SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY

Social penetration theory is a theory suggested by social psychologists Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor which explains the development of relational closeness (Griffin, 2009, p. 114). Griffin (2009) defined social penetration as “the process of developing deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self- disclosure and other forms of vulnerability” (p. 114). The theory simply explains how people develop closeness with each other after experiencing a gradual information-sharing right from the superficial to the intimate level that would eventually lead to the formation of some kind of relationship.

Altman and Taylor made a comparison between people to onions whereby the layers of an onion depict the multilayered structure of personality. Each layers of the onion represent an individual beliefs and feelings about own self, others and the world and as the layers reached to the deeper level, these represent a more vulnerable, protected and central to one’s self image which includes one’s values, self-concept, possible unresolved conflicts and deeply felt emotions (Griffin, 2009, p. 114).

There are 5 stages under social penetration: ‘orientation stage’, ‘exploratory affective stage’, ‘affective stage’, ‘stable stage’ and ‘depenetration’ (Altman & Taylor, 1973). Here I will be using a 2002 movie adaptation of Nicholas Spark’s novel, A Walk to Remember, to explain these social penetration stages.

A Walk to Remember depict the story of how a popular but rebellious Landon Carter (played by Shane West) fell in love with a girl whose behaviour contradicts Landon’s. Jamie Sullivan (played by Mandy Moore) is the reverend’s daughter who was quiet, kind and a bookworm. The ‘orientation stage’ started when they were in a school bus right after tutoring the needy children where Jamie initiate a conversation with Landon and asked him if he wanted to buy tickets to help raise a fund to which Landon abruptly shut her by telling her if that’s her idea of a small talk, then it’s not working.

Although they didn’t start off on a smooth path, however they managed to go through the ‘exploratory affective stage’ where Landon was forced to join a play in the drama club to make up for his punishment by the school’s headmaster. There he began to develop a “secret friendship” with Jamie as he was seeking for her help by going through lines together since Jamie was taking part in the play as well and on another account, Landon also found out that Jamie has a passion for astronomy when he encountered her going to a cemetery with a telescope.

After so many times spent together, Landon realized he began to develop feelings for Jamie who initially made him swore that he wouldn’t fall in love with her but apparently he failed to resist his own feelings. This is where the ‘affective stage’ takes place where their relationship started to develop and Landon even went to see the reverend and seek for his permission to allow him to take his daughter out and Jamie was mesmerised by Landon’s bold moves.

When Jamie fell ill one day, Landon went on to fulfil her wishes from building an enormous telescope, to applying for Medicine’s school, to proposing to Jamie and marrying her at the church where her parents got married. This is known as the ‘stable stage’.

However, the ‘depenetration stage’ occurs when Jamie passed away and ever since Landon was thankful that she made him a better man and he’d always missed her.

References:

Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social Penetration Theory. Retrieved                fromhttps://www2.mcdaniel.edu/rtrader/com1102/socialpenetrationtheory.pdf   

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed).                        New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Symbolic interactionism is a theory founded by George Herbert Mead but the term was coined by Herbert Blumer (Griffin, 2009, p. 60). According to Charon (1989) in his book titled Symbolic Interactionism: an introduction, and interpretation, an integration stated that, “Symbolic interactionism focuses on the nature of interaction, the dynamic social activities taking place between persons” (p. 22).

Blumer (1986) defined symbolic interactionism as “a label for a relatively distinctive approach to the study of human group life and human conduct” (p. 1). Griffin (2009) defined symbolic interaction as a way of communicating through symbols; the conversation between people and Mead claimed that by talking to each other, he saw it as the most human and humanizing activity that people can engage in (p. 60). Blumer came up with three core principles of symbolic interactionism: meaning, language and thought (Griffin, 2009, p. 60).

MEANING

According to Blumer (1986), the way human beings act toward things are based on the meanings of the other things are presented to them for example physical objects such as chair, other human beings such as mother, institutions such as school and many more. Hence this is why meaning is said to be the construction of social reality.

LANGUAGE

The second premise is said to be the source of meaning and this is because meaning could only be produced out of the interaction that people have with each other (Griffin, 2009, p.60). Meaning could only be achieved through the use of language – hence the term symbolic interactionism.

THOUGHT

Blumer’s final premise focus on how one’s interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes (Griffin, 2009, p. 62). Mead referred thought as minding which is a two second delay that we took while mentally rehearsing our next step, the alternatives and anticipating the reactions from others. Mead’s greatest contribution is his notion that we, human beings, have the capacity to take the role of the other.

