Topic
Narcotizing dysfunction
About: Narcotizing dysfunction is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5 publications have been published within this topic receiving 597 citations.
Papers
1 Jan 1948
TL;DR: Lazarsfeld and Merton as discussed by the authors argued that the chief social effect of the mass media is no change, to enforce the status quo and keep change from happening, and that the mass communication system integrated as it is into the business establishment has its main social effect in enforcing existing norms and values.
Abstract: This is perhaps the most sophisticated statement of the point of view that the chief social effect of the mass media is no change--to enforce the status quo and keep change from happening. This famous paper is full of ideas and concepts that have been discussed ever since it was published--the "status-conferral" power of the media their "narcotizing dysfunction" (the ability to inform their audiences and absorb their time with emerging them) their ability to "canalize" behavior (if a person is already convinced about the usefulness of a toothbrush it is not difficult to direct him to 1 toothbrush rather than another) and so on. It will repay thoughtful reading. But the central thesis is that the mass communication system integrated as it is into the business establishment has its chief social effect in enforcing existing norms and values. Mass propaganda can be effective it is said only when it has monopoly control when it is supplemented in an important way by personal communication or when it is satisfied with "canalizing" some already existing viewpoints of behaviors. Drs. Lazarsfeld and Merton are professors of sociology at Columbia University and Dr. Lazarsfeld was for many years the director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research. This paper was published in The Communication of Ideas edited by Lyman Bryson by the Institute for Religious and Social Studies in New York in 1948. It is reprinted by permission of the authors and the holder of the copyright. (authors modified)
731 citations
TL;DR: To achieve "deliberative democracy," Tarde's formula not only demands the press hold a nation together, but also offers an agenda of issues that serves as a kind of menu for discussions in cafes and salons, which leads, in turn, to more considered opinions, and thus provides the consensual valuations that inform political, economic and aesthetic actions.
Abstract: To achieve “deliberative democracy,” Gabriel Tarde's formula not only demands the press hold a nation together, but also offers an agenda of issues that serves as a kind of menu for discussions in cafes and salons, which leads, in turn, to more considered opinions, and thus provides the consensual valuations that inform political, economic and aesthetic actions. The elements of the formula consist of press, conversation, opinion, and action. I argue that the long-run effect of the mainstream media—the newspaper, but even more the radio and television— moved politics off the street and into the home, hence the concern over “the narcotizing dysfunction” of the news media. In the era of the Internet, I argue that media—old or new, mass or social—are far from being the whole of the story. It is some combination of these media, plus word of mouth, plus some rather well-known elements of social-movement theory, plus the social psychology of collective behavior that help to explain. But let us not lose sight of ...
14 citations
21 Mar 2014-tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of a visual media narrative that gathered an audience as large as a populous nation in less than a week, and an equally impressive array of biting critical views in both traditional and new media, the article aims to account for its remarkable success and its ulterior failure as a humanitarian campaign in the streets.
Abstract: Is it possible or plausible to represent horror and evil persuasively or authentically in these internet-multi-distributed times? And how can we account for a vast, belligerent reaction of public opinion when the representation of horror or evil is watched by an unprecedented, massive amount of people in North America and elsewhere in the YouTube realm? The unparalleled audience success of an unusually lengthy audiovisual narrative uploaded on YouTube whose subject matter is the quest for justice in East Africa was as remarkable as the diverse audience response of dismay, hope, joy and anger it elicited. The reaction was expressed in traditional print media (e.g. a special issue of The New York Times ), in countless blogs and in YouTube – through assorted video-responses and written remarks, many of which were so disparaging that this function was disabled for the Kony 2012 video on YouTube. To try to account for the outpour of supportive viewers and of an increasingly negative response, I analyse its visual rhetoric and also some the critical remarks it triggered. The main strategy of the video consists in what I have described elsewhere as the “index appeal” of popular factuality programming (reality shows, docudramas, talk shows and documentaries), namely, the prevalence of allegedly involuntary signs aimed at producing intense emotions in viewers. Peirce’s semiotic theory of indexicality – as well as of iconic and of symbolic signs – is central to my analytical approach, as well as his critique of dualism. I also revisit a 1948 paper of two seminal figures in the pantheon of communication theory, P. Lazarsfeld and R. Merton. Their functionalist analysis of media effects posits a peculiar “narcotizing dysfunction” to account for the apathy produced in the audience despite the increasing intake of media information by the population. This paradoxical media effect posited by early functionalism, I think, is akin to what is harshly criticized over sixty years later about the significant impact produced by the Kony 2012 video on its vast public. Through the case study of a visual media narrative that gathered an audience as large as a populous nation in less than a week, and an equally impressive array of biting critical views in both traditional and new media, the article aims to account for its remarkable success and its ulterior proclaimed failure as a humanitarian campaign in the streets. I will do so by revisiting the early functionalist critique of mass media effects within the analytical framework of the action of indexical-iconic signs in the age of YouTube.
4 citations
13 Feb 2019
TL;DR: The authors found that those who considered themselves politically active read and posted about political/social issues on social media at a higher rate than which they took tangible political action, contributing to decreased political participation.
Abstract: Due to increased political tension this past year, social media networks have become common outlets for people to express their political ideals and call others to action. The narcotizing dysfunction theory, developed by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton in 1948, states that people can substitute knowledge for action as a result of being inundated by mass media about polarizing issues. It seems worth investigating whether social media parallels this theory and, at a point, stops serving as a means to effect change. Does posting about political and social issues create a false sense of political activism, contributing to decreased political participation? To explore this question, a survey administered to 160 participants examined their behavior on social media, political participation, and perceived political activeness. The results showed that those who considered themselves politically active read and posted about political/social issues on social media at a higher rate than which they took tangible political action. From this data, it was concluded that social media plays a role in narcotizing the participants of the survey by providing a passive alternative to active participation. The implications of this trend are detrimental to our democracy in a time when political participation is exceedingly low.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look into the construction of a celebrity in the pages of India's most famous English newspapers and try to analyze how these discursive elements are giving birth to new possibilities of a narcotizing dysfunction or collective amnesia.
Abstract: With the arrival of graphic revolution, it has become increasingly impossible to draw the lines between personal and political, private and market. Television, social media and their imitative versions of newspapers have become dependent more on selling the images, literally and metaphorically to negate the pressure of public opinion in public sphere. Media as a social institution, serve the purpose of legitimizing the efforts of hegemony construction by different other social and religious institutions and in the process get involved in producing ‘metalanguage’. The efforts of media to turn everyone into celebrity enjoy the advantage of drawing public attention to farcical and construct an air of simplicity and ease. The emergence of celebrities with the help of pseudo-events in our social world has been able to foster a culture of consumption and leisure. Newspapers, supposedly a more sober and less instantaneous medium are also forced to follow the business rules set by the visual media. The intrinsic difference between a celebrity and a star happens to be one that a celebrity is in most cases incapable of becoming a star, which requires a certain amount of qualities. With the boundary between public and private closing down, the celebrities are in control of public imagination. Their existence in public life has been internalized giving birth to new kind of political discourses. The discursive elements of celebrity discourse are capable of giving birth to a new kind of ‘metalaguage’ also. The article looks into the construction of a celebrity in the pages of India’s most famous English newspapers and tries to analyze how these discursive elements are giving birth to new possibilities of a narcotizing dysfunction or collective amnesia.
Keywords: Discourse position, discourse strand, celebritisation, para-social interaction, ideological square
1 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 1948 | 1 |