Types and functions of mass communication. The structure of mass communication in modern society. See what "Mass Communication" is in other dictionaries

After reading this chapter, you will know:

o the concept of mass communication;
o the role of attitude and stereotype in the process of mass communication;
o the psychology of rumors and gossip.

Mass communication concept

Communication is one of the central components of modern society. The status of a country, firm, organization in the real world is also determined by its status in the information space.

Mass communication - the process of disseminating information (knowledge, spiritual values, moral and legal norms, etc.) using technical means (press, radio, television, computer equipment, etc.) to numerically large, dispersed audiences.

The main parameters that distinguish mass communication from group communication are quantitative. At the same time, due to a significant quantitative superiority (an increase in individual communication acts, channels, participants, etc.), a new qualitative entity will be created, communication will have new opportunities, a need for special means (transmission of information over a distance, speed, replication, etc.) .P.).

Conditions for the functioning of mass communication (according to V.P. Konetskaya):

o mass audience (it is anonymous, spatially dispersed, but divided into interest groups, etc.);
o availability of technical means ensuring the regularity, speed, replication of information, its transmission over a distance, storage and multichannel (in the modern era, everyone notes the predominance of the visual channel).

Periodicals became the first mass media in history. Its tasks have changed over time. So, in the XVI-XVII centuries. dominated by the authoritarian theory of the press, in the 17th century. - the theory of free press, in the XIX century. along with others, the theory of the proletarian press arose, and in the middle of the 20th century. the theory of socially responsible printing appeared. From the point of view of information perception, periodicals are a more complex form compared to computer networks, radio and television. In addition, newspapers are less efficient in terms of presenting material than other types of media. At the same time, periodical print media delivery systems have undeniable advantages: the newspaper can be read almost everywhere; you can return to the same newspaper material several times; the newspaper's material traditionally has all the signs of legal legitimacy; the newspaper can be transferred to each other, etc. According to opinion polls, the average citizen in the morning prefers radio as a means of mass communication, since in conditions of time pressure it creates an unobtrusive information background, provides information and does not distract from business. In the evening, television is preferable, as it is the easiest in terms of information perception.

Mass communication is characterized by the following features:

o mediation of communication by technical means (ensuring regularity and replication);
o mass audience, communication of large social groups;
o pronounced social orientation of communication;
o organized, institutionalized communication;
o lack of direct communication between the communicator and the audience in the process of communication;
o social significance of information;
o multichannel and the ability to choose communication tools that provide variability, normativity of mass communication;
o increased exactingness to adherence to accepted communication standards;
o unidirectionality of information and fixation of communicative roles;
o "collective" nature of the communicator and his public personality;
o mass, spontaneous, anonymous, scattered audience;
o mass character, publicity, social relevance and frequency of messages;
o predominance of the two-stage nature of the message perception.

The social significance of mass communication lies in compliance with certain social needs and expectations (motivation, expectation of evaluation, formation of public opinion), impact (training, persuasion, suggestion, etc.). At the same time, the expected message is better perceived when separate messages are prepared for different target groups, taking into account the interests of the target audience.

The relationship between the source and the recipient in mass communication is also acquiring a qualitatively new character. A public institution or a mythologized individual acts as the sender of the message. The recipient is the target groups, united by some socially significant characteristics. The task of mass communication is to maintain communication within groups and between them in society. In fact, such groups can be created as a result of the influence of mass messages (the electorate of a new party, consumers of a new product, clients of a new company).

Mass communication, according to U. Eco, appears at a time when there is:

o an industrial-type society, outwardly balanced, but in fact saturated with differences and contrasts;
o channels of communication, ensuring its receipt not by certain groups, but by an indefinite circle of addressees occupying different social positions;
o groups of producers who produce and issue messages industrially.

G. Lasswell calls the following functions of mass communication:

o informational (review of the surrounding world),
o regulatory (impact on society and knowledge of it through feedback);
o cultural (preservation and transmission of cultural heritage from generation to generation);
o A number of researchers add an entertainment function.

V.P. Konetskaya speaks about three groups of theories focused on the predominance of one or another leading function of mass communication:

o political control;
o indirect spiritual control;
o culturological.

The globalization of mass communication predicted by M. McLuhan at the end of the 20th century. expressed in the development of the worldwide computer network Internet. The possibility of almost instant communication with the simultaneous use of visual and auditory channels, text and non-verbal messages has qualitatively changed communication. The concept of virtual communication appeared. In the literal sense, the network itself is not a mass media, it can be used for both interpersonal and group communication. At the same time, the opportunities that it opens up specifically for mass communication indicate the beginning of a new era in the development of communication systems.

We can say that communication in nature and society has gone through the following stages:

1) tactile-kinetic in higher primates;
2) oral and verbal among primitive peoples;
3) written and verbal at the dawn of civilization;
4) printed and verbal after the invention of the book and the printing press;
5) multichannel, starting at the present moment.

Mass communication, especially in the modern era, is characterized by multichannel: a visual, auditory, auditory-visual channel, oral or written communication, etc. are used. There is a technical possibility of bidirectional communication, both open (interactivity) and hidden (reaction of the listener or viewer, behavior), the mutual adaptation of the sender and recipients. Since both the choice of channels and the adaptation are carried out under the influence of society and groups of recipients, it is sometimes said: the media is ourselves.

Mass character as a defining characteristic of mass communication creates actually new entities in the communication process. Participants in the communication process are not individual individuals, but mythologized collective subjects: people, party, government, army, oligarchs, etc. Even individuals appear as image mythologemes: president, party leader, media tycoon, etc. Modern researchers come to the conclusion that the function of informing in mass communication is giving way to the function of association, and after it - to control, maintain social status, subordination and power.

The emergence and development of technical means of communication led to the formation of a new social space - a mass society. This society is characterized by the presence of specific means of communication - mass communication.

Mass media (SMK) are special channels and transmitters, thanks to which information messages are spread over large territories. Technical media in mass communication include the media (media: press, radio, television, the Internet), mass media (CMV: theater, cinema, circus, shows, literature) and the actual technical means (mail, telephone, fax, modem ).

Mass communication plays the role of a regulator of the dynamic processes of the social psyche; the role of an integrator of mass sentiment; channel of circulation of psycho-forming information. Thanks to this, the mass media are a powerful means of influencing cash and a social group. The uniqueness of the communication process in the QMS is associated with its following properties (according to M.A.Vasilik):

o diachronism - a communicative property due to which the message is preserved over time;
o diatopost - a communicative property that allows information messages to overcome space;
o multiplication - a communicative property due to which the message is subjected to multiple repetitions with relatively unchanged content;
o simultaneity - a property of the communication process that allows you to present adequate messages to many people almost simultaneously;
o replication is a property that implements the regulatory impact of mass communication.

