the way in which we sense of the social life.

Theories are stories about how and why events occur... Scientific theories begin with the assumption

that the universe, including the social universe created by acting human beings, reveals certain basic and

fundamental properties that explain the ebb and flow of events in specific process. Theory is also

defined as scholars' best representation of some state of affairs based on systematic observation.

According to McQuail there are four kinds of theories

1. Social scientific theory

2. Normative theory

3. Operational theory

4. Everyday theory

Social scientific theory

· These theories are based on and guide empirical research

· Permit statements about nature, workings and effects of mass communication

· These statements or hypothesis are tested by making systematic and objective observations

regarding mass media, media use and media influence.

· E.g. TV and aggression link.

Normative theory

· This form of theories explains how ideal media ought to operate within a specific system of

social values.

· Such theory usually stems from the broader social philosophy or ideology of a given society.

· E.g. theories of the press's role in a democracy would most likely fit here as would theories of

media in an Islamic republic or an authoritarian.

Operational theory

· This kind of theory is normative but with a practical bent.

· It involves not holy HOW media should ideally operate but how they CAN operate to meet

specific ends.

· Such as how to select news, please audience, effective advertising keep within the limits of

what society permits and relate effectively to sources and audiences

Everyday or common-sense theory

· This refers to the knowledge we all have from our long experience with media which enables us

to understand what is going on,

· How a medium might fit into our daily lives,

· How its content is intended to be read, how we like to read it

· What are differences in different media (genre in content).

· On the basis of such theory we make consistent choices from tastes and make judgments.

· This affects the media influence on the individuals

· This causes public debate about the media

Theories of Communication MCM 511

Other commentators on mass communication have suggested other means of understand about mediated

communication.

Critical theory

· A loose confederation of ideas held together by a common interest

in the

quality of

communication and human life

· Concerned with inequality and oppression

· They not only observe they also criticize

· Concerned with the conflict of interest in the society and the

· Ways communication perpetuates domination of one group over another

· Media effects a historical perspective

· History of the scientific study of Media effects.

Media effects - a historical perspective

· Examine the concern for media effects in historical perspective and the historical evidence for

actual media effects on opinions and behaviors since the invention of the printing press.

· The society's elite which recognized potential societal influences from exposure to the printed

word. Such as the religious and the government elites that is why:

1. used the press to for their own ends

2. attempted to censorship

3. control publications and thereby silence opposition voices

4. Such fears even exist today in totalitarian societies, in which leaders suppress or control

media to maintain power.

In 1559, Pope Paul IV issued an Index of Prohibited Books which included Protestant books along with

occult and pornography books and opposition books---- Martin Luther defied the pope and used the

printing press to spread Reformation literature to the masses.... And so rebels and imprisonment and

punishments. In the 16th century King Henry VII felt so threatened that he prosecuted those who

published material offensive to the crown. Insisted on licensing and held English press under strict

control. In late 1700s in the United States Benjamin Franklin --- Philadelphia `Aurora'--leading voice

for the cause of Republicanism in the United States.

So press affects the `public opinion'. A judge said that:

"Give to any set of men the command of the press and you give them the command of the country, for

you give them the command of public opinion, which commands everything."

Public concern for "indecent' material

· Concern for the ill effects of media violence and sexually explicit material

· In the early 19th century `penny press'--reports on the activities of arrested thieves, drunks

prostitutes and other miscreants and low lives of society became immensely popular among

many readers and so became a target of extreme criticism.

· Sensationalism promoted

· Competitors in print

· So on several occasions angry readers attacked the press---"moral war"

It was in the later half of the 19th century when new technologies and the spread of literacy made

possible the development of remarkable new forms of communication mass communication. New

media technologies were invented and popularized and apprehensions were that:

New technology would disrupt peaceful, rural communities

Force people to in urban areas to serve as a convenient work force in large factories,

mines or bureaucracies

For some mass media symbolized every thing that was wrong in the urban life

Media lowered class tastes

Brings political unrest

Theories of Communication MCM 511

Violated cultural norms

The old social order of the landed aristocracy was crumbling an was its culture and

politics

Dominant perspective that emerged during this period was of mass society theory. Among the

originators of mass society notions was a German sociologist, Ferdinand Tonnies. He tried to

differentiate between the earlier form of social organization and the European society as it

existed in the late 19th century. The two terms he used were:-

1. Gemeinshaft or folk society

2. Gesellshaft or modern, industrial society

Gemeinshaft or folk society

People were bound by strong ties of family, tradition, rigid social roles- basic social institutions were

very powerful---- he argued that folk society yearn for the order and meaning and they often find life in

modern societies to be troublesome and without meaning. in Modern or industrial societies people are

often bound by relatively weak social institutions base upon rational choices rather than tradition.

French Sociologist, Emile Durkheim also offered more or less a similar theory about the dichotomy in

the society.

1. Mechanical solidarity- compared folk societies to machines in which people were little more than

cogs. The machines are ordered and durable, but people were forced by collective consensus to perform

traditional social roles--bound by consensus to one another like the parts of a great engine.

2. Organic solidarity- he compared the modern social orders to animals. As they grow, animals

undergo profound changes in their physical form. The animals are made up of cell and cell serve very

different purposes and also undergo changes. Similarly in modern social orders the people grow and

changes along with the society at large- for their survival. So organic solidarity is characterized by

specialization, division of labor and interdependence and in this regard media role was appreciated to

permit important new social bonds formation.

Later the ails (decline of common morality) of the society must be cured by social pathologist-

sociologists- not by reverting to old social orders but scientifically chosen forms would solve the

problems inherent in modernity.

Characteristics of the mass society and mass audience

Large number

Widely dispersed

Non-interactive and anonymous

Heterogeneous

Not organized or self acting

And so the theory made a several basic assumption about individuals and the role of media and the

nature of social change.

1. first assumption was that media is cancerous force within society and must be purged or

totally restructured- govt control Nazi- BBC--also George Orwell novel in 1948

`1984' Big brother watches every one, televised propaganda was used to foment hatred

against external enemies and promote love of Big Brother

2. Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people-

direct effects assumptions usually negative- average citizens are portrayed as helpless

and are being manipulated by the power of the media e.g. violence on TV, or in comics

or heavy metal music and average teenagers

3. once peoples minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad, long-term consequences

result-bringing not only ruin to individual lives but also certain social problems on a

Theories of Communication MCM 511

vast scale-every social problem is attributed to the media e.g. teenage delinquents

disaffected housewives- seeing to many soap operas- drug addicts

4. Average people are vulnerable to media because they have been cut off and isolated

from traditional social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation.

The argument is, in modern societies when an individual is isolated and is striped off

his traditional protective family structures provided by the traditional community he

started believing whatever media communicated to them. Media became the most

trusted and valued source of messages about politics, entertainment, religion, education

and on and on e.g. story telling replaced by movies, television and videos.

5. Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline

in civilization.

This criticism was held by Western cultural and educational elites- in decades following the

enlightenment (18th century European social and Philosophical movement that stressed rational thought)

these elites thought themselves as responsible for nurturing and promulgating higher forms of culture,

not only within their own societies but also around the world. (White, male, western, protestant) so

media was viewed as a threat to high culture- e.g. rather than glorifying gangsters highlight great leaders

or religious leaders etc. media should not lower people tastes by giving them what they want but should

give what they need. (BBC)

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