The Marxist theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Marxist theory - Research Paper Example The Marxist theory According to Bechmann (143), the media institution must be considered to be a part of the economic system with close links to the political system. The consequence of this can be seen through the reduction of independent media sources, the concentration of the news on large markets, the avoidance of risks by media houses, and the reduction of investment in less profitable media tasks such as investigative reporting and documentary film making. There is also a neglect of the poorer sectors of the potential audience and the range of news media is often politically unbalanced. The Frankfurt School is a neo-Marxist thought which rebelled against modern society and media as creators and bearers of contemporary culture and ideology. Their criticism of mass communication media was that they hamper the road to a utopian society which is free from class and domination, and that media also stands in the way of change. Negt (61) states that by selectively presenting reality, including aspects o f culture, education, and entertainment (in which the bourgeois values enjoy priority) the media confirms and supports the dominant capitalist ideologies and thus maintains the status quo at the cost of the working class, which is represented by the masses. This school is therefore concerned about the ideological manipulation and exploitation of the mass media by capitalist considerations. The media dependency theory, which is also known as the media system dependency theory, has often been explored as an expansion of the gratification approach although here are some slight differences between the two theories, that is, media dependency looks to the viewers goal as the origin of the dependency while the gratification theory emphasizes on the needs of the audience. Both the dependency theory and the gratification theory are, however, in agreement that media use may lead to reliance and according to the media dependency theory, the more reliant a person is on the medium for having his or her requirements satisfied, the more significant the medium will be to that individual. According to Einwiller et al. (305), the individual’s reliance on a particular medium is influenced by the amount of media sources available to that individual because a person should become more reliant on a particular available media if his access to alternative media is inadequate. The more alternatives there are for a person, the less dependent will he be on only one specific medium. There are, in my opinion, more similarities than differences between the theories of Marxists and that of the media dependency concerning the media. Both are concerned about the effect of media on the society, especially more about the use of the elite within such a society of the media to further their own ends, namely, the maintenance of their status. Media is used to control the masses so that they do not rise in rebellion against the oppressive upper classes of their society. It is not used for the purpose of social progress, as is claimed by the heads of media corporations, but for the purpose of maintaining the status quo so that the lower classes can continue to render their services to the elite and in the process making the elite richer, while the working classes remain poor. By limiting the content and quality of the media that the masses can access, the elite are able to perpetuate and justify its reasons for dominating the society as well as why they oppress the working classes for their own benefit. A very good example is when one