The rapid development of mass media in the XX century. led to a change in the perception of the world, transformation, the formation of a new virtual world of communication. There are two main directions in the theory of mass communication:

1) a human-centered approach that supported the minimal effect model. The essence of this approach is that people are more likely to adapt the mass media to their needs and requirements. Proponents of a human-centered approach proceeded from the fact that people selectively perceive incoming information. They choose that part of the information that coincides with their opinion, and reject the one that does not fit into this opinion. Among the models of mass communication, one can single out here: the constructionist model of W. Gamson, the "spiral of silence" by E. Noel-Neumann.
2) media-oriented approach. This approach is based on the fact that a person obeys the action of the mass media. They act on him like a drug that cannot be resisted. The most prominent representative of this approach is G. McLuhan (1911 - 1980).

G. McLuhan was the first to draw attention to the role of the mass media, especially television, in the formation of mass consciousness, regardless of the content of the message. Television, collecting on the screen all times and spaces at once, confronts them in the minds of viewers, giving significance even to the ordinary. By drawing attention to what has already happened, television communicates the end result to the audience. This creates in the minds of viewers the illusion that the demonstration of the action itself leads to the given result. It turns out that the reaction precedes the action. The viewer is thus forced to accept and assimilate the structural-resonant mosaic of the television image. The efficiency of information perception is influenced by the viewer's life experience, memory and speed of perception, and his social attitudes. As a result, television actively influences the spatio-temporal organization of information perception. The activity of the mass media ceases to be a derivative for a person from any events. The means of mass communication begin to act in the mind of a person as a primary cause, endowing reality with its properties. There is a construction, mythologization of reality by means of mass communication. The mass media begin to perform the functions of ideological, political influence, organization, management, information, education, entertainment, and maintenance of social community.

Functions of the media:

o social orientation;
o social identification;
o contact with other people;
o self-affirmation;
o utilitarian;
o emotional release.

In addition to these socio-psychological functions, CM K, according to the French researchers A. Catl and A. Kade, perform the functions of an antenna, amplifier, prism and echo in society.

Among the research methods of mass communication, the following stands out:

o text analysis (using content analysis);
o advocacy analysis;
o analysis of rumors;
o observation;
o polls (questionnaires, interviews, tests, experiments).

Content analysis (content analysis) is one of the methods for studying documents (texts, video and audio materials). The content analysis procedure involves calculating the frequency and volume of references to certain units of the text under study. The resulting quantitative characteristics of the text make it possible to draw conclusions about the qualitative, including the hidden content of the text. Using this method, you can explore the social attitudes of the audience of mass media.

GG Pocheptsov, describing the models of mass communication, singled out the standard classical unified communication model, which consists of the following elements: source - encoding - message - decoding - recipient.

Note that, since the process of transition to a message is often built with a certain delay, including the processes of various transformations of the original text, an additional stage is introduced - "encoding". An example is a speech written by a group of assistants, a company executive. In this case, there is coding of the initial ideas into a message, which is then read out by the leader.

Constructionist model. American professor W. Gemson believes that different social groups are trying to impose on society their own model of interpretation of a particular event.

The predecessors of W. Gemson's model were two models: 1) the minimum effect and 2) the maximum effect.

The maximum impact model was based on the following factors for successful communication:

1) the success of propaganda in the First World War, which became the first systematic manipulation of mass consciousness;
2) the emergence of the public relations industry;
3) totalitarian control in Germany and the USSR. Considering it, the researchers came to the conclusion that communication can affect a person and nothing can be opposed to it.

The minimum effect model was based on the following factors:

1) selective perception. People selectively perceive information, they perceive what coincides with their opinion, and do not perceive what is contrary to their views;
2) the transition to considering a person as a social molecule from considering him as an individualized atom;
3) political behavior during the elections. Researchers of electoral technologies have paid attention to the resistance of voters. The conclusion they made is that it is impossible to change the stereotype, the predisposition of the voter, the struggle can only be fought for those who have not yet made a final decision.

These two models - maximum / minimum effect - can be presented as an emphasis either on the source (in the case of maximum understanding, everything is in his hands), or on the recipient.

W. Gemson founds the constructionist model, relying on some modern approaches. Considering that the effect of the mass media is not so minimal, he lists the following components:

1) work with the definition of the "idea of \u200b\u200bthe day", revealing how the mass media gives people the keys to understanding reality;
2) work in the framework of the presidential race, where the press influences people's assessments;
3) the phenomenon of the spiral of silence, showing how the press, by providing a voice to the minority, makes the majority feel like a minority and not claim to speak publicly;
4) the effect of cultivation, when art television, by its massive display, for example, of violence, affects municipal politics, dictating priorities.

W. Gemson distinguishes two levels of functioning of his model: cultural and cognitive.

Cultural Level - This is about "packaging" messages in ways such as metaphors, visual images, moral references. This level characterizes the discourse of the mass media.

The cognitive level is related to public opinion. It adapts the information received to the psychological prerequisites and life experience of each person.

The interaction of these two levels, functioning in parallel, gives rise to the social construction of meaning.

Mass communication audience as an object of information impact can be divided into mass and specialized. Such a division is carried out on the basis of a quantitative criterion, although in some cases a specialized audience may turn out to be either more or less numerous than the mass one, based on the nature of the association of people who make up the audience.

Theoretical ideas about the mass audience are quite ambivalent.

This term most often refers to:

o all consumers of information disseminated through media channels (readers, radio listeners, TV viewers, buyers of audio and video products, etc.), where mass is the main attribute of this audience;
o random associations of people who do not have common professional, age, political, economic, cultural and other characteristics and interests (a crowd of onlookers who gathered to listen to a street speaker or musicians, etc.).

In the scientific community that studies the processes of mass communication and their means, there are conceptual interpretations of the concept of a mass audience. In some cases, it appears before us in the form of an inert, disorganized mass, passively absorbing everything that the media offer. Here we are talking about the mass audience as an amorphous formation, poorly organized, without clear boundaries and changing depending on the situation.

In other cases, the mass audience looks like a social force capable of actively influencing the "mass media", demanding from them the satisfaction of their own special (age, professional, cultural, ethnic, etc.) desires and interests (meaning organized, systemic, rather structured education).

Verification of these interpretations is carried out in the framework of two approaches. The theoretical basis of the first is the concept of two-stage communication by P. Lazarsfeld and a number of other specialists in this field. They proposed to study the mass audience not as an amorphous set of consumers (atoms), but as a system consisting of groups (molecules). These groups have their own "opinion leaders" who, through interpersonal (interatomic) connections, are able to organize and structure the mass audience, to form certain ideas about the media and about the information itself - its content, form and purpose. However, most modern theories focus attention on the increasing massive indifference of the audience, its destructuring, entropy, the result of which is the increasing manipulation of its consciousness by the mass media.

