The Effects Theory...

The Frankfurt School:

• The frankfurt school were a group of left wing socialists challenging what was going on in Nazi Germany in the 1930's.
• They were concerned with the power which modern mass media had to propagandiseon behalf of fascism.
• They clearly articulated criticisms of a capitalist system which controlled media output creating a mass culture that eliminated opposition or alternatives.
• The mass audience are seen as being passive and are therefore manipulated by the hegemony of the ruling classes.

The Hypodermic needle:

• The needle demonstrates the effects of the mass media on their audiences.
• The model owes much to the supposed power of the mass media- in particular films to inject the passive audience with ideologies.
• Such mass media involves televison, newspapers, magazines etc...therefore by these different media tools we are being injected with ideas.
• Therefore the audience can be seen as being passive and powerless.
• The ruling class promote their dominant ideologies and this remains in society.
• This links to the hogemonic model as everything seems right to the audience.
• This was most commonly seen in nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the will "- where the audience are seen as passive and will accept what ever version of events is given in the media.

Violence in the media:

• The moral majority(eg people like Mary Whitehouse) argue that TV output which is explicitly sexual or violent must be censored ot it may influence the audience to act in the same way.
• Many people in todays society are media literate and are able to decode media texts in their own way without being injected, however politicians still argue that when there is a moral panic the audience to become passive again.

The Cultivation Theory:

• According to this, while a single text does not have much effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive.
• Critics call it becoming desensitised.

The Two Step Flow:

• This theory assumes a more active audience who will discuss media texts with each other.
• However if the text is discussed with someone we respect(opinion leader) we might become passive to accept their received views of the text.

My opinion:

I personally think agree with the hypodermic needle as part as the effects theory because people do buy magazines and newpapers(parts of the mass media) and also do watch televison therefore making it much easier for the ruling classes to promote their ideologies and makes us passive consumers. Therefore we seem to think what ever we see or buy in the media is true. I also agree with the cultivation theory to a certain extent. This is because violence from TV output can influence children to become more violent and act like what they are seeing in the media. However everyone is an individual person at the end of the day and they can make their own choice on weather to act like that or not. This brings me on to the two step flow theory which i do agree on as the audience can be seen as being active however again can be influenced by opinionated leaders, making us passive.