spiral of silence

The spiral of silence theory of media effects posits that people feel increasing pressure to not voice their views when they think they're in the minority. The scholar who developed the theory, Noelle-Neumann, defines public opinion as the attitudes that people feel they can express in public without isolating themselves. She suggests that people have a sixth sense or a quasi-statistical organ that provides trustworthy information about what a society in general is thinking and feeling.

Solomon Asch is the researcher whose group conformity studies with different length lines provides support for the notion of a spiral of silence. Noelle-Neumann recommends that two questions should be asked to sample an individual's perception of the climate of opinion: questions about the present climate and future forecast. Pluralistic ignorance refers to the mistaken assumption that everyone thinks like us.

Still, some people will speak out even when they think they're in the minority. For example, research has found that middle- and upper-class people find it easier to speak out. The most important factor that determines if people will voice their own opinion is whether they are in the majority or minority. Hard-core nonconformists are the vocal minority of outspoken believers who continue to speak out in defiance of threats of isolation because they have nothing to lose. Dietram Scheufele found contemporary support for the spiral of silence by asking people their opinion toward and willingness to speak out about biotechnology. However, the spiral of silence theory has been criticized because of an over-reliance on hypothetical scenarios.

In spite of its shortcomings, the spiral of silence provides insight into why people speak out or are silent. For example, consider all the people who remained silent before the Iraq war--when being against the war put people in the minority--who now have spoken out when public opinion changed.

~ Professor Cyborg

agenda-setting theory

Chapter 28 discusses the agenda-setting theory of McCombs and Shaw. These researchers have developed a model of media effects that is structured as Media Agenda —› Voters' Agenda. Griffin provides support for McCombs and Shaw's argument, noting that newspapers such as the Washington Post and the New York Times get over 50% of what they print from press releases and press conferences. Tankard defines framing in agenda-setting theory as how the media supply news contexts through selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration.

In agenda-setting theory, interest aggregations refer to clusters of people who demand attention for their single concern. Research in agenda-setting theory has found a media malady effect, which refers to links between negative economic headlines and negative consumer sentiment. If you've been following the current economic crisis (who hasn't?), you've likely observed this media malady effect. Consumers are definitely expressing negative views of the economy--and spending less--in light of the downturns in the stock market and housing market along with increases in the price of everyday goods and services.

In the section on ethics, Griffin notes that Clifford Christians views mutuality as forming the essence of humanness. Christians' communitarian ethics views a reporter's primary goal as facilitating a morally literate and active citizenship. In critiquing agenda-setting theory, Griffin states that recent developments in agenda-setting theory have been criticized because framing may be irrelevant to agenda-setting research.

In the interview with Em Griffin, Max McCombs states that elements emphasized in the media become regarded as important by the public provides the core idea of agenda-setting theory. McCombs also stated that the starting point of agenda-setting theory was the observation that the media focus people's attention. McCombs argued that about 2-3 issues are most frequently included in the public's agenda. He also argued that most journalists are message producers.

~ Professor Cyborg

media effects

The two chapters for this week provide quite a contrast to the two from last week. Whereas the chapters that focused on media and culture stemmed from the work of postmodernists and took an interpretive (or critical) approach, media effects research takes an objectivist approach.

The section in the text on media effects sets the stage for agenda-setting theory and spiral of silence. In this introductory section, Griffin discusses earlier views on media effects. A very early model, the hypodermic needle model, depicts a direct media influence on audience members. In the two-step flow of communication model, opinion leaders are posited to pass on and interpret messages to others in face-to-face conversations. In contrast, the excitation transfer theory suggests that fear, anger, humor, and love produce the same physiological state. Bandura’s social learning theory model is probably the most famous as his research with children has been widely reported in the media. His theory predicts that violence on television leads to antisocial behavior when children get older.

