Social Control » Media and Social Control

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

How media functions as an agent of social control
Different forms of media influence and regulation
The relationship between media and moral panics
How media shapes public opinion and behaviour
Critical perspectives on media power and control

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Media and Social Control

The media plays a powerful role in our society, not just entertaining us but also shaping how we think and behave. This influence makes media one of the most significant agents of social control in modern society.

Key Definitions:

Social control: The ways society encourages people to follow norms, rules and expectations.
Formal social control: Official mechanisms like laws and police that enforce rules.
Informal social control: Unofficial ways of influencing behaviour through social pressure, disapproval, or praise.
Mass media: Communication channels that reach large audiences, including TV, radio, newspapers, social media and the internet.

📹 Media as an Agent of Social Control

The media acts as a powerful agent of informal social control by:

Promoting certain values and behaviours as normal or desirable
Criticising or mocking behaviours that don't fit social norms
Spreading information about what happens to people who break rules
Creating shared cultural references that bind society together

📝 Types of Media Control

Media control operates in different ways:

Direct control: Laws, regulations and censorship
Ownership control: Who owns media companies influences content
Agenda setting: Deciding which stories are important
Framing: How stories are presented and interpreted

How Media Influences Behaviour

The media doesn't just tell us what to think - it shapes how we see the world and what we consider normal or deviant. This happens through several mechanisms:

Media Effects Theories

Sociologists have developed different models to explain how media influences us:

💡 Hypodermic Needle Model

Early theory suggesting media messages are directly 'injected' into passive audiences who accept them without question. Now considered too simplistic.

💡 Two-Step Flow

Media influences 'opinion leaders' who then influence others in their social groups. Recognises social context matters in how we interpret media.

💡 Uses and Gratifications

People actively choose media based on their needs and interests. Gives more agency to audiences who aren't just passive receivers.

Moral Panics and the Media

One of the most powerful ways media exercises social control is through creating 'moral panics' - periods of intense public concern about a perceived threat to social values.

Case Study Focus: The Mods and Rockers Panic (1964)

In the 1960s, British media extensively covered clashes between youth subcultures (Mods and Rockers) at seaside towns. Sociologist Stanley Cohen studied how newspapers exaggerated these events, using sensational headlines and language that portrayed the youths as a serious threat to society. The coverage led to:

Increased police presence at beaches
Harsher sentences for young offenders
Public anxiety about youth culture
Reinforcement of the divide between the groups

Cohen called this process 'deviancy amplification' - where media attention actually increases the behaviour it condemns.

Media Representation and Social Control

How different groups are portrayed in the media influences how society views and treats them. Representation matters because it shapes our perceptions of what's normal and what's deviant.

👪 Representation of Social Groups

Media often uses stereotypes when representing different groups:

Young people: Often shown as either troublemakers or vulnerable victims
Ethnic minorities: May be underrepresented or portrayed in limited roles
Gender: Traditional gender roles may be reinforced
Social class: Working-class people often portrayed as problems or objects of humour

These representations help maintain social hierarchies and norms about 'acceptable' behaviour.

Media Regulation and Control

Different societies control media content in various ways, balancing freedom of expression with other social concerns.

Forms of Media Regulation

Media content is controlled through:

Legal regulation: Laws about obscenity, libel, copyright, etc.
Self-regulation: Industry codes of practice (e.g., press complaints, broadcasting standards)
Market forces: Advertisers won't support content that might damage their brand
Public pressure: Campaigns and boycotts against harmful content

Case Study Focus: Social Media and Control

Social media has transformed how social control operates:

Surveillance: Our online activities can be monitored by companies and governments
Algorithmic control: What we see online is filtered by algorithms that predict what will keep us engaged
Cancel culture: Public shaming on social media acts as a form of informal social control
Echo chambers: We often only see content that reinforces our existing beliefs

Example: In 2018, Facebook faced criticism after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how user data was harvested to target political messages, raising questions about how social media can be used to manipulate public opinion.

Critical Perspectives on Media Control

Different sociological perspectives offer contrasting views on media and social control:

📖 Marxist View

Media serves the interests of the ruling class by promoting capitalist values and distracting people from inequality. Media ownership is concentrated in the hands of the wealthy elite who use it to maintain their power.

📖 Functionalist View

Media helps maintain social order by transmitting shared values and norms. It contributes to social cohesion by giving people common topics to discuss and reinforcing acceptable behaviour.

📖 Postmodern View

Media has become central to modern identity. People actively engage with media, selecting and interpreting content in different ways. The line between reality and media representation is increasingly blurred.

Resisting Media Control

While media is a powerful agent of social control, people aren't simply passive consumers:

Media literacy: Understanding how media works helps people critically evaluate messages
Alternative media: Independent and community media offer different perspectives
Content creation: Digital technology allows ordinary people to create and share their own content
Selective consumption: People can choose what media they consume and how they interpret it

Exam Tip

When discussing media and social control in your exam:

Use specific examples of media content to support your points
Consider both positive and negative aspects of media influence
Link your discussion to different sociological perspectives
Think about how media control has changed with new technologies
Remember that media is just one of many agents of social control

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