How Powerful is the Media?

Culture, society and the Media by James Curran, Michael Gurevitch and Janet Woollacott, “examines the power of media and the divisions between the liberal pluralist and the Marxist approaches to the analysis of the nature of the media.”

What is the role and influence of the media in modern society? It is imperative to question how media contributes to, creates, and represents our culture. The theoretical approaches to understanding the study of media examines the social and cultural role of media.

To begin, Marxist theorists tend to stress the role of mass media in the reproduction of the existing state. They also believe that the media is intergraded into the existing economic and political elites reflecting their interests. On the other hand, liberal pluralist highlight the role of the media in encouraging freedom of speech. Since the 1940’s the liberal pluralist view has been the dominant stance.

So the question is: is media really a powerful and influential entity?

I believe so. Look at Hollywood’s affects on young women in our culture. Magazines and reality television shows have such negative affects on young women. Media is our lifeline to knowing what’s going on in the world, but it also shapes who we are socially and culturally. Our world is obsessed with information and entertainment values. Media has a political and persuasive power over our society. Studying media and its affects defines who and what we are.