Due to a combination of the economic and industrial growth of the Roaring Twenties and technological change, radio, which was still a young industry at the beginning of that era, grew into one of the industrial titans of the United States' economy.
When industries grow and make big profits, they have to think of new ideas to keep their growth alive. Usually, this involves investing in new or growing technologies to keep appealing to their current customers. Sometimes, this works to tremendous effect and the companies continue to contribute to economic growth, and sometimes it works against them and they lose a lot of money (some of these companies have to declare bankruptcy and close down). An example of a failed technology is the Betamax format of home video technology that lost the format war to VHS.
After World War I, there was a substantial boom in the United States' economy. This period, known as the Roaring Twenties, led to industries being able to expand their bases. During this time, many companies, such as Tums, had a lot of faith in the radio industry, and invested in it to help it grow. By getting the word out about radio in many ways, such as by advertising programs in newspapers and magazines, the broadcasting companies and their investors were able to attract more and more listeners. As more people tuned in, the companies saw more profits. As stated in the text, this eventually led to the founding of companies which included the likes of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), which were created exclusively for radio broadcasting. The creation of these companies solidified radio as a force to be reckoned with along side the highest earning of United States' industries.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Social Learning Taken to the Extreme
With some of the ridiculous acts being committed by society, the idea of social learning should not be shrugged off easily. Prominent members of the media argue against the claim that some of society's actions are influenced by what they allow to be shown in theaters or broadcasted on television, but, especially nowadays, the theory of social learning is a hard one to deny.
The theory of social learning is very simple to understand. It states that people mimic behaviors that they witness in the media. Many people spend more time with fictional characters such as Spider-Man or Edward Cullen than they do with their own families and friends. This is becoming increasingly more prominent as time passes by. What is already an unnerving enough thought is intensified by the fact that some of them are imitating the acts that they see these characters do. This would not a problem if the acts are harmless and just annoying, but some people have committed very unsettling acts, such as biting each other, or even violent ones-including murder, because of movies or other things that they have seen in the media.
One of the examples I mentioned above was that teenagers bite each other. You might think that this is an exaggeration, but I assure you that this is actually happening in the world. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of vampire related films and TV shows released. With a few exceptions, many of these have tried to "humanize" this classic monster, but they have done a lot more than just that. Because of The Twilight Saga, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries, people now see vampires as sexy. A nocturnal being that lives on human blood and gets it by sucking it right out of peoples' veins is now considered sexy. What is especially chilling about this phenomenon is that now, due to social learning, a small group of people have taken to biting their boyfriends/girlfriends, as well as just their friends, to show their true love. As the video below will explain, this act is social learning taken to the extreme.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
The theory of social learning is very simple to understand. It states that people mimic behaviors that they witness in the media. Many people spend more time with fictional characters such as Spider-Man or Edward Cullen than they do with their own families and friends. This is becoming increasingly more prominent as time passes by. What is already an unnerving enough thought is intensified by the fact that some of them are imitating the acts that they see these characters do. This would not a problem if the acts are harmless and just annoying, but some people have committed very unsettling acts, such as biting each other, or even violent ones-including murder, because of movies or other things that they have seen in the media.
One of the examples I mentioned above was that teenagers bite each other. You might think that this is an exaggeration, but I assure you that this is actually happening in the world. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of vampire related films and TV shows released. With a few exceptions, many of these have tried to "humanize" this classic monster, but they have done a lot more than just that. Because of The Twilight Saga, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries, people now see vampires as sexy. A nocturnal being that lives on human blood and gets it by sucking it right out of peoples' veins is now considered sexy. What is especially chilling about this phenomenon is that now, due to social learning, a small group of people have taken to biting their boyfriends/girlfriends, as well as just their friends, to show their true love. As the video below will explain, this act is social learning taken to the extreme.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Modern Hegemony
Although the practice of hegemony has existed for ages, as proven by James Lull, only recently has it become a more serious threat. Because of the vast array of media that civilization has available to itself now, as well as the vast amount of wealth accumulated by some, the ability for those in the higher socioeconomic circle to impose their views on others has never been easier.
