AQA A-level Sociology (7192): Paper 2 – The media – Revision Notes

These notes condense the full study guide on The Media. Read that first if a term below is new to you.

They cover section 4.2.7 The Media (shown as 3.2.7 in the specification’s at-a-glance list) of the AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021). The Media is an A-level option in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology (2 hours, 80 marks, 33.3% of the A-level). The specification states: “Section A: one from option 1: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4” and “Section B: one from option 2: 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.7 or 4.2.8”. So The Media is answered in Section B, “extended writing, 40 marks”.

Keep track of what you have revised on the AQA A-level Sociology hub and the AQA A-level Sociology checklist. When you are ready, try the practice questions.

The six content points

The specification lists these, and you need “both the evidence of and the sociological explanations for” each:

1. The new media and their significance for the role of the media in contemporary society.
2. The relationship between ownership and control.
3. The media, globalisation and popular culture.
4. Selection and presentation of the news.
5. Representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability.
6. The relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
New media	Digital, interactive media such as social platforms, streaming and search
Convergence	Separate media merging on one device or platform
Digital divide	Unequal access to and skill with digital media
Concentration of ownership	Fewer companies owning a larger share of the media
Horizontal integration	Owning several firms in the same media sector
Vertical integration	Owning production, distribution and sale of content
Hegemony	Dominant ideas accepted as common sense
Cultural imperialism	One (usually Western) culture dominating others through media
Contra-flow	Media flowing from non-Western centres outward
News values	Criteria that make an event newsworthy
Gatekeeping	Deciding which stories are published
Agenda setting	Shaping which issues people think about
Hierarchy of credibility	Giving more weight to powerful sources
Symbolic annihilation	A group being absent, trivialised or condemned in media
Male gaze	Framing women as objects for a male viewer
Preferred reading	The meaning producers encode and hope audiences accept

Theories and studies at a glance

Who	What	Finding or claim	One evaluation point
Jenkins (2006)	Convergence Culture	Participatory culture: audiences create and share content	Ignores the digital divide
Keen (2007)	The Cult of the Amateur	Amateur content lowers quality	Elitist; amateurs have exposed real stories
Zuboff (2019)	Surveillance capitalism	Platforms profit from users’ data	Users may still gain real benefits
Miliband (1969)	Instrumentalist Marxism	Owners use media to protect ruling-class interests	Journalists have some autonomy
Glasgow University Media Group (1976)	Bad News	Industrial disputes framed against workers	Critics question their coding of content
Herman and Chomsky (1988)	Propaganda model	Five filters shape news	Written about US media; may fit UK less well
Schiller (1969)	Cultural imperialism	Global media spread US values	Assumes passive audiences
Thussu (2007)	Contra-flow	Non-Western media flow outward	Flows remain unequal in size
Galtung and Ruge (1965)	News values	Negativity, elite persons and so on make news	Based on foreign news; updated by Harcup and O’Neill
McCombs and Shaw (1972)	Agenda setting	Voters’ priorities matched media emphasis	Correlation, not proof of cause
Tuchman (1978)	Symbolic annihilation of women	Women absent or trivialised	Representations have diversified since
Gauntlett (2002)	Media and identity	More varied images give identity resources	May understate remaining stereotypes
Van Dijk (1991)	Racism and the Press	Minority groups linked to problems and conflict	Older press data
Barnes (1992)	Disabling imagery	Recurring disability stereotypes	More disabled presenters now
Hall (1973)	Encoding and decoding	Dominant, negotiated, oppositional readings	Hard to measure readings precisely
Philo (1990)	Seeing and Believing	News themes remembered and often believed	Experience can override media

Representations: one line per group

Group	Evidence to use	Typical explanation
Age	Cohen (1972) on mods and rockers; Pearson (1983) on long-running fears about youth	Young people as a convenient “folk devil” for news values
Social class	Jones (2011) on “chavs”; Jensen (2014) on “poverty porn”	Marxists: ideology that blames the poor for inequality
Ethnicity	Van Dijk (1991): minorities linked to problems and conflict	News values and a mostly white newsroom culture
Gender	Tuchman (1978); Mulvey (1975); Ferguson (1983); Gauntlett (2002)	Feminists: patriarchy; postmodernists: more choice
Sexuality	Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney (2004): few positive images of lesbian and gay teenagers	Heteronormativity treated as the default
Disability	Barnes (1992): recurring stereotypes such as pitiable or sinister	Medical rather than social model of disability

For each group, be ready to say whether representations are changing, and what evidence suggests so.