As soon as we understand the tight connections between these premises, we will then be able to take hold of Mead’s concept of self. Mead claimed that we take the role of the other in trying to imagine how we look like from another person’s view. This is what the interactionists called as the looking glass self and it is socially constructed. Mead also claimed that the self is a continuous process combining the “I” which is the spontaneous self and the “me” which is the self reflection based on other people’s reaction (Griffin, 2009, p. 63).

For example: 

The image above tells the story of Viola Hastings (played by Amanda Bynes) who is a passionate soccer player. One day the Cornwall’s girls’ soccer team was cut off and Viola asked the soccer’s coach if she could join the boys’ team but the coach refused to accept her proposal. She decided to work her way in order to get her revenge on the Cornwall’s team and join the Illyria’s soccer team which happened to be the rival and Viola signed herself up and join the Illyria team as her twin brother Sebastian Hastings, who was supposed to register at Illyria as a new student but decided to take a flight to London with his band to try their luck. The movie reflects Viola’s “I” and “me” where her true self is rather a tomboy-ish girl who loves soccer to the point that she’s willing to transform herself to be her twin brother, however being raised in a socialite family and as a debutante, she has to wear dresses as expected by her mother and behave like a real young maiden should.  

References:

Blumer, H. (1986). Symbolic interactionism: perspective and method. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.bn/booksid=HVuognZFofoC&printsec= frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Charon, J.M. (1989). Symbolic interactionism: an introduction, an                       interpretation, an integration. (3^rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed). New                     York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

CULTURAL STUDIES

The term culture often varies depending on the context which is being brought forward in an interaction. “Culture is the ensemble of social processes by which meaning are produced, circulated and exchanged” (Thwaites et al., 1994, p. 1).

Henslin (1998) in his book titled Essentials of Sociology: A down-to-earth approach stated that, “All human groups possess culture – language, beliefs, values, norms and material objects passed from one generation to the next.  Material culture consists of objects (art, buildings, clothing, tools). Nonmaterial (or symbolic) culture is a group’s way of thinking and patterns of behaviour. Ideal culture is the values and norms that a group holds out for itself. Real culture is their actual behaviour, which often falls short of their cultural ideals” (p. 53).

Whereas Griffin (2009) sees cultural studies as, “A neo-Marxist critique that sets forth the position that mass media manufacture consent for dominant ideologies” (p.334). In short, the study looks into the matter of the way of life of certain group, community or society and how meaning of some things may differ between these group, community or society.

Before going further, it is crucial that we understand the term visual culture. As stated by Mirzoeff (1999) in his book titled An Introduction to Visual Culture, “Visual culture is concerned with visual events in which information, meaning, or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology...any form of apparatus designed either to be looked at or to enhance natural vision, from oil painting to television and the internet” (p.3). He further added to the statement that postmodernity is created by the visual crisis of culture instead of textuality.

Edgar & Sedgwick (2008) sees visual culture as a representation of a ‘pictorial turn’ in cultural studies which theorists focus on the visual image and back away from text (verbal or literary).  How I view this is that as we are living in a post modern world, we are presented with various visual media types and our consumption of these media is somehow influential and affecting our lifestyle.

For example:

‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ is a reality television series which focus on the life of the Kardashian and Jenner family. The Kardashians sisters and their brother Rob are known for being the children of the late Robert Kardashian, an attorney who won the defense against the O.J Simpsons murder trial. Other than that they are also famous for being socialites, models, their clothing line businesses and television personalities based on their multiple reality programs.

There are a few key terms which are needed to be taken into account in learning cultural studies: representations, discourse, ideologies and politics. In the lecture notes, Chris has mentioned that representation involves interpretation and always takes place in a discourse. The above statement is the representation of the image – ‘the Kardashian’.

Whereas discourse is defined by Foucault as the ‘frameworks of interpretation’ which is used in order to make sense (Griffin, 2009, p. 337). Thwaites et al (1994) defined discourse as “a set of textual arrangements which organises and co-ordinates the actions, positions and identities of the people who produce it” (p. 135). The discourse for the example above is ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’.

Ideology is the process of representing material social relationships, and of attempting to reconcile them in discourse (Thwaites et al, 1994, p. 155). The ideologies that the Kardashians represents are wealth, high end fashion brands, beautiful (facial and curves), first class, lifestyles of the rich and famous, family hood.