The two theories for this week, agenda-setting and spiral of silence, provide a more sophisticated view of media effects than the ones I’ve mentioned here. Still, all these theories have in common an objective approach, which assumes that there is one truth accessible through unbiased observation. In addition, the theories seek to identify a cause-and-effect relationship between media content and human behavior.

~ Professor Cyborg

cultural studies

Chapter 26 discusses Stuart Hall’s cultural studies approach. Similar to Deetz’s critical approach to organization, Hall has developed a critical perspective to examine media.

Hall argues that cultural studies is valid if it deconstructs media research that fails to address ideology. Like all critical theorists, Hall is suspicious of research that ignores power relationships. Hall believes that mainstream mass communication research in the U.S. supports the myth of democratic pluralism. In his view of cultural studies, Hall places his emphasis on resistance. He argues that media hegemony results in the production of consent. In hegemonic encoding the dominant accepted discourse rules out alternative ideas.

In his discussion of cultural critics whose work is related to that of Stuart Hall’s, Griffin observes that the Frankfurt School theorists were the first to examine the failure of Marx's prediction that capitalist economies would decline. Another cultural critic, Roland Barthes, argues that mythic signs, such as the yellow ribbon, reinforce a culture's dominant values. Michel Foucault, a cultural critic Griffin discusses, provided the impetus for a "discursive turn" in cultural studies. Foucault's research on mental illness found that the definition of insanity changed a great deal over time. Kellner, another cultural critic, argues that during the first Gulf War, the major television networks effectively portrayed war as theater. From Hall's perspective, in framing opposition to the 1991 Gulf War as not an option, the media engaged in ideological discourses of constraint.

Hall argues that the primary function of discourse is to make meaning. From Hall's cultural studies perspective, an ideological fight is a struggle to capture language. According to Hall, the powerless may resist the dominant ideology using their own decoding options: operating inside the dominant code, applying a negotiable code, and substituting an oppositional code. So like Deetz, Hall holds out the possibility that people who are oppressed will not necessarily participate in their own oppression (hegemony) and instead will find ways to fight back.

This is a somewhat complex chapter, so read it through several times, take notes, and review it again before taking the quiz.

~ Professor Cyborg

media ecology

Although you might think that Marshall McLuhan was a communication studies professor, he was an English professor at the University of Toronto. You probably know him best for his pronouncement that "The medium is the message," which suggests that the channel is more influential than the content it carries. McLuhan argued that media environments are invisible to communicators because these environments are so ordinary to us. According to McLuhan, accounting for the complexity of the media environment means considering both incremental and sudden changes.

McLuhan proposed that changes in media technology determine the course of human history. The figure on page 315 is helpful in understanding how McLuhan viewed the media map of history—the four ages he identified (tribal, literate, print, and electronic) and the technological development and the dominant sense receptor associated with each age. For example, the dominant sense receptor associated with the literate age was the eye and those associated with the electronic age are the ear and hand. As another example, the invention of the phonetic alphabet was the catalyst for the literate age and also led to a linear approach to thinking.

McLuhan described people of the tribal age as having more passion and spontaneity than we have today. The literate age was when human beings developed a civilized private detachment from each other. Although the printing press brought with it the ability to widely distribute written materials, McLuhan argued it also led to a sense of separation and aloneness for people of that era. More recent scholars have suggested we’re now in the digital age, the next epoch in human history.

Neil Postman, founder of NYU’s media ecology program, continued McLuhan’s work, although not always in the same trajectory. For example, Postman argues that any new technology always presents a Faustian bargain and the primary task of media ecology is to make moral judgments.

~ Professor Cyborg

media and culture

Today I'll blog about the Media and Culture section in the text as it provides a framework for the two chapters we're covering this week. Also, there are questions on the quiz from these pages.

