Media Influence on Thoughts and Behavior

The media successfully controls the way people think and behave. Evaluate this view.

Key focus of the question:
This is a question about the power of the media to influence thought and behaviour. Good answers will consider how far, and in what ways, the media shape the way people think and behave.

Marxist theories of the media broadly agree with the view expressed in the question. The mass manipulation model sees the media as an extremely powerful agent of social control through disseminating ideas favourable to the capitalist ruling class in ways that gain immediate and uncritical acceptance from the populace. Likewise, the hypodermic💥syringe model of media effects sees the media as having a direct and controlling influence on behaviour. By contrast, other models of media effects, such as the neo💥Marxist hegemonic model and the uses and gratifications model, see the influence of the media in shaping the way people think and behave as longer💥term and/or more indirect. Similarly, functionalist and pluralist theories would see the media as reflecting the values and attitudes of society more than shaping them. They would reject the idea of the media as a monolithic force manipulating the way people think and behave. Interactionists would point out that media content can be interpreted in different ways and various factors affect the way particular audiences respond to the messages transmitted by the media. Feminists would agree that the media exercise a very powerful influence on how women see themselves and are perceived by men, but would also note how feminists have been successful in resisting those media influences and campaigning against negative representations of women in the media. Postmodernists have been particularly interested in how the new digital media operate and whether they provide a platform from which ordinary citizens can challenge the power of established authorities such as the powerful conglomerates that own the traditional media.

Indicative content:

For:
💥 The Frankfurt School highlighted some features of mass society that create a conducive background for media manipulation of the way people think and behave.
💥 The media dominate the flow of information in society today.
💥 The media are heavily dependent on support from advertisers, and the latter have an interest in manipulating consumer behaviour and more broadly in shaping social identities in ways that support a vibrant capitalist economy.
💥 Celebrities are seen as important opinion formers and role models today and, to some extent, they can be seen as a product of the media.

Against:
💥 People are not passive consumers of the media; they actively choose how to use the media to suit their own needs, according to the uses and gratifications model of media effects.
💥 The way media messages are interpreted by different individuals and groups can vary, and the factors influencing this are not all within the control of the media.
💥 The new media have provided people with the means to generate their own media content rather than be reliant on the content produced for them by the traditional media. In this sense, democratisation of the media can be said to have occurred (although digital pessimists would disagree with this optimistic view of the impact of the new media).
💥 Rather than being manipulated by the media into accepting particular ways of thinking and behaving, people often challenge media content and seek to change the way media operators work. Examples include campaigns against sexism in the media, the alt💥right’s efforts to expose so💥called fake news among established media outlets, and the work of the ‘underground press’ in challenging the state💥controlled media in many oppressive, authoritarian regimes.