The Media | AQA A-Level Sociology (7192)
The Media
- 77 questions
- 6 subtopics
- Paper 2: Topics in Sociology, two of eight
- Paper 2
The Media is one of the optional topics on Paper 2.
It covers the arrival of new media, who owns and controls the industry, how news is selected, how social groups are represented, and what all of that does to audiences.
Sample questions from The Media
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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The new media and its significance
How has new media transformed the role of audiences?
Show the answer
Audiences have shifted from passive consumers to active prosumers who both produce and consume content. -
The new media and its significance
How might new media challenge traditional gatekeepers according to optimistic perspectives?
Show the answer
By enabling citizen journalism and allowing a greater diversity of voices to reach audiences without needing approval from established media institutions. -
Ownership, control and media globalisation
How does vertical integration differ from horizontal integration?
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Vertical integration involves owning different stages of production and distribution, while horizontal integration involves owning multiple companies at the same stage. -
Ownership, control and media globalisation
What is meant by the claim that the media are 'dumbing down' popular culture?
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The argument that media content increasingly favours celebrity, entertainment and sensationalism over serious news, the arts and informed debate, in order to attract the largest audiences. -
The selection and presentation of the news
How does relevance function as a news value?
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Events that are meaningful or significant to the target audience are considered more newsworthy. -
The selection and presentation of the news
What is the hierarchy of credibility?
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The tendency for journalists to routinely grant greater access and legitimacy to powerful institutional sources over ordinary people. -
Media representations of social groups
How are working-class people often portrayed in media representations?
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Through stereotypes of poverty, criminality, or as objects of ridicule. -
Media representations of social groups
What is the male gaze?
Show the answer
A concept describing how visual media position the audience to view women from a heterosexual male perspective, objectifying female bodies.
The 6 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| The new media and its significance | Digital, interactive and networked media, technological convergence, prosumers, and the optimistic and pessimistic readings. | 9 |
| Ownership, control and media globalisation | Concentration of ownership, the instrumentalist, pluralist and hegemonic approaches, integration, and cultural imperialism. | 25 |
| The selection and presentation of the news | News values, gatekeeping, agenda-setting, norm-setting, the hierarchy of credibility, moral panics and churnalism. | 15 |
| Media representations of social groups | How age, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability are represented, and the male gaze. | 9 |
| Media effects and models of the audience | The hypodermic syringe model and its critics, the two-step flow, uses and gratifications, and the cultural effects model. | 10 |
| Reception analysis and selective filtering | Dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings, selective exposure, perception and retention, and postmodern audiences. | 9 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Sociology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,116 questions with their answers.