Religious Fundamentalism

Class Notes
Professor Henry Schissler DRAFT COPY
The Sociology of Religion


Religious Fundamentalism


(1) Reacting to the Industrial Revolution

Between 1870 and 1920, the Evangelical Protestants were distressed by what they perceived to be as an erosion of religious influence throughout society and its institutions. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing, dramatically affecting how many Americans lived from day to day.

The Evangelicals believed that science and the increasing public confidence in the inductive scientific method for attaining truth was responsible for increasing secularism in society. Of concern to them were such developments as the spread of the accounts of Darwin and others concerning the evolution of people and their world – at the expense of deduction from their standard repository of truth, the Bible.

They also felt that the Christian religion was being betrayed from within. The increasing emphasis on social service and the social gospel by individuals and groups within the broad Christian community was a significant part of their concern. They believed that when social service was emphasized, the traditional redemption/salvation prominence was neglected.

What further alarmed the Evangelicals was the development of a form of biblical scholarship known as higher criticism, an approach to the Bible asserting that it is a collection of human documents subject to the same principles of textual criticism as any other group of documents.

Most Protestant denominations did not support higher criticism per se. They viewed the Bible as the inspired word of God. But, in direct opposition to Evangelical anti-modernity, they asserted that the Bible should be interpreted and analyzed because some of the content reflected situations from another time in history. A literal interpretation was impossible and, frankly, beside the point. To them, the Genesis creation story was not a scientific account of the origins of life but a more spiritual reflection upon the ultimate significance of life itself, about which science has nothing to say.

Throughout the previous two and one-half centuries of American history, conservative Protestantism, social traditionalists’ religious home, was the dominant, pace-setting religion. For the first time, their power and their beliefs began to be threatened.

New immigration patterns saw the arrival of Roman Catholics and Jews. Industrialization and the erosion of the farming and small business patterns were impacting family and community life. Previously, the Evangelicals, while not terribly conscious of their political nature, were nonetheless comfortable with notions of this as a Christian nation that puts Christian principles of morality into practice. A key example of this was the “Blue Laws” that defined much of what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior for men, women, and children.


(2) The Fundamentals

Evangelical Protestants adopted a number of important themes from Calvinism.

First, individuals should separate themselves as much as possible from the evil world because it can contaminate and infect them spiritually. (The Old Order Amish are an example of this today). They should, therefore, concentrate on regeneration and making the people in a society moral, attempting to perfect the society one person at a time.

Second, if a group of well-informed believers can achieve God’s design for humanity by controlling the governance of a social system, then they should do it (theocracy).

These seemingly contradictory beliefs caused much ambivalence toward the evangelicals’ involvement in public affairs. While such involvement brings believers closer to the “evil”, a social system could, in fact, be changed by their efforts. The evangelicals took an activist role that was not focused on politics per se. It was a powerful rebuke of “modernization” and affirmation of their belief system that, unbeknownst to them, set the stage for much overt political action in the decades ahead.

In 1910, the Evangelicals, or social traditionalists, began publishing their twelve volume manifesto titled The Fundamentals. A series of Biblical conferences held between 1876 and 1900 were the catalyst for the publications. The term “fundamentalism,” derived from the manifesto title, was first used by a journalist in 1920.

The Fundamentals exposited five central doctrines and an additional four that could more or less be inferred from the central five. The five were:
1. The verbal and inerrant inspiration of the Bible;
2. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ;
3. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ (Jesus taking the punishment for sin in people’s place);
4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;
5. The imminent second coming of Jesus Christ.

The four related documents were:
1. The deity of Jesus Christ;
2. The sinful nature of humanity;
3. Salvation by faith through the free grace of God;
4. The expectation of the bodily resurrection of true believers on the Last Day.

The manifesto also paid much attention to repudiation of errors, such as the theory of organic evolution and higher criticism of the Bible. Answers were written as to ways of relating to such heretic religious groups and movements as Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and spiritualists.


(3) Joining Forces After “The Manifesto”

Evangelist leader Billy Sunday led the call for true Christian traditionalists to come together and oppose the “extremely clever satanic plot afoot in the world.” The plot consisted of kaiserism (World War I had just ended), bolshevism (the Communist Revolution in the Soviet Union was in 1917), evolutionism, higher criticism (modern biblical scholarship), and moderate, centrist and liberal theology in general.

After World War I, the Christian or social traditionalists, now referred to as Fundamentalists, openly and vigorously opposed the teaching of evolution in schools, and strongly supported prohibition. In 1925, they reached their height of publicity and infamy at the Scopes “monkey trial.”

(Many of the movements and ideas that fundamentalists oppose today were not serious issues at this time. Abortion was illegal; homosexuals were discriminated against; minorities were “in their place”; and women knew their place – helpmate to a man who gave her his name.)


(4) Anti-Communism & the Politicizing of the Fundamentalists

Following WWII, evangelicals joined the anti-communist crusade that linked them to right-wing political groups, including those supporting Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The movement professed commitment to traditional morality as well, including condemning “liberated” women, homosexuals, and civil libertarians; and frequently an expression of anti-Semitism. Right-wing political groups, in alliance with fundamentalist Protestant theology, led many anti-communist crusades, including Fred C. Schwartz’s Christian Anti-Communist Crusade and Billy James Hargis’s Christian Crusade.

This growing connection between religion and politics among radical right groups was duly noted by Hargis: “Christian Crusade’s fight against Communism is Christ’s fight. Christ is using out Movement...I know we are on the right track, getting the job done for Jesus.”

These groups substituted for religious tolerance an insistence on uniform acceptance not only of Christianity but of their particular highly dogmatic version of Christianity. It contained highly emotional appeals for maximum cultural conformity based on small-town and rural American lifestyles, an explicit antiintellectualism, and a defense of the status quo so far as economic and racial disparities were concerned.

The close association between right-wing political groups and fundamentalist Protestant religion was based on several intimate connections.

• Simplistic Dualism. The fundamentalists see two categories, good and evil, with nothing in between. Tolerance is only for those who do not believe strongly in anything. Hatred of evil is, therefore, perfectly logical, and heresy hunting perfectly legitimate.

• A Conspiratorial View of the World. Satan conspires to deter people from the path of righteousness. As a result, political discussion takes on a strong moral fervor. Politics becomes a crusade, and one’s patriotism proof of a mature Christianity.

• An Individualistic Emphasis (Individual Salvation). Social action in general and social welfare programs in particular win fundamentalism’s disapproval. This is the wrong direction for religion to take because individuals are more important than society and are capable of satisfying their wants and needs in the free enterprise marketplace.


(5) Anti-Modernization: the Mainstay of Fundamentalist Doctrine

Fundamentalism then and fundamentalism now, is a reaction to events and changes that have occurred in the modern world – a constellation commonly called modernity. Fundamentalism seeks to restore what has been lost or discarded in the face of changes that modernization has made.