Linking to the core themes

The specification asks you to connect topics to “socialisation, culture and identity” and “social differentiation, power and stratification”.

• Socialisation, culture and identity. Representations and audience models show how the media may shape identity. Gauntlett and the postmodernists see media as a resource people use to build identity.
• Social differentiation, power and stratification. Ownership, news selection and stereotypes all raise questions about whose voice is heard. The digital divide shows unequal access to new media by class and age.

Using one of these themes in each extended answer helps show analysis, not just knowledge.

Must-know distinctions

• Instrumentalist vs hegemonic Marxism. Owners’ direct control versus a shared ideology among journalists.
• Ownership vs control. Owning a company is not the same as running daily editorial decisions.
• News values vs ideology. Pluralists say news follows audience interest; Marxists say it follows power.
• Content vs effect. A content analysis shows what is shown, not what audiences believe.
• Passive vs active audience. Hypodermic and cultivation models versus uses and gratifications and reception analysis.
• Global vs hybrid culture. Homogenisation versus mixing of global and local forms.
• Optimists vs pessimists on new media. Democratisation versus new forms of control.

Mini essay plan

Question type: “Evaluate the view that the ownership of the media determines its content.”

1. Introduction. Define ownership and content. Mention concentration and conglomerates.
2. Instrumentalist Marxism (for). Miliband; owners promoting their interests; apply to a cross-media owner.
3. Hegemonic Marxism (for, but different). Journalists’ shared outlook; Glasgow group; content reflects ideology without orders.
4. Pluralism (against). Market demand, competition, Ofcom and BBC impartiality.
5. Gatekeeping and news values (against). Practical constraints shape content as much as owners do.
6. New media (against and for). Many voices online; but platforms are themselves concentrated.
7. Audience link. Even if owners shape content, reception analysis shows audiences may reject it.
8. Judgement. Ownership sets limits, but day-to-day content is shaped by many forces. Make a clear judgement and say why.

Quick self-test

1. Name the section of the specification that covers The Media.
2. Which section of Paper 2 is The Media answered in?
3. Define convergence.
4. What is the difference between horizontal and vertical integration?
5. Name two of Herman and Chomsky’s five filters.
6. Who introduced the term “male gaze”?
7. What did McCombs and Shaw study?
8. Give the three readings in Hall’s encoding and decoding model.
9. Which writer described a “cult of femininity” in women’s magazines?
10. What is a contra-flow?
11. What did Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney (2004) find about lesbian and gay teenagers in youth media?
12. Give one criticism of the hypodermic syringe model.

Answers

1. Section 4.2.7.
2. Section B, which takes one from option 2.
3. Different media merging on one platform or device.
4. Horizontal: several firms in the same sector. Vertical: owning each stage from production to distribution.
5. Any two of ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, anti-communism (later fear of an enemy).
6. Laura Mulvey (1975).
7. Agenda setting: whether voters’ priorities matched the issues the media stressed.
8. Dominant (preferred), negotiated and oppositional.
9. Marjorie Ferguson, in Forever Feminine (1983).
10. Media flowing from non-Western centres to the rest of the world.
11. A lack of positive images of lesbian and gay teenagers.
12. It assumes a passive audience that reacts uniformly; reception studies show people interpret media differently.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing about “the media” in general instead of naming a type, platform or example.
• Covering one or two representation groups when the question asks about representations generally.
• Describing a theory without linking it to the wording of the question.
• Citing studies without showing what they found.
• Treating dated evidence as current without comment.
• Missing the methods angle: content analysis, experiments and focus groups each have limits.
• Listing views side by side without weighing them.
• Ignoring the core themes of identity and power, which the specification asks you to link to.

See how the media link to crime coverage in the crime and deviance revision notes, and revise method evaluation with the methods in context revision notes. For culture and identity links, see the Culture and Identity study guide, and for wider globalisation debates, the Global Development study guide.

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021), section 4.2.7 The Media, assessed in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology.