*Assess the view that the media amplifies deviance
OCR
A Level
2022
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Essay Outline: Does the Media Amplify Deviance?
This essay will assess the view that the media amplifies deviance. It will explore both arguments for and against this view, analyzing the role of the media in shaping public perceptions and contributing to moral panics.
AO1: Knowledge and Understanding
The Deviance Amplification Spiral
Wilkins' deviance amplification spiral suggests that media coverage can exacerbate deviant behavior. By focusing on specific acts of deviance, the media can inadvertently contribute to its spread. This process involves a series of stages:
- Initial act of deviance: A relatively insignificant act attracts media attention.
- Media amplification: The media exaggerates the act and its significance, often through sensationalized headlines and graphic imagery.
- Public reaction: The amplified coverage leads to widespread public concern and fear.
- Increased social control: Authorities respond with stricter measures and increased policing, often targeting marginalized groups.
- Further deviance: The increased social control can lead to further deviance, creating a cycle of escalation.
Moral Panics
Moral panics are characterized by widespread public fear and anxiety about a perceived threat to societal values. The media plays a crucial role in the construction and amplification of moral panics by:
- Identifying a target group: The media often focuses on specific groups or behaviors as the source of the perceived threat (e.g., Mods and Rockers, hoodies, immigrants).
- Exaggerating the problem: The media may present anecdotal evidence as representative of a widespread problem, creating a sense of urgency and crisis.
- Framing the issue: The media often portrays the target group in a negative light, emphasizing their deviance and threatening behavior.
Examples of moral panics include:
- S. Cohen's study of Mods and Rockers: The media's exaggeration of confrontations between these youth groups led to widespread public fear and increased police presence, contributing to a cycle of deviance amplification.
- Fawbert's research on the "hoodie" moral panic: The tabloid press's focus on hoodies as a symbol of criminality and social unrest created a sense of widespread fear, despite lack of evidence to support these anxieties.
Direct Models of Media Effect
Direct models of media effect suggest that the media can directly influence individual behavior, particularly regarding violence. The hypodermic syringe model suggests that media messages are injected directly into the audience, leading to passive consumption and the potential for desensitization to violence. This can contribute to an increase in deviance through:
- Imitation: Exposure to violent content can stimulate copycat behavior, as individuals learn new techniques or are inspired by the actions depicted.
- Desensitization: Repeated exposure to violence can make viewers less empathetic and more accepting of aggression as a means of resolving conflict.
AO2: Application
These concepts can be applied to contemporary examples of media coverage of deviance, such as the media's role in amplifying concerns about knife crime or terrorism. The media's focus on sensationalized stories can contribute to widespread fear and anxiety, potentially leading to an increase in social control measures that may themselves contribute to further deviance.
AO3: Analysis and Evaluation
Counterarguments
It is important to acknowledge the limitations of the view that the media amplifies deviance. Counterarguments include:
- Media as a reflection of societal anxieties: Some argue that the media is simply reflecting pre-existing societal concerns, rather than creating them. This perspective suggests that moral panics arise from underlying social issues, and the media is simply reporting on these anxieties.
- Neo-Marxist views: This perspective suggests that moral panics are deliberately created by the ruling class to distract from broader social issues. The media is seen as a tool for maintaining control and exploiting societal fear.
- Postmodern view: Postmodernists argue that the media saturation has led to a decline in the power of moral panics. The constant influx of information makes it difficult for any single issue to dominate the public consciousness. The proliferation of "fake news" also undermines the media's credibility and its ability to influence public opinion.
- Uses and Gratifications Model: This perspective emphasizes the active role of the audience in selecting and interpreting media content. This suggests that individuals may choose media that reinforces their existing beliefs or provides a sense of gratification, rather than being passively influenced by the media.
- Pluralist views: Pluralists argue that the media is a reflection of a diverse and dynamic society, responding to audience demand. The media's role is to provide information and entertainment, and its influence on deviance is limited by the audience's ability to choose and interpret content.
- Other socialisation agencies: Other socialisation agencies, such as family, school, and peer groups, also play a significant role in shaping attitudes and behaviors. Deviance is therefore not solely a product of media influence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the media can play a significant role in amplifying deviance through moral panics and direct effects, this view is not without its limitations. It is essential to consider the complex interplay between media influence, societal anxieties, and other social factors in understanding the relationship between the media and deviance. It is important to analyze media content critically and consider the role of the audience in shaping the impact of media messages.
Assess the view that the media amplifies deviance.
The media plays a significant role in shaping public perceptions of deviance. Whether it actively amplifies deviant behaviour or merely reflects existing societal concerns is a complex issue. This essay will argue that while the media can exaggerate and contribute to moral panics, its influence is not all-powerful. Other factors, including pre-existing societal anxieties and the active role of audiences, must also be considered.