The quantitative socio-structural characteristics of the audience (i.e. data on gender, age, education, occupation and place of residence, their interests and preferences), of course, are necessary, but this is only the first stage of cognition. This is due to the fact that with this perspective of its study, many processes that arise in the minds of people as a result of the perception of media products remain out of sight. Thus, television ratings answer the questions "what" and "how much", but do not answer the questions "why" and "with what result." Answers to these questions require a qualitative analysis of both the audience itself and the processes of functioning of the media, including the study of communication technologies and their influence on the vehicle of the picture of reality that arise in the minds of TV viewers.

The specialized audience represents a fairly definite and stable whole with more or less delineated boundaries, including many individuals. People in them are united by common interests, goals, value systems, lifestyle, mutual sympathies, as well as common social, professional, cultural, demographic and other characteristics. This audience can be considered as a broad segment of the mass media audience in the case when it comes to, for example:

o about the audience of a certain type of mass communication (only about radio listeners or only about TV viewers, newspaper readers, etc.);
o about the audience of a specific mass communication channel (about TV viewers of ORT or RenTV; about radio listeners of Retro-FM or Radio Russia; readers of Vesti or Kommersant newspapers, etc.);
o about the audience of certain types of messages (headings) - news, sports, criminal, cultural, etc.

The presence of specialized audiences is an indicator that the public perceives information depending on their social, cultural, educational, professional, demographic, age and other characteristics. The ability to structure the audience, to highlight the necessary segments (target groups) in it largely predetermines the success of communication, no matter what specific form it takes - party propaganda, election campaign, advertising of goods and services, commercial transactions, environmental or cultural events.

The creation and consumption of mass information is directly interconnected with the psychological processes of perception and assimilation. The main role in the process of et consumption is played by the audience - the direct consumers of this information.

Audiences can be stable or unstable in their preferences, habits, frequency of reference, which is taken into account when studying the interaction of the source and recipient of information.

The characteristics of the audience largely depend on its socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, income, education level, place of residence, marital status, professional orientation, etc.). Also, when receiving mass information, the behavior of the audience is mediated by factors of an objective nature (uniqueness of circumstances, external environment, etc.). The quantitative parameters of the audience often speak about the relevance for consumers and the importance of the mass media itself and the source of its transmission: the larger the audience, the more important the information is and the significance of its source.

Audience types. The typology of the audience is based on the ability of certain groups of the population to access specific sources of information. Based on this, the following types of audiences can be named:

o conditional and non-targeted (whom the media do not directly target);
o regular and irregular;
o real and potential (who really is the audience of this media and who has access to it).

Audience analysis carried out in two directions:

1) according to the form of information consumption by different social communities;
2) methods of handling the received information.

Stages of interaction of audiences with information:

o contact with the source (channel) of information;
o contact with the information itself;
o receiving information;
o mastering information;
o formation of attitude to information.

By access to the source of information and the information itself, the entire population is divided into an audience and a non-audience. Currently, most people in developed countries belong to the real or potential audience of the QMS.

Non-audience is:

o absolute (those who do not have access to the QMS at all, there are already few such people);
o relative (who has limited access to the QMS - no money for newspapers, a computer, etc.).

It should be noted that QMS products, formally available to the majority of the population, are consumed in different ways.

The peculiarities of consumption and assimilation of mass information directly depend on the level of readiness of the audience to accept information, which can be identified on the basis of the following signs:

o the degree of proficiency in the vocabulary of the language of the media in general;
o the degree of understanding of a specific text;
o the degree of development of internal operating (adequate semantic interpretation of the text);
o adequate reproduction of the meaning of the text in speech.

French sociologist A. Touraine identified four cultural and informational strata of modern society:

1) the lowest level - representatives of the past forms of social life, peripheral in relation to modern information production, virtually excluded from the consumption of mass media (immigrants from developing countries, representatives of the elderly population, degrading rural communities, lumpen, unemployed, etc. );
2) low skilled workers (mainly focused on entertainment products);
3) active consumers of QMS products - employees who are oriented towards higher-ranking officials, who execute other people's decisions (this includes journalists and PR managers);
4) "technocrats" (managers, producers of new knowledge and values, combining professional interests and aristocratic art).

Nowadays people need social information, as a result of which information and consumer activity of the audience is activated. It includes the reception, assimilation, assessment and memorization of information and manifests itself in the following forms:

o complete - full reading, viewing, listening and analysis;
o partial - superficial viewing without analysis and serious conclusions;
o refusal to accept a message in case of its irrelevance (lack of interest in an article or transmission) or an overabundance of information of a certain orientation or topic, when there is a threat of "information overload" on a particular issue.

Misunderstanding is an acute problem of information and consumer activity of the mass audience. There are usually two types of misunderstandings:

1) subjective - unwillingness of the audience and individual subjects to understand the problems, assimilate and memorize the terminology;
2) objective - due to ignorance of new words, peculiarities of personal perception and social stereotypes, as well as all kinds of distortions in the transmission of information in the media.

Modern mass media strive to qualitatively improve the process of information and consumer activity. For this purpose, a feedback of communicators with audiences is established:

o epistolary (by mail);
o instantaneous ("hot line", "hot phone", interactive polling via telephone or computer network);
o audience survey;
o conferences (discussion of media products), consultations and joint preparation of materials for the release of the copyright asset of the "editorial board" and representatives of the QMS audience are held;
o evaluation of the activities of a particular media outlet (study of reviews, reviews and reviews of a media source);
o rating research ("measurements" using sociological research of the daily dynamics of the real audience of publications and programs).

In general, the consumption of mass information is a complex and psychologically active process that subdivides the audience in accordance with economic, socio-demographic, cultural and other characteristics. The process of consuming mass media is associated with the fact that the audience themselves produce massive social information, both directed through certain channels (for example, letters or inquiries to the media or government bodies), and "unanalyzed" (diffuse), circulating in poorly structured networks of interpersonal communication ( rumors, conversations, etc.).

Mass communication functions... In 1948 G. Lasswell identified three main functions of mass communication:

1) review of the surrounding world, which can be interpreted as an information function;
2) correlation with the social structures of society, which can be interpreted as an impact on society and its cognition through feedback, i.e. communicative function;
3) the transfer of cultural heritage, which can be understood as a cognitive and cultural function, a function of cultural continuity.

In 1960, the American researcher K. Wright proposed to single out the following function of mass communication as an independent one - the entertaining one. In the early 1980s. specialist in mass communication at the University of Amsterdam McQueil identified another function of mass communication - mobilizing, or organizational and managerial, bearing in mind the specific tasks that mass communication performs during various campaigns.

Russian scientists-psycholinguists distinguish four functions that are typical for radio and television communication: 1) informational; 2) regulatory; 3) social control; 4) socialization of the individual (i.e., the upbringing of traits in the personality that are desirable for society).

The information function is to provide the general reader, listener and viewer with up-to-date information on various fields of activity - political, legal, business, scientific and technical, medical, etc. A large amount of information allows people to expand their cognitive capabilities, increase their creative potential. Knowledge of the necessary information allows you to predict your actions, saves time, increases the motivation for joint actions. In this sense, this function helps to optimize the useful activities of society and the individual.

The regulatory function has a wide range of impact on the general public, from establishing contacts to controlling society. Mass communication influences the formation of public consciousness of an individual and a group, public opinion and the creation of social stereotypes. It also makes it possible to manipulate and control public consciousness, in fact, to carry out the function of social control.

People, as a rule, accept those social norms of behavior, ethical requirements, aesthetic principles that have been promoted for a long time by the media as a positive stereotype of lifestyle, dress style, forms of communication, etc. This is how the socialization of the subject takes place in accordance with the norms desirable for society in a given historical period.

The culturological function includes familiarization with the achievements of culture and art and contributes to society's awareness of the need for the continuity of culture, the preservation of cultural traditions. With the help of the media, people get to know the characteristics of various cultures and subcultures. It develops aesthetic taste, promotes mutual understanding, relieves social tension and ultimately integrates society. The concept of mass culture is associated with this function.

Taking into account the above characteristics and main functions of mass communication, its social essence is reduced to a powerful impact on society in order to optimize its activities, integration, socialization of the individual.

The concept of communication comes from the Latin communicatio - exchange, connection, conversation. " Mass communication - systematic dissemination of messages to numerically large dispersed audiences in order to influence the assessments, opinions and behavior of people "; "Mass communication represents the institutionalized production and mass distribution of symbolic materials through the transfer and accumulation of information. "Mass communication is a kind of spiritual and practical activity, ie, the activity of broadcasting, transferring into the mass consciousness (public opinion) assessments of current events, recognized as socially relevant. The essence of mass communication as an activity is the impact on society by introducing a certain system of values \u200b\u200binto the mass consciousness. Its essence always remains unchanged, and the phenomenon, content and forms of implementation can change depending on the conditions of functioning of the entire mass media. Purpose of mass communication: changing social subjects in the interests of other actors or the whole society.

In modern scientific and everyday language, along with the concept of mass communication, the concept "media". The concept is of Latin origin. Communication means occupy a middle, intermediate position in the communication chain sender - channel - recipient of a message. Media is a communication mechanism between the sender and the recipient of a message.

Mass communication is an activity based on a system of rules and regulations, as well as on developed control over their implementation. The features of mass communication are:

The sender of the message is part of an organized group and often a representative of an institution.

An individual acts as the receiving party. It is often viewed by the transmitting organization as part of a group with common characteristics in common.

The communication channel is a technologically complex information dissemination system. They include a significant social component, since their functioning depends on the legal norms of society, the habits and expectations of the audience.

Messages are usually quite complex.

Public nature and openness

Limited and controlled access to transmission media

Indirect contacts between the transmitting and receiving sides

Certain inequality in relations between the transmitting and receiving sides

The number of recipients of messages

The complexity of mass communication as a phenomenon predetermined its study within the framework of various research disciplines. Sociological study of the reality around us assumes that the individual is a product of social relations. Accordingly, when assessing the role of the QMS in connection with various manifestations of human activity, we must take into account the peculiarities of the political, social, economic, cultural and technological context of this activity.

The differences between mass communication and interpersonal communication are manifested practically in connection with all components of the communication process. The source of the message in interpersonal communication is the family, neighbors, etc. In mass communication, however, it is a kind of institution. The channel for the dissemination of interpersonal communication can be called “face to face”. The mass channel assumes the availability of distribution technologies. The transmission time in interpersonal communication is immediate, the distance is minimal, closed; in mass - the transmission time is immediate or with a time delay, the distance is significant, or even unlimited. The receiver in interpersonal communication is the family, neighbors, i.e. immediate environment; in the mass - an anonymous heterogeneous audience. With interpersonal communication, there is the possibility of a direct reaction of the addressee (feedback). In mass communication, the reaction is mostly “delayed” (in some cases, direct). The nature of the regulation of interpersonal communication is personal, individual; mass - using systems of rules and control.

1. Mass media as a social institution. The concept of a social institution. Definition of a social institution. Characteristics of a social institution. Characteristics of the media as a social institution

“Institutions of social life are considered to be a special type of integrative groups , the integrity of which is based on impersonal objective connections, the nature and direction of which does not depend on the individual properties of people included in these institutions. Unlike non-institutional groups (like a friendly company), institutions like the state or the army are not a collection of living people, but a system of interrelated social roles, executed by such people and imposing severe restrictions on their possible and acceptable behavior. "

A social institution is “historically established forms of organization and regulation of social life (for example, family, religion, education, etc.), ensuring the performance of vital functions for society, including a set of norms, roles, prescriptions, patterns of behavior, special institutions , control system ".

Having analyzed various points of view in defining a social institution, we can conclude about the main characteristics of the latter, which are:

* role-based system, which also includes norms and statuses;

* a set of customs, traditions and rules of behavior;

* formal and informal organization;

* a set of norms and institutions that regulate a certain area of \u200b\u200bsocial relations;

* a separate complex of social actions.

A social subject is a source of purposeful activity, an individual or a group of individuals that implements independently selected programs of action that contribute to the achievement of independently selected and set goals. This is the main difference between the subjects - only the subject carries out goal-setting activity and determines the conditions and means of achieving it. At the same time, to achieve the goal, the subject may involve other individuals or groups of individuals with different goals.

The social subject has specific interests and needs, which, as a rule, come into conflict with the interests of other social groups. The subject is a social instance whose need is satisfied by the product of this activity. For the subject, the most important thing is his needs, but in order to satisfy them, he must realize his interest, i.e. carry out the type of activity that the system needs. So for the subject, interests are a means of satisfying his needs, and for the system, meeting the needs of the subject is a means of realizing his interests.

The subjects of MC as such are social groups that fulfill their needs associated with ensuring the conditions for their own existence. These needs are associated with the need to introduce into the mass consciousness of social attitudes, expressed in their own ideology. Based on these needs, social groups are interested in producing mass information.

The subjects of mass communication activities do not have the goal of comprehensive and complete informing the audience. For them, their goals and their need for profit or, in particular, a mass audience, always remain in the first place.

In the process of carrying out mass communication activities, the quality of the subjects acquire:

Bearers of social interests (their goals are to influence mass consciousness)

Owners of individual QMS as subjects of the implementation of commercial interests

Journalists (communicators) as subjects of realizing creative and professional interests

Mass audience as a set of subjects with a common goal - to obtain information for orientation in the environment of existence.

The subjects of MC as a type of social activity, as a rule, are social groups engaged in the translation of spiritual meanings into the mass consciousness. Each of the participants in this activity is also a subject, but a subject of a different activity series. Any subject himself determines his goals and ways of their implementation.

There are two types of social subjects - institutionalized (i.e. supported by legislation - minors, pensioners, students) and non-institutionalized (youth, elderly) subjects.