Whereas politics as told during lecture is defined as involving all those processes whereby power relationships are implemented, maintained, challenge or altered in any sphere of activity whatsoever. The politics of the Kardashians are politics of consumerism, politics of femininity, politics of fashion and politics of class.

References:

Edgar, A., & Sedgwick, P. (2008). Cultural theory: the key concepts.                       (2^nd ed). London; New York: Routledge

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed).New York:                             The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Henslin, J. M. (1998). Essentials of sociology: a down-to-earth approach.              (2^nd ed). USA: A Viacom Company

Mirzoeff, N. (1999). An introduction to visual culture. Retrieved from                  http://books.google.com.bn/bookshl=en&lr=&id=hhajBE0mUfwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=visual+culture&ots=itaAhWzgla&sig=8EtlXLeNAeuWMFYbyiZbl3ONsvg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=visual%20culture&f=false

Thwaites, T., Davis, L., & Mules, W. (1994). Tools for cultural studies:                  an introduction. South Melbourne: Macmillan

AGENDA SETTING & FRAMING

Agenda setting is a theory brought up by McCombs and Shaw who believe that “the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of items on their news agendas to the public agendas”. 

McCombs and Shaw say that we look to news professional for cues on where to focus our attention, “we judge as important what the media judge as important” (Griffin, 2009, p. 359).

According to Littlejohn(1996), there are two levels of agenda setting. The first level enacts the common subjects that are most important and the second level decides which parts of the subjects are important. From this, the media agenda will affect the public agenda which then will affect the policy agenda.

During our lecture about the theory, Chris had asked us to solve about a problem that country X is facing. The priorities are set to be on the government agenda and the public agenda.

Government agenda

Frame Amplification:  public spitting and urination are being focused on as unhealthy and could affect the economy

Frame Extension: a clean environment will help increase a healthy lifestyle

Frame Bridging: foreign companies would only invest if the government take actions on the public urinating and spitting and used the money and invest them for education and health purposes.

Public agenda

Frame Amplification: focus on the children’s education and its benefit

Frame Extension: Extend the need for children’s welfare and education which will help the economy in the future

Frame Bridging: developing more schools will help decrease the crime rate and gain investor confidence in the country

References:

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. NewYork: The McGraw-Hill                Companies  

Littlejohn, S. W. (2002). Theories of Human Communication.(7th edition). New Mexico :         Wadsworth

MEDIA ECOLOGY

Media ecology as defined by McLuhan is “the study of different personal and social environments created by the use of different communication technologies” (Griffin, 2009, p. 313). Media ecology basically looks into how we are affected by the varieties of technologies presented to us.

According to Postman, “Its intention is to study the interaction between people and their communications technology. More particularly, media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. The word ecology suggests the study of environments: their structure, content and impact on people in their daily lives” (Ott & Mack, 2010, p. 266).

The medium is the message

Medium refers to a particular type of media: a book, newspaper, radio, television, telephone, film, website or email (Griffin, 2009, p. 313).  The above statement is based on McLuhan’s theory of media ecology. All the while that we thought medium and message as two separate things, McLuhan saw them equally as one (same). We also tend to look pass the medium and only concentrate on the content to which McLuhan wrote, “For the ‘content’ of a medium is like a juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind” (Griffin, 2009, p. 313). There wouldn’t be any content without medium and therefore the medium itself is the message.

Media ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’

McLuhan (1997) distinguished the difference between a hot media and a cool media whereby hot media are low in participation whilst cool media requires high participation or completion by the audience.

For examples:

The image at the top is a Time’s magazine and it is a hot medium. According to McLuhan (1997), “A hot medium is one that extends one single sense in “high definition”. High definition is the state of being filled with data...hot media do not leave so much to be filled in or completed by the audience” (pp. 22 - 23). Time’s magazine provides audience with data in the sort of articles and requires low participation from the audience which answers why it is a hot media.

Whereas the image at the bottom which shows a different coloured iPhones is an opposite of the hot media. These iPhones are considered as a cool medium because it requires a high participation from the audience. McLuhan (1997) stated that, “telephone is a cool medium, or one of low definition, because the ear is given a meagre amount of information. And speech is a cool medium of low definition, because so little is given and so much has to be filled in by the listener” (pp. 22-23).

References:

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed).                           New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

McLuhan, M. (1997). Understanding media: the extensions of man.                   London: Routledge

Ott, B.L., & Mack, R.L. (2010). Critical media studies: an introduction.                  Retrieved from http://books.google.com.bn/books?                                    id=htwHHQJ4Sw0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&&f=false