BRIEF DEFINITIONS OF KEY CONCEPTS

Most of the following brief definitions of selected key concepts for this course are adapted from longer entries in T. O'Sullivan, et al., Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies (2nd ed., 1994). The book is in Scott Reserve and page numbers are given below for those who might wish to examine particular concepts in more depth. Note that I have modified the definitions to reflect more closely my own views and the objectives of this course, or for greater clarity. The concepts selected are drawn from a much longer list in the book. See also the Glossary in R. Lorimer and M. Gasher, Mass Communication in Canada, 4th edition, 2001.

Fred Fletcher

 

agenda setting A term used to describe the ways in which the media structure public debate and awareness. News and public affairs coverage influences the topics that become matters of public debate, highlighting some and ignoring others. (8)

attitude An opinion, belief or value judgement based on experience or shared knowledge. (18).

audience The unknown individuals and groups towards whom mass communications are addressed. (19) There is considerable controversy regarding how audiences use mass media and the effects of exposure to mass media messages.

bias A common sense term for the presumed distortions in media representations, resulting from deliberate prejudice or unwitting neglect of an aspect or point of view. (29) The notion of bias is influential, especially in discussion of news, but it is not very useful for understanding how media representations work. The concept assumes that there is a consensus about "reality." Bias is often in the eye of the beholder.

class/social class Social classes are distinct social formations made up of people who have a similar relationship to the means of production in society and, as a result, a common social and cultural position within an unequal system of property ownership, power and material rewards. (39) Much research involving class, culture and communication seeks to analyse how material or economic conflicts are expressed in cultural relations and representations.

code A code is a system of signs governed by rules understood by members of a culture. (43) Signifying codes convey meaning which derives from the customs and shared cultural experiences of group members.

commodification The treatment of culture and cultural creations solely as commodities.

communication (1) a process of transmission (A sends a message to B, upon whom it has an effect
(2) a negotiation and exchange of meaning, in which messages and audiences interact (with individual predispositions and cultural context influencing meaning) (50)
The first approach focuses on success or failure in transmission of information / persuasion. The later emphasizes how a text (its signs and codes) are read by audiences, influenced by culture and "reality."

concentration of ownership Consolidation of ownership of many media organizations -- especially those producing employing different channels (cross-media) -- in the hands of a few large corporations.

condensation The combination of two or more ideas, desires or memories into a single episode, image or sign, with inevitable distortion, as in condensation symbol. (55)

consciousness / culture industry Large-scale organizations whose product is signification, including mass media and such institutions as schools, churches, etc. (58) Consciousness arises out of sense-making in a social context; these organizations influence how we make sense of our lives and environment.

consumerism A value system that equates happiness with consumption, reflected in the culture of advertising and the media.

convergence This term is used in a number of ways. In technological terms, it is the merging of telecommunications, broadcasting and computers through digitization to create and distribute cultural content. Thus, the term also refers to the development of integrated production and distribution systems and the consequent trend towards the consolidation of the industries involved through mergers, eroding geographic and cultural boundaries and even forms of content (genres).

culture This term has many meanings, not necessarily related, including such references as agriculture and youth culture. In anthropological terms, it refers to the totality of practices and values of a given culture. It may also refer to "high culture," highly sophisticated symbolic products aimed at an audience with "cultivated" tastes. In cultural studies, culture refers to the social production and reproduction of sense, meaning and consciousness and is thought to reflect the cultural codes of the dominant class and resistance to them. (See 69-71)

cultural imperialism The process by which a dominant culture seeks to impose its ideas and values on other cultures through domination of communication systems.

cultural sovereignty The idea that nations of communities should be able to control the production and distribution of cultural products within the country or community.

cultural studies The study of social relations and meanings, the ways in which social relations are infused with meaning. (71) Cultural studies seeks to account for cultural differences and practices not by reference to intrinsic or eternal values (how good?), but by reference to social relations (in whose interest?). It attempts to understand the relationship between knowledge and power.

cultural production The social production of sense, meaning or consciousness, with particular reference to the industrial production of cultural commodities. (74)

deconstruction The identification of the assumptions underlying a text for purposes of analysis.

digital A universal code that records sounds and images in a series of 0s and 1s; digitization permits the transfer of information from one medium to another with ease.

discourse / discourse analysis A discourse is a patterned set of communications. Discourse analysis seeks to decode these patterns and conventions in order to discover the ideological assumptions and power relations involved. (92)

ethnic A descriptive label for a group, implicitly defined in terms of racial or national characteristics, where the main emphasis falls on cultural practices or beliefs. (107) It usually refers to minorities. The distinctions upon which it is based are socially constructed.

