The Art and Science of Communication: Tools for Effective Communication in the Workplace

Chapter 6. Mass Communication

... new technology cannot be a substitute for human values ...

—Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

INFLUENCING THE MASSES

Mass Communication is the multiple message system that connects members of a society or group to one another by means of public communication for the purpose of maintaining cultural values, norms, attitudes, and beliefs. In short, it is a society's means of propaganda. Through the airwaves, billboards, newspapers, magazines, tabloids, the Internet, and other forms of Mass Communication, we all consistently receive the world-view or perspective of the dominant culture. In the United States, as in much of the Western world, that dominant world-view is based on a Eurocentric, patriarchal system. From this viewpoint, we obtain a perspective of information designed to create an agreed-upon awareness of societal expectations. Through the process of diffusion, a blending or sharing of cultural experiences, we experience the messages of co-cultures as they bring their perspective to the table. So, whereas the majority of mass messages are framed from the dominant cultural perspective, the heterogeneous makeup of the culture creates room for differing points of view.

It is through the channels of Mass Communication that we consume a variety of societal messages. The question examined during the sixth step of effective communication is how these messages affect your life. How susceptible are you to the pervasiveness of the manipulation all ...