Deck 14: Media and Culture Theories: Commodification of Culture and Mediatization

Question 1

Which of the following IS NOT an example of a communication commodity?

A) a movie
B) a television program
C) a conversation between two friends
D) a newspaper story

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to Jeremy Tunstall, American mass media have been so successful in selling their cultural commodities worldwide because ______.

A) it is part of a U. S. elite effort to subvert world culture
B) U.S. political power backs them up
C) they are based on simple formulas derived from folk culture
D) new technology makes them so attractive

Answer 2

C

Question 3

_________ is the study of what happens when culture is mass-produced and distributed in direct competition with locally based cultures.

A) Commodification of culture
B) Critical theory
C) Hermeneutics
D) Neo-Marxism

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Commodification-of-culture theorists argue that media's disruption of everyday culture has been especially successful in the United States because ____.

A) the people are relatively uneducated
B) deduced
C) audiences lack basic media literacy skills
D) Americans never had a universal everyday culture in the first place

Question 5

Feminist researchers who rely on commodification-of-culture arguments argue that consumption of this culture by women legitimizes a status quo dominated by men and _______.

A) blurs the distinction between the genders
B) reinforces gender differences
C) also leads to economic inequality
D) makes women active participants in the continuation of patriarchal society

Question 6

Social media companies create computer algorithms to filter content posted to their platforms that are designed to _______.

A) filter selectively in ways that serve their specific interests
B) bring as wide a variety of information to users as possible
C) reinforce the filter bubble
D) shatter the filter bubble

Question 7

Feminist scholar Jessica Megarry argues that male control over social media has resulted in _____.

A) greater advertising income for male content posters than for their female counterparts
B) problematic surveillance of feminist activism on social media
C) the commodification of digital culture
D) the creation of gender-based filter bubbles

Question 8

Commodification-of-culture theorists see ___________ as the ultimate cultural commodity.

A) social media
B) advertising
C) televised sports
D) traditional network television

Question 9

Mediatization theory, a dominant theory for cultural studies researchers in Europe, shares many ideas with American mass communication theories, but unlike its U.S. counterparts it_____.

A) is a grand theory
B) is based in postpositivism
C) relies on interpretive theory
D) Its research is heavily subsidized by various governments

Question 10

________ asserts that media have become so central and essential for all modern social orders that those social orders are continually changing in important ways to accommodate ever changing media.

A) Symbolic interactionism
B) Commodification of culture theory
C) Social constructionism
D) Mediatization Theory

Question 11

Mediatization theorists believe that at the microscopic level of modern society ________.

A) media are altering the functioning of large social structures
B) people can protect themselves from media influence through close interpersonal networks
C) people can protect themselves from media's power by becoming media literate
D) the everyday life of individuals has come to center around the use of media-especially Internet-based, mobile media

Question 12

Some mediatization theorists argue that we have entered a phase of ______, where the changes in social institutions already caused by media are beginning to create ever more profound changes.

A) mass society
B) deep mediatization
C) cascading activation
D) circular cultivation

Question 13

One common criticism of Mediatization Theory is that _______.

A) it is too Euro-centric
B) it does not allow for audience influence
C) the research on which it is based relies on studies with too few participants
D) it fails to specify the causal processes that underlie media power

Question 14

The online movement attacking female video game players and frminist critics of gaming's male-dominated culture is called _________.

A) Gamergate
B) NoGurlzAllowed
C) OurGamesOurSpace
D) VidCon

Question 15

There exists an online the ______, a set of blogs, podcasts, and forums that targets and harasses feminist media critics and activists.

A) GamerGate
B) misogoswamp
C) manosphere
D) Dark Web

Question 16

According to commodification-of-culture theorists, elites who operate the cultural industries are quite aware of the consequences of their work.

Question 17

Unlike content producers on more traditional media, people who post content to social media aren't bound by the legal and ethical restraints that those older forms of media must follow.

Question 18

Social media have helped break elite control over content production and commodification of culture.

Question 19

Mediatization Theory attempts to explain both microscopic and macroscopic mass communication processes.

Question 20

Mediatization theory has a long tradition among American mass communication scholars.

Question 21

Mediatization theory has become a dominant theory for cultural studies researchers in Europe.

Question 22

Other than writing, virtually every advance in communication throughout history has been attacked by existing elites.

Question 23

Postpositivist mass communication theories tend to view media as relatively benign social agents.

Question 24

According to commodification of culture theorists, when elements of everyday culture are selected for repackaging by media, a broad range of elements is chosen for presentation.

Question 25

According to commodification of culture theorists, the elites who operate the cultural industries are quite aware of the consequences of their products.

Question 26

Commodification of culture theorists argue that media have disrupted the traditional relationship between sports and their fans.

Question 27

Like content producers for more traditional media, those who make content for advertising-based social media are bound by the same legal and ethical restraints that encourage responsibility.

Question 28

Misandry is the extreme framing of feminist views as anti-male.

Question 29

According to commodification of culture theorists, advertising packages promotional messages so they will be attended to and acted on by people who, as a result of that packaging, can make reasonably well-informed consumer decisions.

Question 30

Most social media companies, mirroring the ideals of early libertarian theorists, embrace free speech, arguing that they are serving the public interest by allowing whatever content the public wants to circulate.