The ability to vote is paramount to the
success and continuation of a democratic government. But why do we vote the way
we do? Well believe it or not mass media has the power to help decide who gets
elected. In my last post, I covered how campaigning affects the politicians
whom are running for office, now let's look at how mass media effects the people
voting for those candidates.
In a humorous use of hyperbole, Family Guy hits the disheartening reality that many voters don't really know why they
believe certain things, hold viewpoints, or support candidates. They hear buzz
words which generate a connotation based on associations held with those words.
So how were the associations built? According to the idea of socialization the
associations are created from the experiences people have.
According to the Kids Health organization "kids under age 6 watch
an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, kids and teens 8 to 18 years
spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional
hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games."
With
that proportion of children's life devoted to mass media there is no doubt it
plays a role in everything about their life; including political party
affiliation. While it is true there is a direct socialization effect from
children copying their parents, generally households tune into news stations
which are similar to their beliefs. If a household only watches one source of
mass media for their news, they are only getting one perspective on the issues
which surround them.
From
children to adults, the 24 hour news cycle, the endless supply of political commentators,
and the inundation of partisan stories; the mass media plays a large role in
how we vote.
Another theory on the effect of mass media is the narcoticizing
dysfunction effect; it says that the volume of information creates passive
audiences This effect is currently visible in American politics of today. In a
statistical brief released by the United States Census Bureau using
information collected during the 2008 Presidential election. The numbers showed
that the younger a person is, the less likely they were to vote. While there
are other confounding variables, it is interesting to note the younger
generations are more connected to mass media.
Sources:
1. Shabazz,
A. (2006, May).
2. "What is Socialization?" http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/baldwin/classes/soc142/scznDEF.html
4. United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p20-562.pdf