In this section, Griffin discusses the six defining features of postmodernism, using the film Blade Runner to illustrate those features. The first feature highlights the notion that the modernistic ideology postmodernism rejects is faith in science. Second, "we have become tools of our tools" means that people shape the media and the media shape people. Third, "in a postmodern world, any claim of truth or moral certainty is suspect" means that there are interpretations and no facts because all knowledge is relative. Fourth, "images become more important than what they represent" refers to the idea that the media are more real than real--a hyperreality. Fifth, "with a media assist, we can mix and match diverse styles and tastes to create a unique identity" means that we're in an age of individualism. Sixth, postmodernism represents "a consumer society based on multinational capitalism," which leads to the conclusion that people are what they consume. This feature is particularly relevant in light of the current global economic crisis.

~ Professor Cyborg

narrative paradigm

This is my last entry for the week, continuing my discussion of key points you should know from the chapters for this week's quiz. Today I'll focus on Chapter 23, the Narrative Paradigm of Walter Fisher.

What's not to like about Chapter 23? Human love to tell stories and that's what this approach is all about. Based on Fisher's assumption that people are narrative beings appeals to reason are fundamentally stories. Fisher argues that a paradigm is a conceptual framework. The rational-world paradigm assumes that people make decisions on the basis of argument. In contrast, Fisher's narrative paradigm assumes that history, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reasons. Fisher argues that all stories must have coherence and fidelity. Be sure you know what these terms mean.

According to Fisher, the ideal audience is guided by humane values in determining good reasons. Griffin argues that Fisher's narrative paradigm is strongly democratic. One critic of Fisher's narrative paradigm argues that is cannot explain the persuasive power of evil stories. I found this criticism particularly interesting, because in a sense, you could consider Fisher's narrative paradigm naive. Critical theorists such as Stan Deetz certainly do, arguing that stories often reinforce the status quo in subtle ways that make them difficult to resist. So while Fisher's work is appealing and does underscore our fundamental nature as storytellers, he ignores issues of power often implicit in stories.

Let me know if this week's blog entries help you out on the quiz.

~ Professor Cyborg

Dramatism

Today I'm continuing my discussion of key points on this week's quiz, focusing on Chapter 22, the Dramatism of Kenneth Burke. I met Professor Burke over 20 years ago when he attended a panel on which I was presenting the results of my master's thesis. He was quite elderly at the time and didn't say anything. But he was quite alert and nodded his head and smiled throughout the panel. At any rate, I'm especially interested in this chapter because of my work with his approach.

In terms of studying for the quiz, there are a number of key points you'll want to focus on. Burke considered groups of words as dances of attitudes. He called himself a gypsy scholar. According to Burke, a word a speaker uses to sum up all that is bad or evil is a devil term. From Burke's perspective, a god term is one that is above all the other positive terms a speaker uses. Burke's pentad included act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. You'll want to know the definition of each one.

Burke calls scapegoating victimage and he refers to identification as consubstantiation. In contrast, behavioral scientists use the term homophily to refer to perceived similarity between speakers and audience members. Burke uses the term substance to refer to a person's physical characteristics, talents, and the like. According to Burke, the ultimate motivation for public speaking is purging the self of guilt. Burke's approach has been criticized because his writing is often confusing and obscure. Having read several of Burke's books in my master's program, I agree with that criticism. Still, his work has had a profound impact on the analysis of rhetoric.

~ Professor Cyborg

Aristotle's Rhetoric

There's been some discussion on the listserv about the quizzes, so this week I thought I'd blog about the quiz questions for each reading. Today I'll blog about Chapter 21, The Rhetoric. Later in the week I'll blog about the other two chapters.

Here are some key points you should know about Chapter 21:

The Sophists were early Athenian public speaking teachers who took a practical approach but had not theoretical foundation. Aristotle envisioned rhetoric as an art and a science. An enthymeme is a deductive argument that omits a premise.

The canon of rhetoric that includes topoi is invention. Speaker credibility is related to Aristotle's notion of ethos. Ethos includes perceived intelligence, virtuous character, and good will. Metaphor is a key component of style, one canon or rhetoric. Aristotle originally listed four canons of rhetoric; later writers added a fifth, memory.