Basic social subjects of society:

1) power and citizens

2) employers and employees

3) rich and poor

4) employed in social production and unemployed in social production

The type and features of the functioning of mass communication are determined by the type of society, its social, and above all, the political structure, the institution of mass communication is most associated with politics as a social institution and a certain type of social activity. Politics is not the only regulatory activity related to power. Another such type can be called administrative regulation, which, in essence, is not people's relations about power, but the direct actions of power, that is, power structures of various levels that administratively regulate the functioning and interaction of various parts and structures of society.

For a long period of human history, social communication has existed in the form of informational activities that serve to establish links between various structures of society. However, the qualitative characteristics and organizational forms (as a social institution of mass communication) for this type of activity have been formed relatively recently - since the emergence of the QMS, the difference between which from simple communications is not quantitative, but qualitative in nature, determined by the impact of mass communication on mass communication, that is practical consciousness of society.

MK is a type of regulatory activity characterized as a subject-object relationship, where the object is mass consciousness as the level of society's consciousness, directly included in practice. The object of mass communication is such a state of mass consciousness, which is characterized by evaluativeness, namely, public opinion, the formation of which through the implemented evaluations is the goal of spiritual and practical mass communication activities, the products of which satisfy the subjects of this activity. The subjects of mass communication can be not only the subjects of political activity, but also any other, for example, economic, subjects with the goal of evaluating the impact on the mass consciousness.

Content:Introduction ................................................................................... 2 1 ... The structure of mass communication.............................3 2. Media transmission ................ 7 3. Mass communication functions ............................ 17 List of references ............................................................ 21

Introduction

Communication is the transfer of information from subject to object with its subsequent assimilation.

Mass communication is the transmission of a message to representatives of all fragments of society that has been perceived and assimilated by many unrelated audiences

M andssovo communicator andmass communication, the systematic dissemination of messages (through print, radio, television, cinema, sound recording, video recording) among numerically large, dispersed audiences in order to assert the spiritual values \u200b\u200bof a given society and provide an ideological, political, economic or organizational impact on assessments , opinions and behavior of people.

The material prerequisite for the emergence of M.K. in the first half of the 20th century was the creation of technical devices that made it possible to quickly transfer and mass replicate large volumes of verbal, figurative and musical information. Collectively, the complexes of these devices, serviced by workers of high professional specialization, are usually called "mass media and propaganda" or "M. k. Means."

M.K. is a system consisting of a source of messages and their recipient, interconnected by a physical channel for the movement of messages. These channels are: print (newspapers, magazines, brochures, books of mass publications, leaflets, posters); radio and television - a network of broadcasting stations and auditoriums with radio and television receivers; cinema, provided with a constant influx of films and a network of projection installations; sound recording (a system for the production and distribution of gramophone records, tape reels or cassettes); video recording.

The structure of mass communication

Various approaches to understanding the structure of mass communication and its functioning are reflected in models - generalized schemes that represent the main components of mass communication and their connections in descriptive and / or graphical forms. With all the variety of models, each contains as mandatory components that were presented in the model of the communicative act, developed in 1948. American political scientist G. Lasswell.

The classical model of communication is presented by G. Lasswell in his work "The structure and function of communication in society", where he identified the following links in the communication process:

The communicator is a source of information. In terms of mass communication, this role is most often played by an organization with its own division of roles - a customer, a speechwriter, an announcer, etc. All these persons act as communicators if they manage to make a message.

A communication channel is a means by which a message is transmitted from a communicator to an audience; unconventionally, the concept and classification of channels occurred technically, depending on the method of information transmission used. In this tutorial, the channel is considered as a separate organization, which has its own audience and its own style of presenting information (including techniques).

4. Audience - a community of people whose message perception is sought by the communicator. The audience can be viewed and. as a collection of all addressees; but it is possible to single out many audiences of one act of mass communication, understanding their social differences. A separate object of communication will be called a recipient.

5. Effect - the result that the communicator achieves as a result of the act of communication.

Lasswell presented this formula schematically as follows: "Who - communicates What - through which Channel - To whom - with what Effect?" Subsequently, Lasswell added additional characteristics to his model: goal and strategy, communicator and background (situation) on which the communication process takes place.

Despite the extreme prevalence of the concept of "mass communication", there is no standard definition of it; moreover, most of the proposed ones do not look clear. So, L. Fedotova gives the following definition: communication can be called mass if it technically covers the entire population and obtaining information for it is financially accessible - This approach names the conditions necessary for the emergence and spread of mass communication - technical and financial access of the audience. They show that in a traditional society, mass communication could not arise, thus, it follows that cash communication is a consequence of modernization. But on the whole the definition does not work and is certainly narrowing. First, the term "population" is not precise enough - it can be perceived from the national level to the group level. Secondly, if we take the national level (the mass of society as a whole is the audience of MK), then books, films, magazines and the Internet fall out of the zone of mass communication, since the users of a particular channel are a clear minority of society. Thus, in the summer of 2001, 10.5% of the urban population used the Internet at least once a month (while 30% of Runet users were outside the Russian Federation); the total number of Internet users in the summer of 2006 reached only 16%, compared to 12% in 20005. The question is, from what to measure the mass audience - from TV users as a whole, a separate channel (ORT), a program ("Vremena") or even a plot. The issue of frequency is secondary and easier to measure here, but this issue seems to be controversial; another criterion is needed, not related to the size of the actual audience relative to society.

L. Volodina and O. Karpukhina propose the following definition, referring to H. Ortega y Gasset, G. Le Bon and M. McLuhan: the process of transferring information using technical means to numerically large dispersed audiences. Indeed,) the use of technical means is characteristic of mass communication, and at the present stage, with its enormous competition between communicators, abandoning technology will be disastrous for a market participant and will never occur to anyone. Nevertheless, this is an attributive and not an essential property of mass communication. It, as an integrator, was carried out even before the construction of the technosphere, only with much lower capabilities and efficiency. As in Fedotova's version, here the concept is based on a freely interpreted dimension: which audiences are numerically large. It is fundamentally important that there are several audiences and they are dispersed; it is clearly possible to draw a line between mass and group communication. So, mass communication simultaneously addresses several dispersed audiences, for which it turns to technology and which is financially costly.

All of this is true, but does not show the very spirit of mass communication and the historical background. In my opinion, communication is diagnosed as mass by the volume of the addressee, and not by the volume of the recipient - not to whom the message reached, but to whom it could have reached in principle. Communication is massive if it is addressed to representatives of all classes, ethnic groups and regions and can be closed only to the excluded. It also shows that mass communication could not have arisen before the effect of broken partitions, when different classes had different morals, and information had different significance.

Bulk information- this is social information transmitted to wide audiences, dispersed in time and space using artificial channels.

The nature of mass media directly depends on the nature of the activities of people in various social spheres. At the same time, social information is divided into subspecies reflecting its specificity - economic, political, artistic, religious, etc.

The social nature of the mass information circulating in society is determined by the following factors that determine its essence and specificity: content (how this information reflects social processes); the subject of use and purpose (how this mass information is used by people in someone else's interests); the specifics of the appeal (how this information is obtained, recorded, processed and transmitted).