ethnography A method of field research where the researcher attempts to enter into the culture of a group in order to provide an account of meanings and activities 'from the inside.' (109)

frame A concept referring to the organization of social knowledge and experience. Media frames are principles of selection -- codes of emphasis, interpretation and presentation. They are thought to play an important role in how audiences decode media texts. (122)

free flow of information "The doctrine that advocates the rights of producers to sell information to anyone, anywhere, and conversely the right of any individual to chose to receive any information from any source."

genre Classes of media output, such as news, sitcom, talk show, soap opera, etc. Genres include conventions of interpretation which limit the meaning potential of a given text. That is, we approach a sitcom differently from a news report. (128)

globalization The growth of economic and cultural networks that operate on a world-wide scale, transcending national boundaries and possibly eroding cultural distinctiveness. (130)

group A collection of people who have some shared interest or goal. (131)

hegemony The ability of dominant classes to exercise cultural and social leadership and by these means, rather than by direct coercion of subordinate classes, to maintain power over the economic, political and cultural direction of a polity. (133) In cultural studies, the concept refers to how everyday meanings, representations, and activities are organized and made sense of in such a way as to render the class interests of the dominant group into an apparently natural, inevitable, eternal and hence unarguable general interest. However, counter-hegemonic arguments are always present.

identity / identification Individuals define themselves in terms of attributes ("race" and gender), values and beliefs, community or nation, and in relation to myths, symbols and icons (as well as in contrast to "others"). (139)

ideology The social relations of signification (knowledge and consciousness) in class societies, or the practice of reproducing social relations of inequality within the sphere of signification and discourse. (139) Ideology is the means by which ruling economic classes generalize and extend their supremacy across the whole range of social activity, and naturalizing it in the process, so that their rule is accepted as natural and inevitable; and therefore legitimate and binding. Ideology always involves struggle over meaning.
image A visual representation of reality or more broadly the characteristics of an institution, product or individual (celebrity, political leader) identified by the media and the public.

intertextuality This term refers to the referential character of texts, how they rely on knowledge of other texts to communicate meaning.

mass communication The practice and product of providing leisure entertainment and information to an unknown audience by means of corporately financed, industrially produced, state-regulated, high technology, privately consumed commodities in the modern print, screen, audio and broadcast media. (172)

meaning The import of signification. The product of culture. (174)

message That which is transmitted in the process of communication, encoded by the sender it must be decoded by the receiver. (178)

multiculturalism The recognition and study of societies as comprising distinct cultural traditions and practices; often associated with different ethnic components of the overall social formation. (190) The concept refers in Canada to government policies to encourage the retention of culture among immigrants in conjunction with integration into Canada's dominant cultures.

myth Refers to a culture's way of understanding, expressing and communicating to itself concepts that are important to its self-identity as a culture. (192) Sometimes refers to the stories which carry the basic precepts of a culture.

narrative The devices, strategies and conventions governing the organization of a story -- fictional or factual -- into sequence, therefore influencing meaning. (194)

narrowcasting This term describes content in the broadcast media targeted at narrow or niche audiences.

nation An imagined community which is understood as distinct and separate from all other nations.
Nations have no essential or intrinsic properties .... (196) Nations are defined by a sense of common history and by symbolic markers. Race/ethnicity, religion, language or culture may be symbolic definers at any given time but tend to shift over time. Nations may be viewed as communication networks, enabled by a common culture and systems that promote greater interaction within the nation than with groups outside its imagined borders. Nationalism involves loyalty or commitment to the idea of the nation, whether defined in civic (inclusive, based on place) or ethnic (exclusive, based on kinship or common language) terms

negotiation When a text is read, the reader "negotiates" with it; readers bring their own cultural experience, their own socially located meaning systems to give it meaning. The term negotiation implies that the text does not have a meaning until the reader gives it one. (199)

news values The professional codes used in the selection, construction and presentation of news stories in mainstream news. (201) These reflect occupational practices and organizational needs.

persuasion The intentional influence of opinions, beliefs, values or attitudes by an external agency. (224)

political economy "The study of power within the social relations of production."

popular culture Originally, popular meant "vulgar," pertaining to ordinary people, not educated elites. Popular culture, therefore, refers to cultural products (1) aimed at or (2) preferred by ordinary people. Some analysts view it as "meanings" imposed on "the people"; others see it as derived from the experiences, tastes, and habits of ordinary people. The focus is often on differences between "high culture" and "popular culture": serious music v. pop music; creative genius (high culture) v. commercial consumption (popular culture). High culture is seen as having lasting or intrinsic value and popular culture as a reflection of contemporary fashions and lifestyles. (231)

power The means by which certain individuals and groups are able to dominate others, to realize their aims and interests even in the face of opposition and resistance. (235) Power may be based on coercion or access to material and symbolic resources. Legitimate power is called authority. Authority is institutionalized and individuals in society are socialized to accept it as long is conforms to certain rules and understandings. Authority is often exercised through social control, a process by which certain actions are labelled deviant and therefore subject to disapproval (in the media and in group life).

