It can be said that the mass media plays a pretty big part in young peoples lives these days. How much influence, or control, does television and mass media have on the teenagers of this generation? The objective of this research is to find out how many young people are living their lives based off of some form of the media, and also to find out if there is a correlation between the style of life, and race (hip-hop, rockers, nerds, etc ). .
The research will be conducted at two local malls, The West Covina Plaza and The Puente Hills Mall. The method used for collecting the data will be that of observation and short surveys. I believe that by conducting these observations and surveys, the relation between the mass media and the concept of socialization can be recognized. This is because the things like TV and radio have a special place in the growing youth of today; it should not be a surprise that their thoughts, actions, and personality have developed somewhat from following these things.
Although it may be considered "bad" that today's youth are being influenced more and more by the media, I think the outcome of this can be applied to the theoretical concept of social Functionalism. This is because by buying the products advertised on TV, or the music played on the radio, there is money flowing to the companies that are displaying these products, which is good because the people working for these companies are receiving their paychecks. Also, things like race and religion are not a big issue to discriminate upon. People of all races and creeds are becoming friends just because they do the same activities or listen to the same type of music.
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