Modernization is essentially the tremendous growth in technology that includes most of what people see around them and use every day. Electric power and telephones, the Internet and the marvels of modern medicine are a few examples of modernization. Fundamentalists use all of this technology. As such, they too have become moderns. But they reject becoming modernists – people who embrace all of these changes and reject old world views, old core beliefs and explanations of reality (creationism, for example). Fundamentalists want to see a return to these old world views.

According to Sociologist Peter Berger, modernity had strong consequences for individuals and families. There was the reduction of the significance of individuals and their families because of the anonymity of the larger communities they moved to, alienation of labor at their jobs, and lack of solidarity and relationship with others. The supportive community that sustained individuals prior to modernity was replaced by the distant megastructures of modern society. The concreteness, stability, and safety of communities of lifelong residents where one’s work is a direct and nearby part of one’s life were significantly diminished.

There was also the development of futurity. Previously, people’s concentration had been on the present and past, with a future that would most probably be pretty much the same. With modernity, the future became a major focus for both thought and activity.

The element of choice was introduced to many areas of life that in earlier generations were viewed as governed and determined by God, by fate, by nature, by the all-powerful king, or by the constellation of the stars. Tradition was no longer binding; the status quo could and probably would change; and, the future was an open horizon.

Choice gave rise to secularization because of alternative answers and explanations for phenomena and events that in an earlier day were explained as God given, directed, and ordained. This liberation from tradition and generalized secularization relegated God to being one among several explanations for reality.


(6) The New Christian Right Emerges: Maximum Cultural Conformity

In order to stop the spread of secularism and promote a return to traditional values (anti-modernization), fundamentalists galvanized behind leaders who took advantage of the very modernization that they were opposed to – the mass media culture.

The electronic church refers to the brisk expansion of preachers and groups into television ministry. Reacting to the rapidly changing landscape of American social and political life during the 1960’s and 1970’s, such ministries as Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson’s 700 Club and James Bakker’s P.T.L. broadcasts grew. By 1980, 1,400 radio stations and 60 television stations were wholly owned by religious groups.

The epitome of this trend was the “Moral Majority” founded in June, 1980 by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Falwell promoted the following agenda: America is in a state of terrifying moral decay that will result in the rise of atheistic dictatorships throughout the world and the fall of America; this nation is a chosen instrument of God for good in the world; Christians have a moral obligation to vote for candidates who pledge to support the religious principles of the Moral Majority. The Christians that Falwell refers to are “social traditionalists”, people who call themselves “born again”, who express absolute certainty that their beliefs are correct and their brand of Christianity is the only “real” one.

Falwell urged his followers to support Ronald Reagan for President that year, and convinced Republicans to include some of his views in their party’s platform. Reagan’s political operatives saw the opportunity to use this committed block of voters to help them elect Reagan and other Republicans. While Reagan himself would not speak about his religious views publicly, his operatives signaled to Falwell a willingness to work collaboratively. This fundamentalist connection to partisan politics was the start of a potent force in American politics that continues to evolve today.

Falwell and his followers picked the following issues to focus on in their campaigns: end legal abortion; stop the growing tolerance of gay and lesbian Americans; promote the need for prayer and Bible study in public schools; nullify the Equal Rights Amendment; defeat liberal senators and members of Congress who were viewed as aiding and abetting moral decay.

Falwell’s tactics have been notoriously negative toward candidates that were targeted for defeat by his organization. Inferences about support for the homosexual “agenda”; or claims that candidates were “baby killers” were commonplace. Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana summed up the strong feelings of those opposing Falwell when he stated, “The cause of liberty is not served by organizations that brand public officials as being immoral or anti-God because they hold different views.”

By the end of Reagan’s two terms in office, the Moral Majority and other leaders of the social traditionalists movement had lost a great deal of clout. Missteps on the part of many leaders caused them to be discredited. Swaggart acknowledged having an affair, as did James Bakker. There were also accusations of fiscal mismanagement at the Bakker’s P.T.L. ministries. Oral Roberts, in a famous speech, told his followers that they had better send money to his ministry or God would “take him home.” This threat from God did not sit well with Roberts’ followers. And when Pat Robertson ran for President in 1988 during the Republican primaries, his extreme statements in support of a Christian nation (theocracy) did not earn him strong voter support.

History repeated itself. When the social traditionalists, allied with Christian extremists, became outspoken (including the statement that killing doctors who performed abortions was “justifiable homicide”), public support waned. Similar bouts of outspokenness soured Americans to their movement during the “monkey trail” in 1925 and during the McCarthy “witch hunts” in the 1950’s.


(7) One Last Chance: The “Born Again” President and the Post 9/11 World

The classic fundamentalist perspective is to restore traditional religious values as the rules and norms by which citizens live. In order to accomplish this, they must push their agenda by using the political arena as well as mass media. As we have observed, a political objective often dominates their attention, and the notion of “getting along”, of embracing diversity or “difference”, is neither acceptable nor necessary. The “enemies” of their agenda must be defeated.

After George Bush was sworn in as President in 2000, he gave speeches that were peppered with Biblical references, code words or phrases, which signaled to the fundamentalists that he was one of them. While espousing a belief in something called “compassionate conservatism” he, nevertheless, quickly showed his affiliation with and affection for the fundamentalist view. His anti-modern views, including opposition to stem-cell research, his classic stances against gay/lesbian rights and abortion, and his promotion of faith-based initiatives resonated with the fundamentalists. Further, his post-9/11 references to America’s “crusade” against the “axis of evil,” and his commitment to the state of Israel as it related to Biblical prophecies in the book of Revelations about the second-coming of Jesus and the “rapture,” were bull’s-eyes with fundamentalist-“speak.”

His election in 2004 emboldened his fundamentalist followers further, and helped them to embrace causes that symbolized their new slogan-of-sorts, “the culture of life.”

Will George Bush’s fundamentalist connection flourish? Or will he, like “Scopes,” McCarthy, and Reagan before him, be the next leader to preside over the overreach of the fundamentalist “cause” that turns the majority of Americans away from them? God only knows.

Agents of Socialization - Part Two

Class Notes
Professor Henry Schissler
Principles of Sociology

Agents of Socialization – Part Two

Socialization is the process by which, through the agents of socialization, individuals learn about and come to believe in their culture. It is the lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire a self-identity and the physical, mental, and social skills needed for survival in society.
Through the process of socialization and interaction with others, individuals learn about social roles, the socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position will follow, and the core values, generalized beliefs, and expected behaviors of the culture they are born into.
One result of this process is the development of a social identity, the characteristics that other people attribute to an individual. If social identities mark ways in which individuals are the same as others, self-identity sets people apart as distinct individuals. The concept of self-identity refers to the process of self development through which individuals formulate a unique sense of themselves and their relationship to the world around them.
Agents of Socialization may be other individuals (a parent, teacher, a friend), groups (family, peers), or they may be societal institutions (schools, the media).