The goals of the mass media are determined through the subject using this information; through the prism of the mass media itself; through the tasks that are supposed to be solved with its help. In the conditions of the existence of a social organization, any social information has a direct or indirect goal - the management of society or its subsystems, communities, cells, etc.

The quantitative characteristic of mass information is a measure of its consumption and assimilation, depending on the time allotted by an individual or group for contacts with the CMK, as well as on the individual characteristics of real consumers.

The value of mass media is based on the following principles:

dialectical unity of its quantitative and qualitative characteristics;

organic relationship and interdependence of all types of mass media circulating in society;

postulating the effectiveness of information processes that meet the needs of information recipients;

the presence of an objective side in the assessment of mass information (when value is considered as a property of the information itself);

the presence of a subjective side in its assessment, since values \u200b\u200breflect the views of individuals and do not make sense without their supporters.

Communication is one of the basic components of modern society. The status of an organization, firm, country today is also determined by its position in the information space.

Mass communication is a process of disseminating information (knowledge, legal and moral norms, spiritual values, etc.) using technical means (television, press, computer equipment, radio, etc.) to dispersed, numerically large audiences.

The main parameters that distinguish mass communication from group communication are quantitative parameters. Due to the significant quantitative superiority (increase in individual communication channels, acts, participants, etc.), a new qualitative entity is formed, communication has new opportunities, a need for special means is formed (replication, transmission of information over a distance, speed, etc.) ).

Conditions for the functioning of mass communication (according to V.P. Konetskaya):

mass audience (it is anonymous, dispersed, subdivided into interest groups, etc.);
availability of technical tools and means that ensure speed, regularity, replication of information, transmission over a distance, multichannel and storage.

History…

Periodicals became the first mass media in history. Its mission has changed throughout history. So, in the XVI-XVII centuries. there was an authoritarian theory of the press, and in the 17th century. - the theory of free press, in the XIX century. the theory of the proletarian press appeared, in the middle of the XX century. the theory of socially responsible printing emerges.

Periodic printing from the point of view of information perception is a more complex form in comparison with television, radio and computer networks. In addition, in terms of presentation, newspapers are less efficient than other types of media.

Periodic print media delivery systems have undeniable advantages:

you can return to the same newspaper material several times;
the newspaper can be read almost anywhere;
the newspaper can be transferred to each other;
the newspaper's material traditionally has all the signs of legal legitimacy, etc.

The average citizen, according to opinion polls, prefers radio communications as a mass medium in the morning, as it creates an unobtrusive information background in conditions of time pressure, provides information and does not distract. In the evening, television is the preferred type of media, as it is the easiest in terms of information perception.

Mass communication is characterized by the following features:

mass audience, communication of large social groups;
the mediation of communication by technical means (ensuring regularity and replication);
organized, institutionalized communication;
pronounced social orientation of communication;
unidirectionality of information and fixation of communicative roles;
multichannel and the ability to choose communication tools that provide normativity, variability of mass communication;
lack of direct connection between the audience and the communicator in the process of communication;
social significance of information;
increased demands for compliance with accepted communication standards;
the predominance of the two-stage nature of the message perception;
the "collective" character of the communicator and his public individuality;
massive, scattered, anonymous spontaneous audience;
publicity, social relevance, mass character and frequency of messages.

The social significance of mass communication is compliance with certain social expectations and needs (expectation of evaluation, formation of public opinion, motivation), impact (suggestion, persuasion, training, etc.). The expected message is perceived better when separate messages are formed for different target groups, taking into account the interests of the target audience.

The relationship between the recipient and the source in mass communication also has a qualitatively new character. The sender of the message is a mythologized individual or social institution. The recipients are target groups that are united according to a number of socially significant characteristics. The task of mass communication is to maintain connections within groups and between them in society. Such groups can in fact be formed due to the impact of mass messages (customers of a new company, electorate of a new party, consumers of a new product).

The conditions for the emergence of mass communication, according to U. Eco, are:

communication channels that ensure its receipt not by certain groups, but by an indefinite circle of addressees who occupy different social positions;
an industrial society, outwardly balanced, but in fact saturated with contrasts and differences;
groups of manufacturers who produce and issue messages in an industrial way.

G. Lasswell calls the following functions of mass communication:

regulatory (impact on cognition and society through feedback);
informational (review of the surrounding world),
cultural (preservation and transmission of cultural heritage from generation to generation);
some researchers add an entertainment function.

V.P. Konetskaya describes three groups of theories that are focused on the predominance of one or the other leading function of mass communication:

indirect spiritual control;
political control;
cultural.

Predicted by M. McLuhan at the end of the XX century. the globalization of mass communication was transformed into the development of the World Wide Web. The ability to connect almost instantly with the simultaneous use of an audio and visual channel, non-verbal and text message has significantly changed communication.

A category has appeared "Virtual communication"... The network itself is not literally a media; it can be used for both group and interpersonal communication. However, the opportunities that it opens directly for mass communication speak of a new era in the development of communication systems.

Stages of development of mass communication

Communication in society and nature has gone through a number of stages:

tactile-kinetic in higher primates;
oral and verbal among primitive peoples;
written and verbal at the dawn of civilization;
printing-verbal after the invention of the printing press and the book;
multi-channel, starting in the modern world.

In the modern era of mass communication, multichannel is characteristic: an audible, visual, audible-visual channel, written or oral form of communication, etc. are used. The technical possibilities of bidirectional communication, both open type (interactivity) and hidden type (reaction of a viewer or listener, behavior), mutual adaptation of recipients and senders have emerged. Since both the choice of channels and the adaptation are realized under the influence of the recipient groups and society, it is sometimes said that the media is us.

Participants in the communication process are considered not only individual individuals, but collective subjects: the party, government, people, oligarchs, the army, etc. Even a number of personalities are presented as image mythologemes: party leader, media tycoon, president, etc. Modern scholars have come to the following conclusion: the function of informing in mass communication is giving way to the function of association, as well as - management, subordination and power, maintaining social status.

The emergence and development of technical means of communication became the reason for the formation of a new social space - the space of a mass society. The mass society is characterized by the presence of specific means of communication - mass communication.

Mass media

Mass media (QMS)

These are special channels and transmitters, thanks to which information messages are spread over large areas.

Technical media in mass communication consist of:

mass media (media): television, press, Internet, radio,
means of mass influence (CMV): cinema, circus, literature, theater, shows,
technical means (mail, telefax, telephone).

Mass communication acts as an integrator of mass sentiment; the role of the regulator of the dynamic processes of the social psyche; information circulation channel. It is for this reason that mass communication bodies are a powerful means of influencing a person and a social group.

The uniqueness of the communication process in the QMS is associated with its following properties (according to M.A.Vasilik):

diatopnost - a communicative property that allows information messages to overcome space;
diachronism - a communicative property due to which the message is preserved over time;
replication - a property that implements the regulatory impact of mass communication;
simultaneity - a property of the communication process that allows you to present adequate messages to many people almost simultaneously;
multiplication is a communicative property due to which a message undergoes multiple repetitions with relatively unchanged content.

