MASS MEDIA AND RATIONAL DOMINATION: A Critical Review of a Dominant Paradigm
No Thumbnail Available
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Description
This examines the 'domination hypothesis' of the
critical/conflict theories, vis-a-vis the structural functional
perspective. It tries to put the two perspectives side by side and
show how they stand up to obj ective analysis, and/or are
related to each other.
It also draws attention to the time-honoured view of many
communication scholars that analysis of the power of the
mass media should not be predicated on the principle of "all
or nothing", that the media are not all-dominating; neither
are they all-liberating; that the media can be used for good or
for evil, depending on the socio-political, economic and
cultural environments in which they operate.
This requires an examination of the relationship between
economic and socio~political power structure and mass media
utilization as well as the impact of this relationship on the
effect of the media on the public.
Keywords
ZA Information resources