B.F. Skinner – Operant conditioning

“The fiction of free will?”

Schedule of reinforcement

Harold Lasswell, Propaganda Technique in the world war (1927)

‘injected into the veins’ ‘a subtle poison’

propaganda is overtly political and manipulative. Persuasion is subsequently revealed as invidious

Shoshana Zuboff – Emerging behavioural control technology (mobile phones).

Uncovering Cambridge Analytica – Alexander Nix

Will Hazell (Who) wrote that “People want schools and nurseries open in second lockdown” (Message). This was written in the i newspaper (Medium). This message is read by the readers of the i (Receiver). The effect of the message would be that people understand that children need schools and nurseries open. (Effect)

Shannon and Weaver in 1949 (Transmission model of Communication)

Paul Lazerfeld – Two step flow of communication. Social media influencers. messages are not directly injected into the audience. those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience. The role of key individuals in society, teachers, doctors, trade union leaders, your boss at work, parents, friends and family all of whom are capable of exerting an influence on the process of communication, making it subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.

Audiences are active, who should they listen to, who should they believe.

Uses and Gratifications – Education, Entertainment, Social interaction, identity, escapism. Personal needs and social needs. what does media do to people? what do people do with media?

Maslows hierarchy of needs. Self actualization, Esteem, Love/belonging, Safety, Psychological.

George Gerbner – Cultivation Theory examines the long-term effects of television. Changing behaviour overtime.

Chomsky and Althusser tell us that companies do the exact same thing.

Theory of preferred reading – Stuart Hall. Talks about how you don’t have to believe everything you are told. A dominant position accepts the dominant message. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Clay Shirky – There isn’t such a thing as audience, there are only individuals.

B.F Skinner – Operant Conditioning (Behavioural Science)

The notion of free will is fiction. “The fiction of free will”

Actions are shaped by controlling the environment

Schedule of reinforcement

Propaganda vs Persuasion

Harold Lasswell – Propaganda technique in the world war (1927) – The brew of ‘subtle poison which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers….knocked them into submission’

Shoshana Zuboff

The age of surviving capitalism

• ” a major segment of the emerging behaviour control technology is concerned with conditioning, through which various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviours while supressing others”

Individuality & Personal freedom v Behaviour modification

• “Technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individual’s action but his very personality and manner of thinking”

Cambridge Analytica – Alexander Nix

WHO, SAYS WHAT, THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL, TO WHOM, TO WHAT EFFECT

Who – Will Hazell

Says What – People want schools and nurseries to be open during second lockdown, says poll

Channel – The i

To Whom – centralists (due to political and general viewpoint of The i)

With what effect- To inform the readers about others viewpoint

Shannon and Weaver – 1949

Developed Laswell’s model to Transmission model of Communication. This included elements such as noise, error, encoding and feedback.

Paul Lazarfeld – 1950(ish)

He developed the Two Step flow model of communication. The role of key individuals in society all of whom are capable of exerting an influence on the process of communication. This makes it subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.

Audiences are active not passive. Audience consumption is based on consideration of what others think.

Uses and Gratifications – 1960’s

1. information / education
2. empathy and identity
3. social interaction
4. entertainment
5. escapism

 Rather than categorising the audience as passive consumers of messages, either directly from source or from opinion leaders.

& Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954)

It argues that people actively looked to satisfy their needs based on a hierarchy of social and psychological desires

1. Physiological – Breathing, food, water, sex.
2. Safety – Security of body, employment, morality.
3. Love/belonging – Friendship, family, sexual intimacy.
4. Esteem – Self-esteem, confidence, achievement.
5. Self-actualization – morality, creativity, spontaneity.

George Gerbner – 1970’s

Cultivation theory – “television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources” – (television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other)

Stuart Hall – 1980’s

The theory of preferred reading.

1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message
2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Clay Shirky – 2000’s

Instead of the choice of three subject positions as offered by the theory of preferred reading, there were limitless, individual subject positions available to all of us, at any time, in any place, from any perspective?

