ASSUMPTIONS OF MASS SOCIETY THEORY

 1. The media are a powerful force within society that can subvert essential norms and values and thus undermine the social order. To deal with this threat media must be brought under elite control.

2. Media are able to directly influence the minds of average people, transforming their views of the social world.

3. Once people’s thinking is transformed by media, all sorts of bad long-term consequences are likely to result—not only bringing ruin to individual lives but also creating social problems on a vast scale.

4. Average people are vulnerable to media because in mass society they are cut off and isolated from traditional social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation.

5. The social chaos initiated by media will likely be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order.

6. Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline in civilization.