5) Religion

Religion is a system of beliefs and practices (rituals) – based on some sacred or supernatural realm – that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a single moral community.

Religion is one of the most significant and powerful social institutions in society, seeking to bridge the gap between the known and unknown, the seen and unseen, the sacred and the secular (things of this world). Religious beliefs are linked to practices that bind people together and such rites of passage as birth, marriage, and death.

Religiosity is the importance of religion in a person’s life.


Sociologist Peter Berger referred to religion as a sacred canopy – a sheltering fabric hanging over people that gives them security and provides answers for the questions of life. This sacred canopy requires that people have faith – unquestioning belief that does not require proof or scientific evidence.

Anthropologists have concluded that all known groups over the past hundred thousand years have had some form of religion. They can be classified into four main categories

• Simple Supernaturalism – the belief that supernatural forces affect people’s lives either positively or negatively

• Animism – those religions believing that naturally occurring phenomena, such as mountains and animals, are possessed of indwelling spirits with supernatural powers.

• Theism – those religions that believe in one or more deities; sometimes deities are seen as possessing humanlike qualities.

Theism is further divided into two categories:

Monotheism – there is a single all-knowing all-powerful God.

Polytheism – there are different gods representing various categories of natural forces.

• Nontheism – the belief in divine spiritual forces such as sacred principles of thought or conduct, rather than a god or gods

Functions of Religion

Functionalist Perspectives

Durkheim (1912) distinguished between the sacred – those aspects of life that are extraordinary, inspiring awe and reverence, and the profane (from Latin, meaning “outside the temple”) – an ordinary element of everyday life. He noted that across cultures and in different eras, many things have been considered sacred, including God or gods, spirits, specific animals or trees, altars, holy books, special words or songs. Secular beliefs, on the other hand, have their foundation in scientific knowledge or everyday explanations.

The educational debate over creationism and evolution demonstrate the deep divisions between the sacred and the profane. In our history, the modernization beginning in the Industrial Revolution brought increasing influence from the profane and decreasing influence from the sacred. (Secularization – the process by which religious beliefs, practices, and institutions lose their significance in sectors of society and culture.)

Religion is a set of cultural symbols that establishes powerful and pervasive moods and motivations to help people interpret the meaning of life and establish a direction for behavior. Beliefs are often acted out through rituals – regularly repeated and carefully prescribed forms of behaviors that symbolize a cherished value or belief. Muslims bow toward Mecca, the holy city of Islam, five times a day at fixed times to pray to God. Christians participate in the celebration of communion to commemorate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Religion has three important functions in any society –
1. Social Cohesion – Religion unites people through shared symbolism, values, and norms. Religious thought and ritual establish morality and rules of fair play that make organized social life possible.
2. Social Control – Society uses religious ideas to promote conformity. Our leaders often ask for God’s blessing, implying that their efforts are right and just.
3. Providing Meaning and Purpose – Religious belief offers the comforting sense that our brief lives serve some greater purpose. Strengthened by such beliefs, people are less likely to despair in the face of change or even tragedy. For this reason, we mark major life transitions – including birth, marriage, and death – with religious observances.

Civil Religion – a set of religious beliefs through which a society interprets its own history in light of some conception of ultimate reality. Examples are “god-language” used in reference to the nation, including beliefs about its sacred historical purpose, divine origins, and divine “mission”. Religious Nationalism – traditional religious beliefs should be embodied in the nation and its leadership.


Conflict Perspective

Ideologies – systematic views of the way the world ought to be – are embodied in religious doctrines. Dominant groups use religious ideology as a tool of domination to mislead the dominated groups, justify the status quo of culture, and stop or minimize social change.

Religion also serves the interests of dominant groups in other ways. Believers become complacent because they have been taught to believe in an afterlife in which they will be rewarded for their suffering, sacrifice, and, perhaps, misery. They are not motivated to either understand or oppose the true nature of their oppression, as well as from taking action to overcome it. Further, religion unites people in a “false consciousness” that they share common interests with members of the dominant groups.

Conflict exists between religious groups (anti-Semitism, for example), within a religious group (American Baptists vs. Southern Baptists, for example), or between a religious group and the larger society (the conflict over prayer in public schools, for example).

Conflict also exists between women and men because of the patriarchal structure of most religions, and the religious beliefs of many groups that women are not equal to men.

Religion tends to promote strife between groups and societies. The “religious right” calls for moral reform and calls the nation back to a covenant with God. By doing this, they are challenging “separation of church and state” and “individualism”, perhaps the strongest of all American values. They are actively involved in American politics.


Fundamentalism – a conservative religious doctrine that opposes intellectualism and worldly accommodation in favor of restoring traditional, otherworldly religion

In response to what they see as the growing influence of science (teaching evolution over creationism, stem cell research, as examples) and the weakening of the conventional family (patriarchic system where women are not equal and, like children, are beholden to men; where religious beliefs drive decision-making), fundamentalists defend what they call “traditional values.” As they see it, moderate, centrist, and liberal churches are too open to change.

Religious fundamentalism is distinctive in five ways –
• Fundamentalists take the words of sacred texts literally to counter excessive intellectualism among more moderate Christian organizations. For example, fundamentalists believe God created the world in seven days precisely as described in Genesis.
• Fundamentalists reject religious pluralism. They believe that tolerance waters down personal faith; their beliefs are true and other beliefs are not.
• Fundamentalists pursue the personal experience of God’s presence via spiritual revival and being “born again.” They reject the worldliness and intellectualism of all other religious organizations.
• Fundamentalists reject “secular humanism,” our society’s tendency to look to scientific experts rather than God for various explanations; they believe that accommodation to the changing world undermines religious conviction.
• Many fundamentalists endorse conservative political goals, and believe that this is the avenue to achieve the resumption of prayer in public schools and the teaching of creationism (or, at least, presenting evolution as a theory). They view the United States as a Christian nation and believe these principles must be the core of political decision making, including an end to abortion rights, no gay marriage, stem-cell research, or “assisted suicide.”


6) Psychology

Psychology in general and Clinical Psychology in particular serves as an Agent of Socialization in society.

Clinical Psychology mirrors a society or culture’s view of what is “abnormal” or deviant behavior. Clinical Psychology serves as a measuring stick for appropriate & inappropriate behavior in society.

Clinical Psychology publishes a text that is updated about every five years. The text The Diagnostic & Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders defines every “psychiatric diagnosis”, outlining the abnormal behavior associated with the disorder. Treatment for the disorder is based around the premise that “success” means a return to normal behavior.

