Week 3-Radio

            I think that regulation and government intervention is the main force that influenced the formation and the shaping of the radio industry in the 1920s; I feel that the regulation and government intervention took charge of the radio industry and helped organize it so that all users could enjoy the benefits of the radio.

            The United States government during the early 1900’s was able to set up regulations and intervene in the radio industry to create a radio that useful to the users in which profit from it. The government is able to pass laws and acts that effect the uses of the radio, the laws and acts passed because they were directly involved with the military and/or the American people best benefit. The government intervened in the radio industry several times but the first time was helping to settle patents disputes between early inventors which helped standardize the radio. They also set up regulations the involved licensing which helped the radio from becoming to chaotic.

            The United States government noticed a military need for the radio, after the sinking of the Titanic where the radio was able to aide in saving lives by asking for help over the Marconi radio.  The government created the Radio Act of 1912, which gave the airwave to the military. The US Navy used the radio in World War I for quick communication. After the war was over the radio was released to civilians from the navy, so many people were interested in the new broadcasting medium that the government issued hundreds of licenses for frequency in 1923; the frequency was used to organize the radio waves. And finally the Radio Act of 1927 created the Federal Radio Commission which defined a number of regulations for the radio which lead to a more organized radio.

Week 2

     I think the concept of social learning has helped me understand how we interpret everyday events and how these interpretations effect the social decisions we make concerning our media choices, how we look, and act around others. Social learning is how a person feels about something or someone after they have had an experience with it. For example if one has a positive experience going to the movies, they are more likely to go back to the movies than someone who has had a negative experience. Social learning affects the decisions we make after we already have expectations about an experience. Social learning can also be when someone mimics another person’s behavior. The behavior being mimicked is could be observed by a family member, friend or even the media.
     The media effects social learning to a great extent, a good example of this can be seen in the film Killing Us Softly. The film shows how advertisements in today society affect the way young girls and women behave. Girls are portrayed in the media to be passive, from these images girls are taught to be gentle and loving. In other sources of media we see images of beautiful women, with a perfect body and perfect skin; these images send the message to girls that looks are all that matter. In the film Killing Us Softly we learn that advertisements and media play such a role in women’s life that 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day. The Film Killing Us softly is a great example of how social learning affects or behavior and our thoughts.

Concept Blog

The screenings on Thursday helped me to understand the concept of hegemony because it showed me how a reinforced cultural ideology affects a society and can become an everyday norm. James Lull states that, “hegemony is the power or dominance that one social group holds over others.” Another way to understand hegemony is one group of peoples ideology impressed upon others outside the group; the ideology is so dominate that a society adapts the ideology in part of their belief system.  Hegemony is a process that can be changed when challenged; however these ideologies are heavily reinforced. Hegemony is when societies or cultures think something is normal or that things that are opposite of the norm are unacceptable.

            The film, “Tough Guise” is a great example of hegemony. It is a film that shows how Americans have hegemony about boys being tough. Lull states, “Hegemony requires that ideological assertions become self evident cultural assumptions.” I think “Tough Guise” did a great job showing that as Americans we think boys should grow up to be tall, strong, an emotionless. Two common phrases little boys hear growing up are, “boys don’t cry” and “boys don’t play with dolls.” It is perfectly fine for a male to cry or for a boy to play with toy dolls, but since we as Americans have adopted such a strong hegemony about boys being tough we as a society have force male into being more self conscious about their masculinity and have therefore pushed males into feeing that they are not real males if they are not tough.