Says there are no audiences, but individuals – not the same but target each one for their needs.

A position which allowed us to produce our commentary and communication on the outside world, while still maintaining the ability to comment, feedback, accept or deny

B.F SKINNER – behavioral science/ operant conditioning

‘the ficton of free will’

schedule of reinforcement

Harold Lasswell in first world war – Propaganda technique in World War 1927 – shuttle poison which can be injected into the veins – hypodermic model suggests the direct injection of media to the passive audience. Distinguish between propaganda and persuasion.

Zuboff – the age of surveillance capitalism – emerging behavior control technology which is used to stimulate certain Behavior.

new technology which is able to create new methods of behaviorism, change personality , change actions. not essentially free individuals much more vulnerable and more easy to change than we think.

Cambridge Analytica – Alexander nix

• B.F Skinner – behavioral science, operant conditioning
• he says the notion of free will is fiction
• control of environment
• how messages are passed on & shaped behavior
• schedule of reinforcement
• fiction of free will, reduces us to animals

• Harold Lasswell – wrote ‘propaganda technique in the world war’, hypodermic model theory = direct injection = passive audience
• said powerful people could brew up a ‘subtle poison which industrious men injects into the veins…’
• propaganda in overly political & manipulate whereas persuasion often appears invisible

• Shoshana Zuboff – wrote ‘the age of surveillance capitalism’
• says there is an ’emerging behavior control technology’
• ‘forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain type of behaviors while suppressing others…’
• ‘..technology has begun to develop new methods of behavior control.’
• ‘The power [of] this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another.’

Cambridge Analytica – Alexanda Nix = chief executive

1920/30 – Lasswell, hypodermic

WHO, SAYS WHAT, THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL, TO WHOM, TO WHAT EFFECT

This theory suggest we are ‘spoon-fed’by the media.

Lasswell’s model applied to a newspaper story:

Who – Bim Afolami, a journalist

Says what – Says that the left’s hypocrisy on radical equality is causing profound damage

Through what channel – The Mail on Sunday, pg 44

To whom – people who read the paper, possibly the older generation & people who are interested in politics

What effect – Makes left wing party & supports look bad

1940’s – Shannon & Weaver (1949),  Paul Lazarfeld – 2 step flow

Said there is stuff missing from Lasswells model. It was adated by Shannonn & Weaver to the Transmission model of Communication. This included other elements such as noice, error encoding & feedback.

Paul Lazarfeld – 2 step flow

Step 1 – from media to opinion leader

Step 2 – from opinion leaders communicate to the masses

 This theory suggests that the audience are active, not passive.

1960’s – Uses & gratifications (Katz, Gurevitch, Hass)

This idea of active audience, we choose information based on what we want – information / education, empathy and identity, social interaction, entertainment & escapism.

Related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954).

Applied to newspaper story – Knowledge about the world, safety and self-actualization

1970’s – Cultivation Theory – Gerbner (Chomsky vs Skinner)

Looked at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society. Suggests that we an use the media to change peoples behavior & what the think/believe in over time.

“Television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources.” (Gerbner et al 1986).

Althusser –  raised the idea that the State asserted power and control through a number of key agencies and structures, he called this idological state apperatice.

1980’s – Stuart Hall, preffered reading

The idea that we can take an opposite stance, we don’t have to believe these things. He says there are 3 ways to read a text: a dominant position, a negotiated position or an oppositional position.

2000’s – Clay Shirley, end of audience

There is no such thing as audience, there is only individuals. WE are not one, we are many, the idea of intersectionality. A mass of individuals not just a mass.

“The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.” Shirky – TED Talk 2013

2019 – Zuboff, surveillance capitalism

Subservience Capitalism – we are no longer a mass, but individuals.

adjusting voting behaviour in a digital age

b.f. skinner – operant conditioning:

• behavioural science
• “free will is fiction”
• schedule of reinforcement: if the pigeon knows it is going to get rewarded it will repeat the process to get that satisfaction

harold lasswell

• involved in world war 1
• propaganda technique in the world war: the way in which governments etc could brew up a “subtle poison” which could be injected into the veins of staggered people until the smashing powers … knocked them into submission
• hypodermic needle model
• propaganda vs persuasion: propaganda overtly political and manipulative vs persuasion (subtle manipulation)

Zuboff

• The age of surveillance capitalism
• emerging behaviour control technology: phones used to stimulate certain types of behaviour
• new technology -> new methods of behaviour control
• changing not only actions but changing people’s personalities and ways of thinking

cambridge analytica

• alexander nix – boss of CA

audience theory

• hypodermic needle – 1920 – 1930: passive audience, conditioning & propaganda. less people read and write

lasswell’s model: the daily mail article

WHO:

Sarah Harris and

SAYS WHAT:

“The number of white male, secondary school teachers has fallen by almost 20 percent in a decade, sparking fears over a lack of role models for working class boys”

CHANNEL:

The daily mail newspaper

TO WHOM:

right-wing aligned or centre-right aligned audience

WITH WHAT EFFECT:

reinforces the idea that the increase in diversity of teachers is bad because “white boys don’t have any role models”. (Conveniently leaving out that minorities never had role models in the first place). This creates racist ramifications as it ultimately creates the idea that “minorities are invading teaching spaces”

KATZ, GUREVITCH & HAAS

Personal needs: understanding self (reinforcing ideology)

Social needs: “knowledge” about the world

self confidence, stability, self esteem: if ideas are reinforced that align with the reader’s interests, they may agree giving a sense of stability

• shannon weaver: 1949: noise, error, encoding and feedback. Noise: being unable to understand the message conveyed due to some kind of distraction such as noise or another factor

• paul lazarfeld 1948: two step flow: information is shown to group 1 (influencers) (step 1). where one or two people are given the information. Then those people tell a lot of people (step 2)
• As Martin Moore suggests, ‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues’ (2019:124).
• active audience – the heart of the idea of the liberal press

• katz, gurevitch and haas: uses and gratifications 1973
• choose information based on what you want
• maslow’s hierarchy of needs

gerbner 1975: cultivation theory

• behaviours can be changed
• More pertinently, Gerbner and Gross assert that ‘television’s major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns and to cultivate resistance to change‘ (1978: 115). In other words, they assert the power of television to modify behaviour in support of the dominant structures of society.

Noam chomsky

• propaganda model

althusser

• theory of interpolation

stuart hall: theory of preferred reading (1980s)

• you don’t have to believe what people are telling you 9the media is telling you)
• 3 different ways of reading: dominant oppositional and negotiated
• encoding is different from the decoded message

clay shirky 2000: the end of audience

• no audience only individuals
• intersectionality
• In many ways, Shirky is not too removed from the work of Hall, prioritising the power of individual agency in the relationship between audiences and institutions, for example, recognising how the audience can be both producers and consumers of media text. This can be realised in the realm of new (interactive) communication media, where individual communications can be made in what appears to be beyond State or commercial control and interest.
• , ‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’

the idea of “surveillance capitalism”

B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning,

“The fiction of free will” – Skinner suggests we don’t actually have free will and we are conditioned to think or feel a certain way, the environment is controlled. We are conditioned to do different things, it’s provocative and manipulative. We are open to manipulation, people will play to other people’s weaknesses in order to manipulate

Schedule of reinforcement – If someone/something knows it will get something good and positive in return they will continue this process (e.g a pigeon will peck a dish to get food as they know they will get a reward from this)

Harold Lasswell – Propaganda Technique in the World War (1927) Highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers…knocked them into submission’

Hypodermic model – Suggests the direct injection of media messages into a passive audience

Propaganda – it is overtly political and manipulative

Zuboff highlights ‘A major segment of the emerging behaviour control technology is concerned with conditioning, through which various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviours while suppressing others’

Individuality & personal freedom v behaviour modification:

“Technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but his very personality and manner of thinking”

“The behavioural technology being developed in the US today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom”

“The power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another”

Cambridge Analytica – British political consulting firm that was involved in influencing hundreds of elections globally and that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal

Hypodermic model (passive consumption) – Model of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.

“Lasswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1”
Early theoretical work on the relationship (or effects) of media consumption are often traced back to Harold Lasswell who developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people 

My article ‘William fears for UK mental health amid virus curbs’:
Who:
What: People need to work together to tackle mental health during coronavirus and lockdown, mental health in the UK could be at risk
Whom: The community, everyone who may be affected by mental health
With what effect: People want to make sure mental health is ‘okay’ and get people to think about what it could be like

Shannon and Weaver (1949) – Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK. There is a suggestion that the process of sending and receiving a message is clear-cut, predictable or reliable of other factors that need to be taken into consideration

 Paul Lazarfeld – Two step flow of communication (active consumption) linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. He developed the Two Step Flow model of communication, took account of the way in which mediated messages aren’t directly injects into the audience, but subject to noise, error, feedback etc. Filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media message first then relay them back to a bigger audience

Martin Moore suggests ‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read/heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues’ (2019:124)

Audiences are active not passive and can be influenced by any factor, we like to know what’s going on so sometimes this means we can be influenced more easily. People could be subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.

Use and Gratifications (active selection) – The audience is a passive consumer of messages, either directly from source/opinion leaders, recognises the decision making process of audience. Individual audience members are more active than had previously been though and were actually key to the processes of selection, interpretation, feedback. People look for enjoyment/pleasure in specific uses of grat, including: information/education, empathy and identity, social interaction, entertainment, escapism

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954) – People actively looked to satisfy their needs based on hierarchy of social/psychological desires

Cultivation theory (George Gerbner)- People’s behaviour can be shaped and changed over time if being told the same thing enough times over and over until people start to believe this. The power of television to modify behaviour in support of the dominant structures of society

Theory of preferred reading (Stuart Hall) – There are 3 ways to read a text through: a dominant position, negotiated position and oppositional position. People presented as producers and consumers of culture at the same time. Active in the making/rejecting of meaning through mass communication

Clay Shirky – Suggests there isn’t such a thing as audience and there are only individuals
“The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with”, Shirky makes claim for the emancipation gained from new media technologies, liberating individual consumers from the behavioural management techniques of the State that were positioned as problematic by Hall, Althusser, Chomsky and others

B.F. Skinner-

Operant conditioning. eg positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement & punishment. “The fiction of free will”– determinism, no free will, result of environmental and biological factors.

Harold Lasswell– hypodermic model

He was involved in ww1, he explored propaganda techniques ww1 in book (1927), “brew up a subtle poison, which could be injected into the veins”

Hypodermic model– direct injection= passive audience.

Propaganda is overtly political and manipulative, and the processes of persuasion is invisible at first glace.

Liner model of communication– who (sender), says what (message), channel (media), to whom (receiver), with what effect (feedback)

.

Adapted by Shannon and Weaver in 1949, to become Transmission model of Communication, including elements like noise, error, encoding and feedback.

The age of surveillance capitalism– Zuboff

Emerging behavior control technology (mobile phones) used to stimulate certain behaviors. “technology had begun to develop new methods of behavior control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but its very personality and manner of thinking.”

Cambridge Analytica

Alexander Nix- harvesting data and using it to tailor ads. Influenced Brexit, and Trump 2016 campaign by targeting ads on Facebook to influence voting.

Two Step Flow of Communication (active consumption)

Paul Lazarfeld– developed the two step flow of communication this in 1948, messages are not directly injected to into the audience but in fact they go through a opinion leaders first, who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience. Audiences are active not passive

.

