Page 112 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Meaning of Self in Society

experiences are significant in terms of substance and complexity of
social, political, or economic issues and their solutions as well as in
terms of time, speed, or duration. Nevertheless, the media play a
significant role in the lives of individuals as a source of insights into
a complex contemporary existence.
As a result, the American way of life is a product of mass com-
munication, through a variety of commercial media, as is its ideo-
logically determined dissemination around the world. The media
rely on the selection and presentation of information and enter-
tainment that compel individuals to conceive of their existence in
specific ways, especially since the repetitiveness of an endless stream
of mass communication creates consistency and conformity of a
composite view of the world, which is confirmed when advertis-
ing and news or entertainment join in the continuous celebration
of the “good life.”
It is no surprise, then, that the mass-mediated world (of the
United States) is an affluent state of affairs, based on a representa-
tion of pervasively high standards of living, which materialize on
screen and in print in the form of new cars or appliances, smart
housing, or luxurious clothing in well-appointed surroundings that
show no signs of use, no marks of poverty or crime, in uncompro-
misingly safe neighborhoods. It is an impeccable, predominantly
middle-class environment, in which mass-produced consumer goods
take on the appearance of designer products not only to meet
expectations of uniqueness, but to confirm and reinforce one’s place
in the community of spenders.These material conditions are joined
by ideational accounts of a middle-class ideology with its traditional
renditions of nation, community, religion, and freedom and respon-
sibility. After all, the mass-mediated realities of pleasant work, desir-
able professions, and carefree living – supported by an ideal social
or political ideology – also guarantee more opportunities for spend-
ing time and money in a leisurely way.
This imagery is developed with remarkable consistency across
genres (such as news, entertainment, or advertising) in a process of
mass communication that is designed to address a middle-class
society – or those who claim to belong to it – without much
thought of those whose economic capital has no bearing on pro-
jected consumption levels and whose political power is negligible.

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