The development of mass media in the XX century. led to the transformation of the worldview, the formation of the virtual world of communication.

In the theory of mass communication, there are two main approaches:

a human-centered approach supporting the minimal impact model. The essence of this approach is that society rather adapts the mass media to its needs and requirements. Proponents of this approach were based on the fact that people selectively assimilate incoming information. They accept only that part of the information that is similar to their opinion, and the one that does not agree with this opinion is rejected. The models of mass communication here are: the "spiral of silence" by E. Noelle-Neumann, the constructionist model of W. Gamson.
media-oriented approach. The essence of this approach is that a person obeys the influence of mass communication. SMK acts like a drug that cannot be resisted. G. McLuhan (1911 - 1980) is a representative of this approach. He was the first to study the role of mass media, mainly television, in the formation of mass consciousness, regardless of the content of the message. Collecting all spaces and times on the screen at once, television confronts them in the perception of viewers, while attaching importance even to ordinary things. By drawing attention to what has already happened, television tells the public about the end result. This forms in the minds of the audience the illusion that the action itself leads to this result. It turns out that the reaction precedes the action. The viewer is thus forced to assimilate and accept the structural and resonant dissociation of the television image.

The level of information perception efficiency can be influenced by memory, life experience of the viewer, his social attitudes, speed of perception. Television as a result strongly influences the space-time perception of information. The activities of the QMS have ceased to be a derivative of any events for society. The mass media begin to act in the mind of a person as a root cause that endows reality with its properties. The process of constructing, mythologizing reality by means of mass communication is underway. QMS begin to implement the functions of political, ideological influence, organization, information, management, education, maintenance of social community, entertainment.

Functions of the media

Functions of the media:

contact with other people;
social orientation;
social identification;
emotional release
utilitarian;
self-affirmation.

In addition to these socio-psychological functions, the QMS, according to the French scientists A. Catl and A. Kade, perform the functions of an amplifier, antenna, echo and prism in society.

Methods and models of research of mass communication

Among the research methods of mass communication, the following stands out:

observation;
advocacy analysis;
analysis of texts (using content analysis);
polls (tests, questionnaires, experiments, interviews);
analysis of rumors.

Content analysis (content analysis) is one of the methods of studying documents (texts, audio and video materials). Conducting content analysis involves calculating the volume and frequency of mentions of certain units of the analyzed text. The obtained quantitative characteristics of the analyzed text provide an opportunity to form conclusions about the qualitative as well as the hidden content of the text. Using this method, you can analyze the social attitudes of society.

G. G. Pocheptsov, in describing the model of mass communication, developed a standard unified classical communication model, consisting of a number of elements:

source,
coding,
message,
decoding,
recipient.

Often the transition to the message is built with a certain delay, which includes the processes of various transformations of the primary text, an additional stage is introduced - "coding". As an example, consider giving a speech written by a group of assistant directors of a company. In the analyzed case, the coding of the initial ideas into a report is clearly presented, which is then read out by the director.

Constructionist model. W. Gemson, an American professor, believes that various social groups want to impose on society their own model of interpretation of this or that event.

Prior to W. Gemson's model, two models were developed:

maximum effect,
minimal effect.

Maximum effect model was based on a number of factors of successful use of communications:

the success of propaganda during the First World War, which is the first systematic manipulation of the mass consciousness of society;
the emergence of the PR industry - public relations;
totalitarian control in the USSR and Germany. Taking it into account, scientists concluded that communication can influence a person and nothing can be opposed to it.

Minimal Effect Model was based on factors such as:

transition to considering a person as a part of society from considering him as a single individual;
selective perception. People perceive information selectively: they perceive the information that coincides with their opinion, and they do not perceive the information that contradicts their views;
political behavior during elections. Electoral technology scholars have become interested in voter resistance. They made the following conclusion: it is impossible to change the predisposition of the voter, the stereotype, the fight can be continued only for those who have not yet made a final decision.

These two models (minimum / maximum effect) can be presented as an emphasis either on the recipient or on the source (in the case of maximum understanding, everything is in his hands).

W. Gemson forms a constructionist model based on some modern approaches. Based on the fact that the effect of mass media is not at all minimal, he lists a number of components:

working with the category of "ideas of the day", reflecting how the mass media gives people the keys to understanding what is happening;
work in the presidential elections, where the press influences people's assessments;
the phenomenon of a spiral of silence, reflecting how the press, giving a voice to a minority, forces the majority to feel in a minority and not claim public speaking;
the effect of cultivation, when, by its massive display of art television, for example, violence, influences municipal politics, dictating priorities.

W. Gemson identified two levels of his model:

cultural,
cognitive.

Cultural level - the level of "packaging" messages using such means as visual images, references to morality, metaphors. This level characterizes the style of mass media.

The cognitive level is based on public opinion. At this level, the available information is adapted to the life experience and psychological prerequisites of each person.
The interaction of these two levels, which operate in parallel, forms the social construction of meanings.

Mass communication audience

The audience of mass communication as an object of informational influence is divided into specialized and mass. Such a division is carried out on the basis of a quantitative criterion, although a specialized audience in some cases may be both more or less numerous than the mass one, based on the nature of the association of people who make up the audience.

Theoretical ideas about the mass audience are ambivalent. This term refers to:

random associations of people who do not have common professional, political, economic, cultural, age and other interests and characteristics (a crowd of onlookers who gathered to listen to street musicians or a speaker, etc.),
all consumers of information that is disseminated through the media channels (radio listeners, readers, buyers of audio and video products, TV viewers, etc.), where mass character is the main feature of the audience.

In the scientific community, which studies the processes of mass communication and their means, there are a number of interpretations of the category of "mass audience". In a number of cases, the “mass audience” is defined as an inert, disorganized mass that passively absorbs everything that the media offers. In this case, we are talking about the mass audience as some kind of amorphous formation that does not have clear boundaries, is poorly organized and changes depending on the situation.

On the other hand, the mass audience is presented as a social force that is capable of actively influencing the "mass media", demanding from them the satisfaction of their own special (cultural, age, ethnic, professional, etc.) interests and desires (meaning a systemic, organized , a fairly structured education).

The separation of these interpretations is carried out in the framework of two approaches.

The theoretical basis of the first is the concept of two-stage communication by P. Lazarsfeld and other researchers in this area. They studied the mass audience not as a multitude of consumers, but as an integral system that consists of groups. These groups have their own "opinion leaders" who are capable of structuring and ordering the mass audience through interpersonal relationships, developing certain ideas about the media and about information - its purpose, form and content. However, many modern theories pay attention to the growing massive indifference of the audience, its destructuring, entropy, the result of which is the increasing manipulation of its consciousness by the mass media.