Uses and Gratifications (active selection)

This approach doesn’t categories audiences as passive or active more focuses on the decision making process of the audience themselves. Research began with Denis McQuail and Jay Blumler, in 1969 as they looked into the 1964 UK Election. In the early 1970’s they were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas.

There researched showed that individual audience members were more active and as a result a key part of the processes of selection, interpretation and feedback.

Audiences used media to gain gratifications. Which could be categorised into;

1. information / education
2. empathy and identity 
3. social interaction  
4. entertainment 
5. escapism

Or categorised as:  diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance

This links into Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs, which shows social and psychological needs of the audience which is why they use the media in order to gain these.

. 

Cultivation Theory – effects over time

George Gerbner– worked on a large-scale, positivist, in-depth, longitudinal study into the effects of television, which started in 1975- developed cultivation theory

‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘ (Gerbner et al 1986)- tv shapes the way individuals see & think.  ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behavior, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘ (cited in West, 2014).

Noam Chomsky- manufacturing consent

Louis Althusser-  IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPRATUSES (ISA’s)

The Theory of Preferred Reading

Stuart Hall- critical theory that looked to analyse mass media communication and popular culture as a way of both uncovering the invidious work of the State and Big Business.

He provided three main distinct positions that could be occupied by individual viewers;

1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message 
2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Clay Shirky: The End of Audience

A theory that through new media technology there is no longer an audience but instead only individuals.

‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’ 

B.F. Skinner

• behavioral signs/operant conditioning
• the notion of free will is fiction
• states that we are acting under the conditions of a social structure
• schedule of reinforcement

Harold Lasswell

• involved in the first world war
• wrote book in 1927 called ‘propaganda technique in the world war’
• highlighted the brew of a ‘subtle poison which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people’
• hypodermic model – suggests the direct injecting of media messages into the passive audience
• highlights the difference between propaganda and persuasion
• developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’

My example:

who: Nigel Morris – journalist for ‘The i’

says what: ‘No more left and right: UK’S ‘seven political tribes’

channel: The i newspaper

to whom: readers of ‘The i’ newspaper who are centrally politically aligned/ more left leaning

with what effect: suggests that

Shoshana Zuboff

• the age of surveillance capitalism – book
• emerging behavior control technology e.g. phones, used to stimulate certain types of behavior
• “the behavioral technology being developed in the united states today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom”

Cambridge Analytica

• Alexander nix – CEO

Shannon and Weaver (1949)

 Laswell’s hypodermic model of media effect was adapted/developed by Shannon and Weaver in 1949 as the Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK

Paul Lazarfeld

•  recognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received
• , in 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication
• Lazarfelds model also took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.
• audiences are active, choosing which opinion leader/influencer to listen to

uses and gratifications (active selection)

• Research into this area began with Denis McQuail and Jay Blumler, who in 1969, looked to study the 1964 UK Election. In the early 1970’s they were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas. 
• they put forward research to show that individual audience members are more active than had previously been thought and were actually key to the processes of selection, interpretation and feedback
• suggested people seek particular pleasures/uses and gratification that are catogorised into ;

1. information / education
2. empathy and identity
3. social interaction
4. entertainment
5. escapism

Or categorised as: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance.

It is suggested that much of this research was informed by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954)

George Gerbner’s cultivation theory

• George Gerbner, Larry Gross and others worked on a large-scale, positivist, in-depth, longitudinal study into the effects of television, which started in 1975
• Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society. They developed what is known as  cultivation theory, noting the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms.
• Quote: ‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘

Stuart Hall’s theory of preferred reading

the theory suggests that there are three different ways of reading/interpreting a text, dominant/negotiated/oppositional which suggest;

1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message
2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Behavioural/operant conditioning – B.F. Skinner (pigeon experiment)

Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out by a group or individual to manipulate and influence the actions and beliefs of other individuals and groups.