Normal Behavior = Cured or “in remission”

For biologically based disorders like Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, normal or acceptable behavior can only be achieved through psychotropic or psychoactive medications.

For disorders that are triggered by socio-environmental events like situational depression, normal or acceptable behavior can be achieved by resolving feelings associated with the trigger event(s). In modern society, psychotropic medications are used for more and more disorders. While advances in modern medicine are significant & important, the pharmaceutical industry is a massive bureaucratic corporation focused on profits.

The Diagnostic & Statistical Manuel has a series of disorders called Adjustment Disorders. An individual is diagnosed (or labeled) with this psychiatric condition for various reasons –
Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood
Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety
Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Anxiety & Depressed Mood
Adjustment Disorder with Disturbance of Conduct
Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Disturbance of Emotions & Conduct
Adjustment Disorder Unspecified

Acute = less than 6 months & Chronic = over 6 months

What are individuals having trouble adjusting to?
From the DSM, “The stressor may be a single event (e.g., termination of a romantic relationship), or there may be multiple stressors (e.g., marked business difficulties). Some stressors may accompany specific developmental events (e.g., going to school, leaving the parental home, becoming a parent, failing to attain occupational goals).”

These socio-environmental events are called “Psychosocial”. As defined by Psychology, they support societal expectations of “normal” and “abnormal”, and they promote deviant self-identity through labeling or diagnosing. They are social controls as evidence by their ability to tell individuals what behavior is accepted in society & what behavior is not.

Labeling Theory – people become abnormally because certain labels are attached to their behavior by an authority, group, or society. This is called Primary Deviance.

Secondary Deviance occurs when people come to accept (internalize) the label and see themselves as abnormal. Secondary Deviance is typically reinforced by culture & society. This cements each individual’s self-appraisal as abnormal.


7) Work –
The central premise of the sociology of work is that production relations shape the basic institutional frameworks that influence almost all other parts of people's lives. This is especially so in an economy where labor is organized through markets -- those not engaged in paid labor in such societies are either unemployed, retired, or perform non-paid labor (the latter, historically, a role performed primarily by women). In modern market-based societies labor is not just a material imperative; it has also been an idealized activity that guides moral judgments. The work ethic has been a prized cultural possession of the middle classes.
Until the twentieth century, work's opposite -- leisure -- was deemed sinful by some, a luxury by others. The social and cultural changes that have occurred in the twentieth century with respect to work, leisure and consumption have been vast. How did the mechanization and bureaucratization of work change the experience and meaning of work? What made leisure and consumption activities more attractive and acceptable to people?
But just as scholars were proclaiming the US a post-industrial leisure society in the 1970s, the tides turned again and leisure time began a long-term decline for many people. A massive process known as "deindustrialization," began in the mid 1970s and resulted in the loss of the hallmark heavy industrial jobs such as steel production and machine building, and triggered the erosion of many relatively high-skill and thus, high-paying, jobs. At the same time, the aggregate economic importance of consumption has continued to expand. In fact, many areas that have been hard hit by the loss of industrial firms and skilled jobs have tried to replace these jobs with tourist-based and/or service-sector economies.
Today, this process now known as "corporate downsizing," continues, as "lean and mean" corporations continue to reshape themselves to compete in world markets. But now it is getting difficult to annually coax sufficient Christmas purchases from consumers who are making less money as workers. What will the relationship be between our work identities and our consumer identities as we enter an age that some have labeled as "postmodern"?
Linked to downsizing and deindustrialization is the emergence of the "high-tech" economy driven by computers and advanced telecommunications. How will the emerging computer and Internet technologies transform the social relations of work? Will telecommuting become widespread, literally changing the spatial arrangements of our cities? Some suggest these new technologies have the capacity to do away with the authoritarian and controlling relationships that have dominated workplaces for at least the past two centuries. Others point out that these new technologies are already being used to more closely monitor and observe employees' work behaviors. How will the changing organization of workplaces in conjunction with new technologies alter income inequalities? Can these new technologies actually increase productivity enough to offset the loss of other industries?
Social Structures have become more complex as postmodern societies have integrated more advanced forms of technology. Our lives have become increasingly more dominated by large secondary groups called Formal Organizations. They are groups designed for a specific purpose, structured for maximum efficiency, and structured to facilitate the management of large-scale operations

A Bureaucracy is a component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. Max Weber (1864 – 1920), a founding father of sociology, first directed researchers to the significance of bureaucratic structure.

Weber emphasized the basic similarity of structure and process found in such dissimilar bureaucracies as religion, education, government, and business.

Weber developed an ideal type of bureaucracy (over 80 years ago) that would reflect the most characteristic aspects of all human organizations. He identified five basic characteristics.

1. Division of Labor Specialized experts perform specific tasks. This emphasis on specialization is a “given” in employment today because people who become highly skilled in their area of expertise carry out a job with maximum efficiency.

2. Hierarchy of Authority Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority.

3. Written Rules & Regulations Bureaucracies generally offer employees clear standards for job performance. This provides continuity and uniform performance.

4. Impersonality Officials perform their duties without the personal consideration of people as individuals. This helps to provide equal treatment for all, but contributes to the cold and uncaring feeling associated with modern organizations.

5. Employment Based on Technical Qualifications The “impersonal” bureaucracy favors hiring based on technical and professional qualifications not favoritism, and performance is measured against specific standards.

Work environments, therefore, reinforce the basic values of the social structure, including the work ethic that is part of the Core American Values. Workers are socialized to believe in the rigors of work life as normal. Interestingly, values and norms surrounding work are different in different countries due to “social Location,” religious beliefs, and different views that the role of work plays in an individual’s life.



8) Sports –
Sport is institutionalized competitive activity that involves physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by individuals whose participations is motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
• Millions are involved in sports (from middle school through sports ranks)
• 10.5% of U.S. population participates at least once a week
• Over 40 million people go to professional baseball games per year
Concept of Competition
• Competition is a process through which success is measured
• Competition sets the rules for distributing rewards and influences relationships between people
Organized Sport Programs for Children
• 25 million children involved in U.S.
• Participation peaks at a critical developmental period in a child's life (age 12)
Family Influence on Children's Sport Involvement
• Individual who achieve in sport were encouraged by parents and began participation by ages 5-6, generally, no later than age 10
• Parents who participated in sport programs are likely to socialize their children into sport than those who do not
• Parent's interests in sport leads to an indirect teaching of the value of sport to children
Gender Differences
• Boys -play more outdoors -play more competitive games
• Girls -play more inside -play more conservative games that are cooperative in nature
• Generally, boys play in larger groups and their games last longer than girls
• Boys and Girls play in age heterogeneous groups
Consumers and Media
• Billions view sport on TV
• Sports page is the first section read of the newspaper
• 3.5 million read Sports Illustrated weekly
• 40 million pint-sized readers/subscribers to Sports Illustrated for Kids

Agents of Socialization - Part One

Class Notes
Professor Henry Schissler
Principles of Sociology

Agents of Socialization – Part One

Socialization is the process by which, through the agents of socialization, individuals learn about and come to believe in their culture. It is the lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire a self-identity and the physical, mental, and social skills needed for survival in society.
Through the process of socialization and interaction with others, individuals learn about social roles, the socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position will follow, and the core values, generalized beliefs, and expected behaviors of the culture they are born into.
One result of this process is the development of a social identity, the characteristics that other people attribute to an individual. If social identities mark ways in which individuals are the same as others, self-identity sets people apart as distinct individuals. The concept of self-identity refers to the process of self development through which individuals formulate a unique sense of themselves and their relationship to the world around them.
Agents of Socialization may be other individuals (a parent, teacher, a friend), groups (family, peers), or they may be societal institutions (schools, the media).


