Media are profoundly changing how information and culture function in society. Just a hundred years ago, the idea of instant global communication was incomprehensible. It would have seemed unthinkable that anyone could push a dozen buttons on a hand-held instrument and be able to talk with any of billions of people anywhere in the economically developed areas of the world (and many of the poorer areas). Equally ridiculous was the idea that you could look at a box no bigger than a suitcase and see in moving pictures of things happening at that moment in distant lands. Everything is changing. In technology and information age, mass media plays important role in effecting many aspects of society.
The media over which information travel ?Etelephones, television, films, magazines, Internet, newspaper and so forth ?Eshape the ways ideas take form and spread from one place to another. The media with the strongest impact are radio and television. There are about one billions TV sets and more than two billion radio receivers in the world . The power of these media is to take a single source of information (a moving picture or a voice) and reproduce it in many copies in many locations. Radio reaches the poorest rural areas of the third world. Peasants who cannot read can understand radio. TV is especially powerful. The combination of pictures and sounds affects viewers emotionally and intellectually. Viewers can experience distant events more fully. Television has become a very regular part of our society and more importantly, of our family life. Read more…
Learning is a lifetime experience for all of us. Whether in a formal or informal manner we all strive to improve our knowledge of the world we live in. Today’s working adults face the hurdles of balancing a heavy workload and family responsibilities with the desire and need to continue their educational advancement. The advancement in technology has enabled many to meet these challenges by bringing the school and its classrooms into the homes. Internet graduate courses are quickly becoming the norm in the American culture and now in the subcultures of our city universities. In this article we examine how two such institutions have not only met this challenge but also proven to be very successful for all.
In correlation with the Functionalist Perspective, University of Phoenix and Webster University masters’ degree program seems to be most functional with today’s active adult student. In examining this article through the Functional Perspective, both universities offer various on-site locations and online access, thus catering to the need of the adult student, their career path and family life. As defined, “the functionalist perspective emphasizes the way that parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.” According to the National Center for Education Statistics, pursuit of a master’s degree is growing at the fastest rate of increase for any kind of college degree.” In contrast, “Phoenix also raises eyebrows in some higher education circles, but the students keep coming.” The Functionalist Perspective allows us from a sociological standpoint to examine the overall opinionated thought process of more than one point of view in society. Therefore, although the universities present a mass education, there are still speculators that are skeptical of its production. Read more…