Aristotle's golden mean includes making truthful statements, self-disclosing, and displaying courage. Aristotle's Rhetoric has been criticized because he viewed the audience as passive.

Those points should get your started in studying Chapter 21 for this week's quiz.

~ Professor Cyborg

Deetz interview

This interview provides insight into Deetz's view of conflict in and around organizations. He believes conflict is essential for organizations to function in ways that benefit all stakeholders, not a select view (like the crazy CEO compensations I blogged about yesterday). As he points out, most communication theories are based on a consensus model--a strive toward harmony. But with that overriding desire for harmony can come a glossing over of important issues and points of disagreement. Consider the current financial crisis that now has affected markets around the globe. Taking a more critical approach--questioning subprime mortgages and other highly risky financial deals--might have avoided the state we're in.

I also liked when Deetz said in the interview, "in one of my early books I argued that a full human being has to have three characteristics. One has to be careful, thoughtful, and filled with humor." Certainly if the top managers of the financial institutions had been more careful and thoughtful, they would not have allowed such risky investments. And humor is a key aspect of developing and maintaining relationships in organizations, so when conflicts arise, they can be accomplished more productively.

~ Professor Cyborg

CEO compensation

Chapter 20 focuses on Deetz's critical approach to organizational communication. Deetz suggests that corporate colonization, the "encroachment of modern corporations into every area of life outside the workplace" (p. 262) negatively impacts our quality of life, enriching the few to the detriment of the many. Griffin offers this fact: "compensation for . . . CEOs has risen from 24 times to over 175 times that of the average worker" (p. 263). Unfortunately, the situation is even worse than that. According to a New York Times article on the bailout of financial institutions, "In 2007, the total compensation of chief executives in large American corporations was 275 times that of the salary of the average worker. . . . In the late 1970s, chief executive pay was 35 times that of the average American worker." And that pay isn't linked with performance. A 2006 Mercury News article about Bay Area CEO pay provided several examples of struggling companies that paid its top executives huge salaries. For example, "While Sun Microsystems has struggled since the dot-com bust, Chief Executive Scott McNealy received a $1.1 million bonus in 2005 and had been awarded 3.7 million options over the past three years."

Deetz argues that top management is most concerned with control and it "often takes precedence over representation of conflicting interests and long-term company and community health" (p. 264). The results of this emphasis on managerial control are evident in the current financial crisis, which some economists had predicted more than two years ago. But the push to deregulate the banking industry, giving top executives free reign to institute their own corporate controls, led to risky investment practices and poor decisions.

Would Deetz's approach to organization, with its emphasis on stakeholder democracy, have prevented the current financial crisis? The issues are complex, so it's difficult to know. Still, involving more people in the decision-making process might have put the brakes on the high-risk investment strategies that got our economy in this mess.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational stories

My primary area of specialization is organizational communication, so the chapters this week especially resonate with me. I was first introduced to the notion of organizational culture in graduate school at the University of Kentucky. While I was there, I took a course in the role of organized religion in Appalachia. As part of the class, students had access to data collected in the 1950s, including in-depth interviews and tapes of sermons given by ministers and lay members of the churches. My colleagues and I analyzed some of the data. We published our results of one study in the American Communication Journal.

In the article, Speaking for God: The Functions of Church Leader Storytelling in Southern Appalachia in the 1950s, we identified how speakers used stories in their sermons. We examined two different denominations, Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee and Southern Baptist. Speakers in both groups used stories in similar ways: manage meaning, reduce uncertainty, and encourage church member bonding. However, there were differences based on the speaker's status (minister or lay leader), with lay leaders focusing more on reducing listeners' uncertainty. I found this research particularly interesting because it provided a window into the Appalachian culture in the 1950s.

~ Professor Cyborg