In the early days of hegemony, oppressive ruling powers were more direct about imposing their beliefs on the lower classes. They simply forced people to obey them by threat of imprisonment or death. However, their forced imposition of their wills was not met kindly by the masses and led to revolts by the people and the overthrowing of the leaders' institutions. Nowadays, with a few exceptions, there are more stable governments in existence. But, most of the wealth is held not by the governments of our world, but by private individuals, and is used by them to further their own personal goals. Some of these people, such as the owners and CEOs of giant corporations, use this money to pay media companies, or people involved with media companies, to try and indoctrinate the citizens of the world into furthering their causes. This can be something as small as buying a product or as large as voting for a candidate for political office. Far less people revolt today because these leaders of industry do not go about their methods in oppressive ways. This just goes to show that indirect hegemony is more dangerous than direct hegemony.
An example of this can be seen in the 2002 British horror film, 28 Days Later, about a virus that turns everyone into raging zombies and overcomes the population of Great Britain, and perhaps populations beyond the borders of this country. At the beginning of this film, the protagonist wakes up in a hospital and is really thirsty. After wandering through the abandoned building, he finally satisfies his thirst with, of all things, a can of Pepsi. Later in the film, after nearly outrunning a horde of zombies and taking shelter with two other survivors in a convenience store, one of the survivors gathers up provisions. Of these provisions, the majority of them consists of cans of Pepsi. There is even more product placement for this beverage peppered throughout this film, but my point is made. According to this film, whenever you are either dehydrated or (please stick with me here) one of the few people uninfected by a deadly virus that has overcome an entire country, one of your best sources of survival is to drink Pepsi. This is an obviously ludicrous assumption considering how horrible Pepsi is for peoples' health. So how did this idea present itself in this film? Obviously, the people in charge of the Pepsi corporation paid the producers of this film to feature their product in it. The people at Pepsi hope that people will get this message from this film and rush out to purchase their product. The reason this is possible is because the people at Pepsi control a large amount of wealth and therefore have the power to go about something like this, and the mass distribution of this film ensures that many people will probably go out and watch it. Therefore, Pepsi's will is indirectly being imposed onto the lower socioeconomic masses of this world.
In the early days of hegemony, oppressive ruling powers were more direct about imposing their beliefs on the lower classes. They simply forced people to obey them by threat of imprisonment or death. However, their forced imposition of their wills was not met kindly by the masses and led to revolts by the people and the overthrowing of the leaders' institutions. Nowadays, with a few exceptions, there are more stable governments in existence. But, most of the wealth is held not by the governments of our world, but by private individuals, and is used by them to further their own personal goals. Some of these people, such as the owners and CEOs of giant corporations, use this money to pay media companies, or people involved with media companies, to try and indoctrinate the citizens of the world into furthering their causes. This can be something as small as buying a product or as large as voting for a candidate for political office. Far less people revolt today because these leaders of industry do not go about their methods in oppressive ways. This just goes to show that indirect hegemony is more dangerous than direct hegemony.
An example of this can be seen in the 2002 British horror film, 28 Days Later, about a virus that turns everyone into raging zombies and overcomes the population of Great Britain, and perhaps populations beyond the borders of this country. At the beginning of this film, the protagonist wakes up in a hospital and is really thirsty. After wandering through the abandoned building, he finally satisfies his thirst with, of all things, a can of Pepsi. Later in the film, after nearly outrunning a horde of zombies and taking shelter with two other survivors in a convenience store, one of the survivors gathers up provisions. Of these provisions, the majority of them consists of cans of Pepsi. There is even more product placement for this beverage peppered throughout this film, but my point is made. According to this film, whenever you are either dehydrated or (please stick with me here) one of the few people uninfected by a deadly virus that has overcome an entire country, one of your best sources of survival is to drink Pepsi. This is an obviously ludicrous assumption considering how horrible Pepsi is for peoples' health. So how did this idea present itself in this film? Obviously, the people in charge of the Pepsi corporation paid the producers of this film to feature their product in it. The people at Pepsi hope that people will get this message from this film and rush out to purchase their product. The reason this is possible is because the people at Pepsi control a large amount of wealth and therefore have the power to go about something like this, and the mass distribution of this film ensures that many people will probably go out and watch it. Therefore, Pepsi's will is indirectly being imposed onto the lower socioeconomic masses of this world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)