#1 The Family

For most, the family is the most significant agent of socialization. The family is the source for the child to have his basic needs, safety needs, belonging and intimacy needs met. The family, typically, holds beliefs and expectations that are passed down to the child, often in the guise of “traditions.” And the family helps the child sort through societal social controls.

Since human infants are helpless for a prolonged period after birth, it is essential that all societies have strong cultural norms aimed at providing stable family forms that will help ensure the protection of children.

Before the process of puberty, the child thinks concretely. As puberty settles in, sometime during the late middle school years, abstract or insightful thinking becomes the norm for the child, who is now called a “teenager” or “adolescent” in Western society but is, in fact, a functioning young adult.

The difference between the concrete thinker and the abstract thinker is an important point in the socialization process. The concrete thinker takes the messages of the family and internalizes them – as is. There is no critical analysis there. In contrast, the “teenager” hears family messages but has the developmental ability to critically analyze the messages, to look beneath the surface of them

For example, if a child is raised by a harsh and angry father whose moods are directly impacted by his alcoholism, the concrete thinking young child takes the gruff statements of rejection to heart and takes the negative moods of the alcoholic personally. The insightful thinking teenager can reason. He can therefore reason that his father’s diatribes toward him are a direct result of his drinking problem and should, therefore, NOT be taken personally or internalized.


In the past, the standard definition of family has been a group of people who are related to one another by bonds of blood, marriage, or adoption, and who live together, form an economic unit, and bear and raise children. But to accurately reflect the many changes in family life, a more encompassing definition of what constitutes a family has emerged.

Family – relationships in which people live together with commitment, form an economic unit and care for any young, and consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group.

Changes in family structure and priorities can be attributed to various factors, including 49 states adopting “no-fault” divorce laws; the changing economy that made it necessary for both adults in a household to work outside the home; birth control and family planning; women pursuing careers and choosing to have a child or children later in life; changes in religious practices including annulments in Roman Catholic churches; the “sandwich” generation; the common practice of cohabitation; and, various other issues, some positive, some negative, as they relate to stable families.


Examples of the Many Types of Families

Extended Family – unit composed of relatives (such as grand parents, uncles, and aunts) in addition to parents and children who live in the same household, the largest family type in Western society and throughout the world.

Nuclear Family – unit composed on one or two parents and their dependent children.

Blended or Step Families – both adults have remarried and form a new family that includes children from the first marriages (Brady Bunch Families).

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (often adopting them) – fastest growing type of family; alcohol/other drug abuse main reason parental problem.

Gay & Lesbian Families – growing acceptance of non-traditional families and of gay/lesbian population particularly among Americans under the age of 35 is causing more and more gay/lesbian families to move into suburban environments to raise their families; anti-gay/lesbian rhetoric has been used as a divisive “wedge” issue politically but most Americans support civil unions and a majority of Americans (about 54% - 11/07) support full marriage rights; Civil Unions now legal in Connecticut; adoption of foster-children by same-sex couples has been legal in a majority of states.

Mixed Race – growing quickly throughout the United States; sixty percent of biracial population is under the age of eighteen; as this population grows, it is probable that we will need to redefine our understanding of race.

Cohabitating Families – now a common family type; it was called “living in sin” just thirty years ago.

Single Parent Families (majority headed by female) – divorces, absent fathers, single women having children are all common occurrences; and ongoing social problems including alcohol and illegal drug abuse, poverty, and financial difficulties for families above the poverty level are all contributors to family dysfunction.

The Working Poor – 1996 welfare reform has created this population of full time working parents who cannot lift their families above poverty line.


Marriage Patterns

Marriage is a legally recognized and/or socially approved arrangement between two or more individuals that carries certain rights and obligations and usually involves sexual activity.

Marriage is civil, a legal union; it can also be religious if the couple chooses to be married within a religious institution.

Monogamy – a marriage between two partners, usually a woman and a man; the only form of marriage sanctioned by law.

Serial Monogamy – the practice of having more than one wife, husband or partner, but only one at a time (marriage, divorce, remarriage, divorce, remarriage).

Polygamy – the concurrent marriage of a person of one sex with two or more members of the opposite sex.

Polygyny – one man with two or more women; practiced in a number of Islamic societies, including regions of Africa & southern Russia, also breakaway Mormons in Utah; some Fundamentalists state that the Bible & Koran support Polygyny.

Polyandry – one woman with two or more men; very rare; typically found in societies where women greatly outnumber men.


Patterns of Power & Authority in Families

Patriarchal – structure in which authority is held by eldest male (usually the father), who acts as head of household & holds power over women & children; most prevalent pattern; holds true in most cultures

Matriarchal – authority is held by eldest female (usually the mother), who acts as head of household.

Egalitarian – structure in which both partners share power & authority equally

Endogamy – cultural norms prescribing that people marry within their own social group or category.

Exogamy – practice of marrying outside one’s own social group or category. (example: Immigrant groups)


Theoretical Patterns

Functionalist Perspective

1. Family maintains stability of a society, well-being of individuals;

2. Biological reproduction;

3. Protection of those who are relatively helpless, including children, the infirm, the very elderly;

4. Provides members with intimacy and social support essential for mental health and personal well-being;

5. Four key functions are: sexual regulation; socialization; economic & psychological support for members; provision of social status & reputation;

6. Nurturance and socialization of children provides social stability; inadequate or dysfunctional socialization leads to deviant behavior.


