Media Analysis and Criticism Exam 1 – Flashcards
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Postmodernity
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the historical epoch that began to emerge in the 1960s as the economic mode of production in most Western societies gradually shifted from commodity-based manufacturing to information based services
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convergence
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the tendency of formerly diverse media to share a common, integrated platform.
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mobility
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the ease with which an object can be moved from place to place
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fragmentation
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a splintering of the consuming public into ever more specialized taste cultures
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globalization
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a complex set of social, political, and economic processes in which the physical boundaries and structural policies that previously reinforced the autonomy of the nation state are collapsing in favor of instantaneous and flexible worldwide social relations.
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simulation
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an implosion of the image (i.e. representations) and the real
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socialization
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the process by which persons -- both individually and collectively -- learn, adopt, and internalize the prevailing cultural beliefs, values, and norms of a society.
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Marxism
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a social theory and political movement rooted in the idea that "society is the history of class struggles."
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historical materialism
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regards the character of social life to be a reflection of the material conditions that exist at a particular historical juncture.
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superstructure
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social consciousness, as encoded in institutions such as culture (art and media), religion, education, politics and the judicial system
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base
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the underlying economic and material conditions of society
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reception theory
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a diverse body of work that nevertheless commonly stresses audiences interpretation as a primary source of meaning in the media
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hypodermic needle
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research tradition predominantly sought to discover how the mass media "injected" particular meanings into consumers
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cultivation analysis
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argues that individuals who watch heavy amounts of television are hyperconscious to issues of danger and violence in their everyday lives.
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uses + gratification
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assumes that individuals consciously consume media texts for their own ends, purposefully reworking textual meaning in order to integrate the text into their daily life
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code
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a set of rules that govern the use of visual and linguistic signs within a culture
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encoding
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the process of creating a meaningful message according to a particular code
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decoding
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the process of using a code to decipher a message and formulate meaning
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dominant
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media audiences operating from a dominant reading position employ a code identical to the industry code and understand the text according to its preferred meaning
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oppositional
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these audiences recognize the preferred reading and dominant code in a text but reject them in favor of a completely different code (and different meaning)
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negotiated
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media consumers decode part of the text in accordance with the industry code and part of it with an alternative code
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polysemy
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"many meanings" - refers to the relative openness of media texts to multiple interpretations
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signifier
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the material or physical form a sign takes, something that can be seen, heard, touched, smelled or tasted.
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signified
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the object or concept to which the signifier refers