Audience Theories

1920-30: Lasswell – Hypodermic model (passive consumption):

• Wrote about propaganda for mass groups
•  Lasswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1.
• For example spoon feeding people and they will believe you
• Linear model of communication:

• Eg: WHO: Caroline Jones, SAYS WHAT (message): ‘Boris Johnson has dandruff’, CHANNEL: Daily Mail, TO WHOM: Middle aged women, WITH WHAT AFFECT: Embarrassing and suggesting Boris Johnson has dandruff caused by the stress of covid.

1940’s: Shannon and weaver:

• Shannon and weaver developed this as they suggest that the linear model of communications is not complex enough as people may read things in a different way or not understanding or decoding the message that is being sended out.

1950’s: Laserfeld 2 step flow:

• Two step flow of communication:

• What is significant here is that this theory suggests that the audience are ACTIVE NOT PASSIVE, in that audience consumption is based on consideration of what others think not a PASSIVE process of unthinking consumption.
• Depending on where you get your information from can influence your opinions, and they can differentiate from others opinions.

1960’s: Uses and gratifications:

• Idea that audiences actively choose the media they consume ie newspapers and media they watch and read.

• In essence, they put forward research to show that individual audience members are more active than had previously been thought and were actually key to the processes of selection, interpretation and feedback. In essence, individuals sought particular pleasures, uses and gratifications from individual media texts, which can be categorised as:

• information / education
• empathy and identity
• social interaction
• entertainment
• escapism
• For example, a cartoon in a newspaper could be enjoyment and escapism but if it is about world hunger it is also knowledge about the world.

1970’s: Gerbner – Cultivation Theory:

• Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society. They developed what is known as cultivation theory, noting the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms, they suggest that ‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘ (Gerbner et al 1986).
• In other words, television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other
• Althuserr and Chomsky were also in the 1970’s

1980’s: Stuart Hall – The theory of preferred reading:

• Stuart hall is a black academic that said ‘The world is looking very white’
• For example you can present something that people will receive in a different way
• For example tv used to be mostly white which black people would reject because they’re not represented.
• He says there are 3 ways of receiving a message:

• A dominant position accepts the dominant message
• A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
• An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

2000’s: Clay Shirky – End of audience:

• There isn’t a collective mass audience but a mass audience of individuals.

2019: Zuboff – surveillance capitalism:

• Theory that we are all complete individuals but we are individually profiled and targeted. ie, manipulated.

B.F Skinners – Operant conditioning

– ‘fiction of free will’

– behaviour is taught from rewards ( can be applied to phones. Does technology control us or do we control technology)

Propaganda & Persuasion

Harold Lasswell – wrote a book called ”propaganda technique” in which he highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison,which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers… knocked them into submission’. ‘manipulated mass media to justify actions done in WW1’

– hypoderminc model

– direct injection

– passive audience

WHO –Larisa Brown -> WHAT –Russia tried to sabotage Olympics with cyber attacks-> MEDIUM Daily Mail -> TO WHOM  lower-middle-class British women ->WITH WHAT EFFECT negative ideas are formed around Russia and its intentions

Paul Lazarfeld – thinks that linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. Suggests communication of information is an active form of consumption.

Shoshana Zuboff – ”a major segment of the emerging behavior control technology is concerned with conditioning, through which various forms of persuasion are used to control behavior” – social media with influencers etc.

”new technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individuals actions but his very personality and manner of thinking…the behavioral technology being developed in the united states today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom…the most serious threat… is the power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values another

Blumler and Katz – Uses and Gratifications

Maslows Hierarchy of needs –

George Gerbner – developed what is known as CULTIVATION THEORY, noting the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms, they suggest that ‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘ (Gerbner et al 1986). In other words, television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other.

Stuart Hall – Theory of preffered reading (British Jamaican Sociologist)

1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message
2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Clay Shirky – End of Audience

There is no audience, only a large group of individuals who recieve different readings (not just 3)

‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’

Alexander Nix

CEO of Cambridge analytica

targeting potential people who may be persuaded in politics