Conflict Perspective

1. Families are primary source of inequality; power disparities are the norm in patriarchal systems;

2. Reinforces inequality between men and women;

3. Teaches “pecking order”, authority, conformity;

4. Reinforces class system;

5. Promotes competition;

6. Sustains cultural status quo.


Family Systems Theory

1. Family is ecosystem, programmed to survive;

2. Family is balanced, but able to deal with consistent demands of change through “un”balance to “re”balance process;

3. Families can be drawn using genogram so that members can see the roles that they play and change them if necessary.


Other Issues Impacting Families

1. Economics, including debt
2. Status and Social Class Difference
3. Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Inequality
4. Alcohol/Other Drug Abuse and Addiction
5. Children Taken Into State Custody
6. Criminal Justice Involvement
7. Domestic Violence
8. Abuse: Neglect, Physical, Sexual, and Emotional




2) Peers and Peer Influence

Peer Group – a set of individuals who, sharing certain common characteristics such as age, ethnicity, or occupation, perceive themselves and are recognized by others as a distinct social collectivity. The group is seen to have its own culture, symbols, sanctions, and rituals, into which the new member must be socialized, and according to which those who fail to comply with group norms may be ostracized.

Peer Influence impacts kids, teens and adults. Peer Influence drives social interaction.

For children, Primary Socialization comes from the family. However, Peer Influence is also being internalized.

For example, four-year-old boys in pre-school settings are already learning gender socialization. They are learning what toys to play with, what areas of the child care center to play in (and which ones to stay away from). They are learning the “boy colors” and the “girl colors”. Should a little boy like the color pink, peer Influence will cause him to either reject the color entirely or pretend to dislike it so that he will be accepted by the group. Even though he cannot understand why pink is “bad”, peer Influence is so powerful that he will accept this fact of life and behave accordingly.

The Adolescent Experience

The inauguration of a thriving teen culture in mid-twentieth century America had as much to do with big business as with teenagers themselves. In order to market their products, advertisers tapped into popular culture and promoted adolescence as a distinct stage of life separate from both childhood and adulthood.

The teen culture became more and more of a subcultural group with clear values and norms that were not entirely in synch with the “older” generations. These overarching macro-level beliefs began to serve as a measuring stick of what was normal or abnormal, in or out, good or bad.

It served notice to this population that their sense of self would rise or fall on these macro-levels conditions. Peer Influence became the cornerstone of peer acceptance. Big business understood this, and marketed products to promote an “in group” status driven by peer acceptance (Peer Influence).

Today, these conditions are stronger than ever. With advancing technology, outreach to the adolescent subculture is more powerful, focused, and intense. Peer Influence continues to grow as the driving force behind beliefs, needs, personal taste, fad and fashion acceptance. All of these would be considered parts of Popular Culture.

Popular Culture – the common set of entertainment, arts, and customs shared by large segments of the population – both reflects and influences society’s values and beliefs. Popular music, fashions, movies, and other entertainment often encapsulate the attitudes of the mass culture. At the same time, they provide a powerful forum for the transmission of new ideas and passionate beliefs about social issues.

Adult Peer Influence is no different from the adolescent experience. It revolves around norms of social class, education and work identity, the acquisition of status symbols, and style.


Symbolic Interactionist Theory: Peer Influence on The “Self”

Three general premises to Symbolic Interactionist Theory:

1. In order to understand human behavior, we must learn what those behaviors mean to the individual actors.

2. Meanings develop within social relationships.

3. Individuals play active roles in constructing their self-concepts.


When Peer Influence is in play, we are actively involved in creating & negotiating our own roles and self-concept. We view ourselves as we think others view us.

This is the looking-glass self; there are three steps in its formation:
1. We imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine how others judge our appearance.
3. We develop feelings about & responses to these judgments.

These self-judgments come from various places. Life experiences in general and our specific past experiences influence us. Our primary socialization comes into play as we form self-judgments.

Peer Influence is direct feedback from others. When we give certain peers a level of power, meaning that their viewpoint is meaningful to us, we are affirming internal beliefs about what is important, who is important, and what are our “ideals.”

The Negotiated Self is the self that we fashion to present to others in order to enhance (or preserve) our self –esteem. It represents our “ideals” and the result of our self-judgments from looking-glass self.

Role Identity is the image we have of ourselves in a specific social role.

Physical Appearance – may be the most intense Peer Influenced piece of self-concept one deals with – particularly during early adolescence, adolescence, and young adulthood.

Adolescence has been socially constructed to serve as a bridge between childhood and adulthood (even through the adolescent is a functioning adult). As such, the central task promoted in today’s society is for the adolescent to begin to establish independence – from family of origin, from childhood belief systems, to plan for the future.

Planning is often anticipatory socialization, role learning that prepares us for roles we are likely to assume in the future. Professional Socialization is learning not only the knowledge but also the culture of a profession.

As Peer Influence helps to establish new social roles for adolescents, they will engage in Role Exits, the processes by which individuals leave important social roles. Obviously, this process happens throughout one’s life.

Resocialization occurs when a person abandons her/his way of life for a radically different one. Joining a cult, spending ten years in prison, adjusting to life after a major disability are examples of circumstances where resocialization will occur.



3) Education

Education is a formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of learner.

Education transmits the society’s norms, values, and knowledge base by means of direct instruction (socialization function).

At the micro-level, people acquire the basic knowledge & skills they need to survive in society. At the macro-level, the social institution of education is an essential component in maintaining & perpetuating the culture of a society across generations.

Formal Education occurs within academic institutions such as schools.

Mass Education is the extension of formal schooling to wide segments of the population. It helps to socialize people to norms and values necessary to promote social solidarity (bonds that unite the members of a social group). Mass education began in the US by the 1850’s and accelerated as the Industrial Revolution grew.

Cultural Transmission – the process by which children & recent immigrants become acquainted with the dominant cultural beliefs, values, norms and accumulated knowledge of a society. (Example: standing at your desk when speaking to the professor)

The “Hidden Curriculum” – an unspoken classroom socialization to norms, values, attitudes, allegiances, and roles that a school provides along with the “official” curriculum:

(1) Acceptance of class position
(2) Gender socialization (females and math/science)
(3) Acceptance of normative beliefs for each class (the lower one’s social class rank the lower one’s educational aspirations)
(4) Conformity to cultural status quo
(5) Society’s self-definition (through History & Social Studies)
(6) The value and joy of competition
(7) The value of status through economic success


Sociological Theory

Conflict Theory – Schools foster competition through built-in systems of rewards and punishments; schools reinforce the divisive aspects of society, especially those of class, racial-ethnic, and gender inequalities; students from middle and upper class backgrounds have the Social and Cultural Capitol to succeed in school, whereas those from poorer backgrounds do not.

Social and Cultural Capitol – an accumulation of advantages that enhance a person’s chances for Individual Mobility.

Research shows that the following are most likely to result in advantage:
parental income; one’s level of education; occupation and family connections; supportive home environment, including parental expectations and priority; financial resources to pay for higher education, financial support to eliminate need to work, for books, tutoring, any other “extras” needed for success.

Functionalist Theory – Schools perform a number of essential functions for society, including socialization, transmission of culture, social control, social placement, and change and innovation; the ability to succeed is crucial to an individual’s drive necessary to achieve greatness, to invent, to cure, to innovate.


