Objective:Students will apply their understanding of moral panics, folk devils, and the deviancy amplification spiral to contemporary events in Britain. They will analyse how media…
Continue reading → What happens next? Social reactions to moral panics activity
Stanley Cohen and the Study of Folk Devils and Moral Panics One of the most influential contributions to sociology in the 20th century comes from…
When we think about why people consume media, it’s easy to assume that audiences are passive—simply absorbing whatever is broadcast or published. The Uses and…
Continue reading → Researching the Uses and Gratifications Model in Media Sociology
What Makes New Media New? Before we look at how new media developed, it’s important to understand how it differs from traditional (analogue) media such…
Continue reading → From ARPANET to TikTok: The Evolution of New Media Explained
When we talk about the new media, we mean modern digital forms of communication such as social media platforms, blogging sites, streaming services, online gaming…
Continue reading → Understanding the New Media: A Guide for A-Level Sociology Students
When sociologists like Stanley Cohen first studied moral panics in the 1960s, the media world looked very different. Newspapers and TV controlled what counted as…
Continue reading → How Social Media Has Changed Moral Panics in the 21st Century
A moral panic occurs when the behaviour of a group is exaggerated or distorted by the media and wider society, making it appear as a…
Continue reading → Moral Panics – From Teddy Boys to Culture Wars
Exploring the Two-Step Flow Model Model Overview The Two-Step Flow Model (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955) suggests that media messages do not go straight to mass…
Continue reading → Mapping the Influence of Opinion Leaders: Student Activity
Sociologists debate how powerful the media actually is. The key question is whether audiences are passive and shaped by the media, or active and able…
Continue reading → Media Effects on Audiences: Direct and Indirect Models
When we talk about media, we’re referring to the ways information is created, shared, and consumed. Sociologists often compare old (traditional) media such as newspapers,…
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