Media culture

In cultural studies, media culture refers to the current Western capitalist society that emerged and developed from the 20th century, under the influence of mass media.^[1]^[2]^[3] The term alludes to the overall impact and intellectual guidance exerted by the media (primarily TV, but also the press, radio and cinema), not only on public opinion but also on tastes and values.

The alternative term mass culture conveys the idea that such culture emerges spontaneously from the masses themselves, like popular art did before the 20th century.^[4] The expression media culture, on the other hand, conveys the idea that such culture is the product of the mass media. Another alternative term for media culture is "image culture."^[1]^[2]

Media culture, with its declinations of advertising and public relations, is often considered as a system centered on the manipulation of the mass of society.^[5] Corporate media "are used primarily to represent and reproduce dominant ideologies."^[6] Prominent in the development of this perspective has been the work of Theodor Adorno since the 1940s.^[5] Media culture is associated with consumerism, and in this sense called alternatively "consumer culture."^[1]^[3]

^ ^a ^b ^c Jansson (2002)
^ ^a ^b Thoman (1992)
^ ^a ^b Thomas (2012) p.30 quotation:
The twenty-first century Western world, driven by American corporate and consumer ideology, is a perpetual media culture that depends on sound bites and the next thing, leaving the public reduced to media consumers never allowed time to reflect on the information. Volume and speed have consumed and obliterated nuance, ethics, and accuracy.
^ Adorno (1963) quotation:
...the interpretation agreeable to its advocates: that it is a matter of something like a culture that arises spontaneously from the masses themselves, the contemporary form of popular art.
^ ^a ^b Bignell (2007) pp.21-2
^ Nomai (2008) pp.5, 41

[Jansson2002-1] Jansson (2002)

[Thoman1992-2] Thoman (1992)

[Thomas2012p30-3] Thomas (2012) p.30 quotation:
The twenty-first century Western world, driven by American corporate and consumer ideology, is a perpetual media culture that depends on sound bites and the next thing, leaving the public reduced to media consumers never allowed time to reflect on the information. Volume and speed have consumed and obliterated nuance, ethics, and accuracy.

[4] Adorno (1963) quotation:
...the interpretation agreeable to its advocates: that it is a matter of something like a culture that arises spontaneously from the masses themselves, the contemporary form of popular art.

[Bignell2007p21-5] Bignell (2007) pp.21-2

[Nomai2008p5-6] Nomai (2008) pp.5, 41

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