preferred reading A text is open to a number of potential readings, but normally prefers one (or, occasionally, more). Analysing the internal structure of the text can identify this preference. (238) Texts may be closed -- with a single strongly preferred meaning -- or open -- with a number of readings (i.e., rich in meaning). Popular culture, especially news, tends to be closed; high culture (and advertising) more open. Readings may be dominant-hegemonic (where dominant meaning is accepted), negotiated (where dominant codes are adapted by reader to her social context) or oppositional (where the dominant meaning is rejected and another substituted).

prejudice Predisposed aggression or other negative dispositions to a group of people that has been stereotyped according to simple characteristics based on incomplete information. (240) May lead to discrimination in certain social contexts.

primary definers Those sources of information, usually official, that generate, control and establish initial definitions of particular events, situations and issues. (242) In the news, alternative definitions usually follow official definitions and are presented as responses to them.

privatization The movement to transfer control of publicly owned entreprises to the private sector.

propaganda The intentional control, manipulation and communication of information and imagery in order to achieve certain political objectives. (249)

public and private spheres A way of describing the separation in modern cultures between the "closed" worlds of the personal and domestic and the "open" spaces of work, politics, mass media and of wider institutional affairs. (250) The boundaries shift as economic and social contexts change. The retention of an active public sphere is seen by some as essential to democracy.

race A social category of people who are supposedly distinguished by inherited and invariable characteristics. (255) Race is a social construct, reflecting prejudices, stereotypes and ideologies supporting power relations. These aspects of race are often reflected in cultural products and in media representations.

reach The percentage of audience members who tune into a broadcast programme at least once during a specified time period (hour, day, week, month). This audience measure differs from share, which refers to the percentage of average audience that is tuned into to a specific programme or channel at a specific time (usually a 15-minute period). Reach permits estimates of the total number of people who paid attention to a particular programme.

regime A governing set of rules, procedures and conventions or customs.

representation Refers to both the process and the product of making signs stand for meanings. (265) Specific cultures have norms or understandings about how events, situations, or groups are to be presented in various genres. For example, women and men and their relationships are characteristically presented in certain ways in particular genres. The term also refers to "acting on behalf of" or "standing for" others.

ritual Organized symbolic practices and ceremonial activities which serve to define and represent the social and cultural significance of particular occasions, events, or changes. (267) Through condensation, television violence may become a ritual celebration of cultural concepts of good and evil. Television viewing itself may become a ritual in some contexts.

roles Socially defined positions and patterns of behaviour which are characterized by specific sets of rules, norms and expectations which serve to orientate and regulate the interaction, conduct and practices of individuals in social situations. (270)

semiotics/semiology The study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. (281) It involves the analysis of how meaning systems produce meanings via texts. The distinctive feature of semiotics is its attempt to specify how meaning is socially produced -- not individually created -- and subject to power relations and struggles.

signs A sign has three essential characteristics: it must have a physical form; it must refer to something other than itself; it must be used and recognized as a sign. (284) A diamond ring is just a decoration, until it is worn in such a way as to indicate an intention to marry.

signification Relationship of sign to reality. This includes literal meaning (denotation), relationship to attitudes and values (connotation), relationship to larger understandings (myth) and to the organizing principles of the society (ideology). (286)

socialization The ways in which we learn to be social, to live (in society) as part of the group. (290) This process, which involves the learning of language, is understood in terms of learning the culture: the values, rules, ideologies of the group. This learning includes learning acceptable forms of expression, social and personal roles, and power relations which uphold the social order. The media play an increasingly large role in this process of cultural transmission.
stereotype/stereotyping The social classification of particular groups and people as often highly simplified and generalized signs, which implicitly or explicitly represent a set of values, judgements and assumptions regarding their behaviour, characteristics, or history. (299) The conventions and codes of news production encourage particular forms of stereotyping.

symbol Broadly, a sign, object or act that stands for something other than itself, by virtue of agreement among the members of the culture than uses it. (312)

technology Three elements (1) pieces of apparatus, (2) techniques of operation to make the apparatus work, (3) social institutions within which these operations can take place. In other words, the concept includes the hardware, the software, and the knowledge and cultural willingness to use them.

text/message These terms refer to a signifying structure composed of signs and codes that is essential to communication. Text usually refers to message that has a physical existence of its own, independent of its sender or receiver, and thus composed of representational codes. Body language sends a message but is not a text. Texts may incorporate multiple meanings. (317)