Symbolic Interactionists – the school culture is complex; it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy for students who perform up or down to the expectations held for them by educators; “looking-glass self” implies that student interactions directly impact sense of self


Education and Social Mobility

Education plays a crucial role in Social Mobility. The impact of formal schooling on adult status is even greater than that of family background. Three-fourths of college-educated men achieve some upward mobility, compared with only 12 percent of those with no college education.

Education’s impact on mobility will diminish as more and more people have an undergraduate degree. There is, therefore, increased demand for Masters degrees to be competitive in the job market.

Education also represents an important means of intergenerational mobility. Mobility declines as more and more people in each generation have college degrees.


The Sheff vs. O’Neill court case in Connecticut is an excellent example of issues of educational quality, unequal funding of public schools and social mobility.

Today’s schools are formal organizations like hospitals or corporations. Schools do not operate autonomously; they are influenced by the market for potential students (private k-12 schools, magnet and charter public schools, all colleges and universities).

“Adult Learner” programs occurred because of a dip in the traditional-age college student pool about twenty-five years ago. Shorter semesters and classes offered at different times (Sundays, evenings) were ways for colleges to compete for “adult learners”. Online courses are the newest innovation to compete for students. There is much debate among educators about the quality of the typical online (versus onground) course offering.

Public Schools are a microcosm of many of the problems facing the country. Examples:

1. School violence,
2. Aggressive behavior, assault, robbery (gratuitous vs. meaningful violence,
3. School shootings (“white” shooters and “minority” shooters);
4. Alcohol and other drug abuse (“crack” cocaine and cocaine),
5. Drop-out rates,
6. Lack of high academic standards and “social promotion,”
7. Gender bias,
8. Teen pregnancy and teen parenting,
9. Gay/lesbian teens,
10. Diversity and multiculturalism acceptance,
11. Bilingual needs.


The Role of History in Society

One way societies, cultures and groups define themselves is through their history. Historical facts, stories, myths and legends come together to trace the evolution of a people. This evolution frames their here-and-now values and norms, and their self-definition.

Who decides the content of a people’s history? Can content change? Can facts be interpreted? Can facts change? Should certain aspects of a history be minimized or removed? Should other aspects be maximized and featured?

Who is history’s audience?

How Societies, Cultures and Groups Tend to Construct Their History

In Textbooks –

Heroification – Our educational media turns flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, near perfect men (and occasionally women) who solve problems quickly, are even tempered, intelligent, family focused, and altruistic.

What happens to our heroes when they are introduced into our history textbooks and our classrooms?

Example #1 – Helen Keller

What the history books say...

History books have held up Helen Keller, the blind and deaf girl who overcame her physical handicaps, as an inspiration to generations of school children.

According to a McGraw-Hill publication: “The gift of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan to the world is to constantly remind us of the wonder of the world around us and how much we owe those who taught us what it means, for there is no person that is unworthy or incapable of being helped, and the greatest service any person can do is to help another reach true potential.”
What the history books leave out...

Helen Keller was a highly publicized political radical. Her outspokenness led to a great deal of media attention – both positive and negative. She often denounced our social class system that, in her opinion, controls peoples’ opportunities in life. This belief led her to join the Socialist party in 1909. She was an active member of the women’s suffrage movement, and helped found the American Civil Liberties Union to “fight for the free speech of others”.

Example #2 – Woodrow Wilson

What the history books say...

He led our country reluctantly into World War I and, after the war, led the struggle nationally and internationally to establish the League of Nations. He is associated with such progressive causes as women’s suffrage.

What the history books leave out...

Under Wilson, the US landed troops in Mexico in 1914, Haiti in 1915 (forced the Haitian legislature to select the US preferred candidate for president, supervised a referendum to approve a new constitution after dissolving the Haitian Legislature), the Dominican Republic in 1916, Mexico again in 1916, Cuba in 1917, and Panama in 1918.

Wilson also maintained forces in Nicaragua throughout his Presidency to determine the country’s president and force passage of a treaty giving preferential treatment to the US.

In 1917, he authorized covert monetary aid in the Russian civil war, authorized a naval blockade of the Soviet Union in 1918, and sent troops to the region. U.S. actions (ending in 1920) are referred to as our “unknown war with Russia”. This aggression fueled the suspicions that motivated the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

What the history books say...

“President Wilson was urged to send military forces into Mexico to protect American investments and to restore law and order.”

“President Wilson soon discovered that because of forces he could not control, his ideas of morality and idealism had to give way to practical action.” “Thus, though he believed it morally undesirable to send Marines into the Caribbean, he saw no way to avoid it.”

What the history books leave out...

Wilson’s administration was openly hostile to black Americans. He was an outspoken white supremacist who believed that blacks were inferior. Wilson ordered that black and white workers in federal government jobs be segregated from one another. This was the first time such segregation had existed since Reconstruction.

History textbooks employ a rhetoric of certainty.

Dates, times and events are presented as accurate, with detail that sounds compelling even if it is more fiction than fact.

It is, therefore, hard for teachers to introduce controversy or “critical thinking” without deviating from the usual standards of discourse, history as “factoids for memorization”.

Events surrounding Christopher Columbus and the fate of Native American populations are most often cited as the strongest examples of an inaccurate historical record taught to all children in Western society.

Can a people learn from the mistakes of history? Can a people accept misfortune and missteps as a part of their society’s legacy?

Can a history class “critically analyze” the past in order to strategize for the future?


4) The Media

The development of mass communications has enlarged the range of socializing agencies. The spread of mass printed media was later accompanied by the use of electronic communication. TV exerts a particularly powerful influence, reaching people of all ages at regular intervals every day.
The mass media is an agent of socialization that has a profound impact on both children and adults.
The media function as socializing agents in several ways: (1) they inform us about events; (2) they introduce us to a wide variety of people; (3) they provide an array of viewpoints on current issues; (4) they make us aware of products and services that, if we purchase them, supposedly will help us to be accepted by others; and (5) they entertain us by providing the opportunity to live vicariously (through other people's experiences).
Mass Media Culture – a culture in which mass media plays a key role in both shaping and creating cultural perceptions

• Print Media – newspapers, magazines, books, photojournalism, etc.

• Electronic Media – radio, computer, Internet, television, film, etc.

Mass Audience – a large collection of people who receive messages that are directed at them not as individuals, but as a group; messages are highly generalized and never individualized

Mass Society – one whose members are lacking in strong social ties and are, therefore, defenseless against various forms of manipulation by mass media


Who Owns The Media – In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly. In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote "in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media" -- controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. This was greeted with skepticism at the time. When the 6th edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market. More than 1 in 4 Internet users in the U.S. now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world's largest media corporation.
In 2004, Bagdikian's revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations -- Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) -- now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric's NBC is a close sixth.
Media literacy is the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day. It's the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media— from music videos and Web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on NHL hockey boards. It's about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions— the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content.