Interactionists like Stan Cohen and Jock Young argue that the media plays a crucial role in the "deviancy amplification spiral." Cohen's study of the "Mods and Rockers" demonstrated how media exaggeration of minor scuffles between youth subcultures created a climate of fear and escalated the situation. Sensationalised headlines and biased reporting led to a moral panic, with the public demanding action against the perceived threat. This, in turn, led to increased police surveillance and harsher punishments, further marginalising the groups and potentially amplifying the behaviours deemed deviant.
Furthermore, the concept of "moral entrepreneurs," as described by Howard Becker, highlights how powerful groups, often with vested interests, can utilise the media to define and condemn certain behaviours. For instance, Fawbert's analysis of the "hoodie" moral panic showed how tabloid newspapers fuelled public fear by associating the garment with youth crime, despite limited evidence. This created a climate of intolerance and reinforced negative stereotypes.
However, it is simplistic to suggest that the media holds absolute power in shaping public opinion. The success of moral panics relies on pre-existing societal anxieties. Functionalists might argue that concerns about deviance reflect anxieties surrounding shared values and social order. For example, current anxieties about knife crime, heavily covered in the media, tap into deep-seated fears about societal security, perhaps reflecting wider societal issues. This suggests that the media may be reflecting and channelling existing concerns rather than manufacturing them entirely.
Moreover, the pluralist perspective argues that the media is not a monolithic entity but a diverse and competitive market responding to audience demand. Media outlets are businesses seeking to attract viewers and readers; therefore, they provide content that they believe will be popular. From this perspective, the media acts as a mirror, reflecting societal anxieties and interests rather than dictating them. The rise of new media and the internet has further diversified media consumption, giving audiences greater choice and arguably diminishing the power of any single narrative.
Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge the role of other socialisation agents in shaping behaviour. Families, schools, and peer groups all play a significant role in transmitting norms and values. While the media can influence these agents, it is not the sole determinant of behaviour. Additionally, social control mechanisms, such as the police and the justice system, operate independently of the media, enforcing laws and reacting to deviance based on legal frameworks rather than media hype.
In conclusion, while the media can undoubtedly amplify perceptions of deviance and contribute to moral panics, its influence should not be overstated. The media operates within a complex web of social factors, including pre-existing anxieties, audience demands, and other powerful socialising agents. While it can exacerbate societal fears and reinforce negative stereotypes, it is not the sole architect of moral panics. A more nuanced understanding acknowledges the interplay of various factors in shaping perceptions and responses to deviance.
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AO1: Knowledge and Understanding
The following list is indicative of possible factors/evidence that candidates may refer to but is not prescriptive or exhaustive:
- Accept the explanation of stages of a moral panic with reference to the intrinsic role of the media in exaggerating and amplifying deviance.
- Wilkins – deviance amplification spiral
- S. Cohen – mods and rockers - headlines in the media.
- Moral entrepreneurs
- Fawbert – hoodies moral panic and the role of the tabloid press.
- Goode and Ben Yehuda – stages of a moral panic.
- Muncie – selective reporting by the media can generate crime waves.
- Examples of moral panics and the role of the media.
- Direct models of media effect as linked to increasing deviance; e.g. hypodermic syringe model – desensitisation when consuming violent images in the media.
- Imitation / copycat violence
- Any other relevant response
AO2: Application
The selected knowledge should be directly related to the specific question.
AO3: Analysis and Evaluation
The following list is indicative of possible factors/evidence that candidates may refer to in evaluation but is not prescriptive or exhaustive:
- A panic starts when the general public become anxious; media are simply expressing a more widespread concern. This could be linked to functionalism (consensus over decline of moral values) or Pluralism (audience in control). Contemporary examples could be used to illustrate this: e.g. Knife crime.
- The Neo-Marxist view - the ruling class deliberately create moral panics and therefore moral panics are created by the media but wouldn’t exist in a communist society as there would be no need to “fool” the masses.
- Postmodern view – media saturation; moral panics have lost their ability to panic. Reference could be made to “fake news” – news itself is losing it’s ability to shock and panic. Contemporary examples could refer to the “Momo” – the story of the puppet dispensing advice on self-harm, that was actually fake.
- Media as a cathartic effect – Fesbach.
- Other models may be used i.e. no the media does not amplify deviance – uses and gratifications model – Zillman/ McQuail – we use the media for our own purposes so it reflects our choices and needs. Thus any deviance begins with its audience and media reflects that.
- Pluralist views – the media responds to its audience working on a supply and demand basis. Thus the media is not in control of society’s behaviour. The audience has control of the media (ratings etc)
- Other socialisation agencies / social control agencies cause deviance not the media
- Any other relevant response.