The quantitative socio-structural characteristics of the audience (i.e. data on age, gender, education, place of residence and occupation, their preferences and interests) are undoubtedly needed, but this is only the first stage. This can be explained by the fact that with a given spectrum of its study, a large number of processes that arise in the minds of people as a result of the perception of media products remain outside the field of view. For example, television ratings answer the questions "what" and "how much", but do not answer the questions "with what result" and "why". Answers to these questions require a qualitative analysis of both the audience and the processes of media activity, which includes the study of communication technologies and their impact on the pictures of reality that arise in the minds of TV viewers.

A specialized audience is a fairly definite and stable whole with more or less clear boundaries, which includes a large number of individuals. People in them are united by common goals, interests, mutual sympathies, lifestyle, value systems, as well as common cultural, demographic, professional, social and other characteristics. This audience can be considered as a wide segment of the mass media audience in the case when it comes to, for example:

about the audience of a particular channel of mass communication (about TV viewers of "RenTV" or "ORT"; about radio listeners of "Radio Russia" or "Retro-FM"; readers of the newspapers "Kommersant" or "Vesti", etc.);
about the audience of certain types of messages (headings) - sports, news, cultural, criminal, etc .;
about the audience of a specific type of mass communication (only about newspaper readers, TV viewers, or only about radio listeners, etc.);
etc.

Each of the groups requires its own strategy, its own methods of information and forms of communication. And the more accurately the differentiation of the audience is carried out and the parameters of the target group are determined, the more successful the communication will be.
The creation and consumption of mass information is directly interconnected with the psychological processes of perception and assimilation.

The main role in the consumption process is played by the audience - the direct consumers of this information.

Audiences can be stable or unstable in their preferences, habits, frequency of reference, which is taken into account when studying the interaction of the source and recipient of information.

Audience types

The ability of population groups to access certain sources of information underlies the typology of the audience. Based on this feature, the following types of audiences can be distinguished:

potential and real (who is the audience of this media in reality and who has access to it).
irregular and regular;
inappropriate and conditional (whom the media do not directly target).

Audience analysis takes place in two directions:

methods of handling the information received,
according to the form of information consumption by different social communities.

Stages of interaction of audiences with information:

contact with the channel (source) of information;
contact with the information itself;
receiving information;
assimilation of information;
formation of attitude to information.

The entire population is divided into audience and non-audience by access to the information itself and the source of information. Today, most of the society in developed countries belongs to the potential or real audience of the QMS.

Non-audience is:

relative (people with limited access to the QMS - no money for a computer, newspapers, etc.),
absolute (who does not have access to the QMS at all, but there are already few such people).

It should be noted that the QMS products, which are formally available to a large number of the population, are consumed in completely different ways.

The peculiarities of assimilation and consumption of mass information are directly proportional to the level of readiness of the audience to accept information, which can be determined based on the following criteria:

the degree of understanding of a specific text;
the degree of mastery of the vocabulary of the language of the media in general
adequate reflection of the meaning of the text in speech;
the degree of development of internal operating (rational semantic interpretation of the text).

A. Touraine, a French sociologist, described four cultural and informational strata of modern society:

"technocrats" (managers, producers of new values \u200b\u200band knowledge, combining aristocratic art and professional interests);
active consumers of QMS products - employees who are focused on higher-ranking officials who carry out other people's decisions (this includes PR managers and journalists);
low skilled workers (mainly focused on entertainment products);
the lowest level - peripheral in relation to modern information production, representatives of the past forms of social life, virtually excluded from the sphere of mass media consumption (representatives of the elderly population, immigrants from developing countries, degrading rural communities, lumpen, unemployed, etc.).

Today people need social information, the consequence of which is the activation of information and consumer activity of the audience. It includes reception, assimilation, memorization and evaluation of information and is expressed in the following types:

partial - superficial review without analysis and significant conclusions;
full - full listening, viewing, reading and analysis;
refusal to accept a message due to its irrelevance (lack of interest in a program or article) or oversaturation with information of a certain direction or topic.

Misunderstanding of information

A significant problem of information and consumer activity of the mass audience is misunderstanding. There are two types of misunderstanding:

objective - conditioned by social stereotypes and peculiarities of personal perception, ignorance of new words, as well as various distortions of information transmission in the media;
subjective - the unwillingness of individual subjects and the audience to understand the problems, memorize and assimilate the terminology.

Today the media are trying to qualitatively improve the process of information and consumer activities. To do this, establish feedback from communicators with audiences:

audience survey;
epistolary (by mail);
instant ("hot phone", "hot line", interactive polling over a computer or telephone network);
assessment of the activities of a certain media (study of reviews, reviews and reviews of a media source);
rating research ("measurements" based on sociological research of the daily dynamics of the real audience of programs and publications);
conferences are held (discussion of media products).

Mass communication functions

G. Lasswell in 1948 identified three basic functions of mass communication:

transfer of cultural heritage - cognitive and cultural function, the function of cultural continuity;
the relationship with the social structures of society - the impact on society and its cognition through feedback, i.e. communicative function;
survey of the surrounding world is an informational function.

K. Wright, an American researcher, in 1960 proposed to single out the following function of mass communication as an independent one - entertaining.

In the early 1980s. McQueil, specialist in mass communication at the University of Amsterdam, introduced another function of mass communication - organizational and managerial, or mobilizing, implying the specific tasks that mass communication performs during various campaigns.

Russian psycholinguistic scientists identify four functions that are characteristic of television and radio communication:

informational;
social control;
socialization of the personality (i.e. the education of the personality traits necessary for society);
regulatory.

Informationthe function is to provide the mass listener, viewer and reader with up-to-date information on various fields of activity - scientific and technical, business, political, medical, legal, etc. A large amount of information gives people the opportunity to increase their creative potential, expand their cognitive capabilities. Possession of the necessary information saves time, increases motivation for joint actions, and makes it possible to predict their actions. In this sense, this function helps to optimize the activities of the individual and society.

Regulatory the function is characterized by a wide range of impact on a mass audience, from establishing contacts to controlling society. Mass communication influences the organization of the public consciousness of the group and the individual, the creation of social stereotypes and the formation of public opinion. It also makes it possible to manipulate and control public consciousness, in fact, to carry out the function of social control.

People, as a rule, accept those social norms of behavior, ethical requirements, aesthetic principles that have been promoted for a long time by the media as a positive stereotype of lifestyle, dress style, forms of communication, etc. This is how it goes socializationsubject in accordance with the norms desirable for society in a given historical period.

Culturologicalthe function is to familiarize oneself with the achievements of art and culture and forms the society's awareness of the importance of preserving cultural traditions and the continuity of culture. With the help of the media, people get to know the characteristics of various subcultures and cultures. It promotes mutual understanding, develops aesthetic taste, helps to relieve social tension and, ultimately, contributes to the integration of society. The concept of mass culture is interconnected with this function.

Taking into account the main functions and characteristics of mass communication presented above, its social essence consists in a powerful impact on society in order to integrate, optimize its activities, and socialize the individual.

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