Media literacy is an overall term that incorporates three stages of a continuum leading to media empowerment:

The first stage is simply becoming aware of the importance of managing one's media "diet"— that is, making choices and reducing the time spent with television, videos, electronic games, films and various print media forms.

The second stage is learning specific skills of critical viewing— learning to analyze and question what is in the frame, how it is constructed and what may have been left out. Skills of critical viewing are best learned through inquiry-based classes or interactive group activities, as well as from creating and producing one's own media messages.

The third stage goes behind the frame to explore deeper issues. Who produces the media we experience—and for what purpose? Who profits? Who loses? And who decides? This stage of social, political and economic analysis looks at how everyone in society makes meaning from our media experiences, and how the mass media drive our global consumer economy. This inquiry can sometimes set the stage for various media advocacy efforts to challenge or redress public policies or corporate practices.

Although television and electronic media may seem to present the most compelling reasons for promoting media literacy education in contemporary society, the principles and practices of media literacy education are applicable to all media— from television to T-shirts, from billboards to the Internet.
Identify — Analyze — Evaluate
1. Form: Media messages come in different forms. Through what medium is the message delivered?
2. Purpose: Each media message has a purpose. Who created the message and why?
3. Construction: Each media message is a construction. What words, images, or sounds are used to create the message?
4. Interpretation: People interpret media messages differently. How does the message make you feel?
5. Reality: Media messages represent (someone’s) social reality. What is the message maker’s point of view?
The Fairness Doctrine and Deregulation
When applied in the United States, deregulation describes most American electronic media policy in the past two decades. This fundamental shift in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) approach to radio and television regulation began in the mid-1970s as a search for relatively minor "regulatory underbrush" which could be cleared away for more efficient and cost-effective administration of the important rules that would remain. Congress largely went along with this trend, and initiated a few deregulatory moves of its own.
The arrival of the Reagan Administration and FCC Chairman Mark Fowler in 1981 marked a further shift to a fundamental and ideologically-driven reappraisal of regulations long held central to national broadcasting policy. Ensuing years saw removal of many long-standing rules resulting in an overall reduction in FCC oversight of station and network operations. Congress grew increasingly wary of the pace of deregulation, however, and began to slow the FCC's deregulatory pace by the late 1980s.
Specific deregulatory moves included (a) extending television licenses to five years from three in 1981; (b) expanding the number of television stations any single entity could own grew from seven in 1981 to 12 in 1985 (a situation under consideration for further change in 1995); (c) abolishing guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming in 1985; (d) elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987; (e) dropping, in 1985, FCC license guidelines for how much advertising could be carried; (f) leaving technical standards increasingly in the hands of licensees rather than FCC mandates; and (g) deregulation of television's competition (especially cable which went through several regulatory changes in the decade after 1983).
The policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission that became known as the "Fairness Doctrine" is an attempt to ensure that all coverage of controversial issues by a broadcast station be balanced and fair. The FCC took the view, in 1949, that station licensees were "public trustees," and as such had an obligation to afford reasonable opportunity for discussion of contrasting points of view on controversial issues of public importance. The Commission later held that stations were also obligated to actively seek out issues of importance to their community and air programming that addressed those issues. With the deregulation sweep of the Reagan Administration during the 1980s, the Commission dissolved the fairness doctrine. This doctrine grew out of concern that because of the large number of applications for radio station being submitted and the limited number of frequencies available, broadcasters should make sure they did not use their stations simply as advocates with a singular perspective. Rather, they must allow all points of view. That requirement was to be enforced by FCC mandate.
The fairness doctrine ran parallel to Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1937 which required stations to offer "equal opportunity" to all legally qualified political candidates for any office if they had allowed any person running in that office to use the station. The attempt was to balance--to force an even handedness.

An Example of Mass Media Impact

Edward Bernays (1891-1995) was one of the founders of the public relations field. He was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis. Bernays pioneered the industry’s use of psychology, sociology, and other social sciences to design its public persuasion campaigns.

“Public relations embraces the engineering of consent based on Jefferson’s principle that ‘in a true democratic society, everything depends upon the consent of the public.’ This fundamental truth is the basis of my life’s work.”

From The Future of Public Relations, Edward Bernays

Engineering of Consent was Bernays’ scientific technique of opinion molding. “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it.”

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling class of our country.”

“We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society...”
“No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those people who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.”

From Propaganda, Edward L. Bernays, 1928

One of Bernays’ favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of “third party authorities” to plead for his clients’ cases. “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway,” he said.

In order to promote sales of bacon, for example, he conducted a survey of physicians and reported their recommendation that people eat hearty breakfasts. He sent results of the survey to 5,000 physicians, along with publicity touting bacon and eggs as a hearty breakfast. He then devised a public relations campaign that featured doctors recommending a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Bernays’ “celebration of propaganda – proper-ganda” included convincing marching suffragettes to hold aloft Lucky Strike cigarettes as “Torches of Freedom,” Americans to switch to beer as the “beverage of moderation,” and both physicians and actors to endorse certain brands of cigarettes as “milder” and “more soothing on the throat.” These ads had a tone that implied there were medicinal properties in cigarettes.

Behaviorism – an approach to socialization that emphasizes the effect of rewards and punishments on observable human behavior.

Classical Conditioning – a kind of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response through its association with a stimulus that naturally brings about the response.

Learning – a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience.

Behavior Modification – a technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.


“Common Sense Knowledge of Culture” and Media

Our theories and opinions about issues come from “common sense” – from our experiences & conversations, from what we read, see on TV, and so forth. A majority is a direct result of media presentations.

“Common Sense knowledge” is not always accurate because it comes from commonly held beliefs rather than from the systematic analysis. It can lead to overgeneralizations, assumptions, and stereotypes. For example, it is a commonly held belief (due almost exclusively to media presentations) that most Americans in poverty are African-American and Hispanic. This is false. There are twice as many white Americans living in poverty than African Americans. Why are there no images of white poverty in the media?

In media, we see stereotypes used frequently in entertainment programs so that the viewer can easily understand who a character is and what the character represents by relating to stereotyped actions and statements. .

In the news, “framing” and “spinning” are two techniques used by infotainers, news personnel, and “expert commentators” to present news but with a particular ideological twist to it. Because all of the parties involved are presented as newscasters, it is often impossible for the general public to understand that they are social and political agenda parading as hard news.

Debunking – the “unmasking tendency” in sociology to look behind the facades of everyday life, and beyond the overgeneralizations, assumptions, and stereotypes, and see patterns and processes that shape attitude, belief systems, and behavior.