Media Construction And Presentation Of Social Values In The View Of Field

When the boundary between the modern society and mass media is blurring day by day, Chinese society has turned to be a "media society". In this kind of society, the mass media has constructed a huge "field" in which people feel and acknowledge the world. In this "field", the concept of diversity carried by the media becomes an important part of social culture and societal values. Along with the capitalist global expansion and market-oriented reform of Chinese domestic media industry, the cultural values of diversity have been represented by the mass media in more and more entertaining way. As one critical component of the mass media, the entertaining tendency of TV media is more and more obvious. In today's society, TV media is not only a main platform representing societal values, but also an important part of social culture. TV media frames and constructs the overall perception and value judgment of an individual toward to the outside world, including the social concept, political ideas, sense of marriage and family, welfare concept and life expectancy. This practice of framing and constructing has a profound impact on the politics, economy and culture of the society.Societal value is the most critical symbolic representation of cultural connotation which appears in the Love and Marriage Service TV Text during the domestic transition period of China. This study studies on the constructing and representing practice on societal values of the Love and Marriage Service TV Text, and analyzes the capital game logic behind of this practice. Taking a strong awareness of root-analysis as the guideline, abiding by the frame of "frame construction and narrative expression on societal values of the Love and Marriage Service TV Text (static-level)---multi-construction and representation of societal values in interacting relation (dynamic-level)", and the logic of "analysis of text and audience (micro-level)---TV media (meso-level)---the game of capitals behind the societal value construction (macro-level)". The study analyzes the Love and Marriage Service TV Text, producer, advertiser, government, audience and internal and external environment related. Firstly, the study comprehensively explains the concept of societal value, the relation between the representation of societal values and the media, and domestic and international background of this study. Secondly, along the path of constructivism, by combining quantitative analysis and qualitative research, the study reveals the strategy frames and narrative structure of TV media construction and representation on societal values, while dose researches on the dynamic changing process of societal values and the media representing practice. Thirdly, starting in n sociological way, by using the field theory, the study sorts out the political and economic logic behind the practice of TV media construction on societal values. For example, the study analyzes the positions of all forces in TV media field and the objective relations among the positions; explores the games and struggles among the positions in the field; studies on the media constructing practice on societal values when putting it into these games; at the same time, based on the "Heteronomy Pole" and "Autonomy Pole" theory, the study expounds the internal and external logic motivations of the TV media constructing practice on societal values, Finally, starting at the theoretical level, the study analyzes and concludes the influence to the society and the meaning to the Communication taken by the TV media constructing practice.The study points out that, societal value is a complex whole composed by "socialized values" of individual and "social values" of social system. When the nature of media transfers from single nature to dual nature, and the entertaining forms rise, media gradually involves in the practice of constructing and representing societal values. Media not only passively reflects the societal values, but also proactively represents and constructs them, and tries to affect cultural concepts and values. The capital globalization, the establishment of consumerism system and the big transformation of social structure and media environment, make the orientation and content of media communication more and more socialized and entertaining-oriented. In this society of quick change, the practice of media construction and representation of societal values has its causes and results.The study discovers that, the societal values represented by the TV texts chosen, no matter the "social values" of a group or the "socialized values" of an individual, classify the social value topics into four basic kinds---conservative VS open, ultimate VS instrumental, rigidity tendency VS soft tendency, negative uncertainty avoidance VS positive uncertainty avoidance. Correspondingly, TV media constructs and represents these four topics through five strategy frames including fact frame, power frame, conflict frame, body frame and impersonal frame. TV programs, as narrative texts, try to work out an "ideal balance state" between man power and woman power by deliberately arranging the standing positions of male guests and female guests. However, in fact, this "considerate" arrangement puts male guests and female guests on opposite sides. Affected by the traditional values of Chinese society, the "ideal state" which TV texts try to work out cannot get rid of the consequence of "conflicting state" between man power and woman power. At "lasting level", societal values has a dynamic-change path of diversity-collectivism diversity, while the represents the societal values in a dynamic way as well.The practice of media construction and representation on societal values under today's media development background is practiced in the process of game and interaction among various capitals. Taking the Love and Marriage Service TV Text as example, its platform---TV, together with other interest-related forces including producers, advertisers, audience, government and rule-makers, make out a specific TV media field. In the field, these forces fight with each other for interests, positions and voices; out of the field, TV field fights against and interacts with political field, economy field, literary field and other culture fields. As for the logical motivations behind the practice of media construction and representation on societal values, the establishment of global consumerism system and the change of relations among state, society and market during the social transitional period are the external motivations; when the game between TV media and political force, and the accumulation of economic capitals, cultural capitals, political capitals and symbolic capitals are the internal motivations.The practice has profound influence on today's society and theoretical meanings. Although from apparently look, the tendency of entertaining of TV media is much alike the "entertaining to death" criticized by western theory. Essentially, TV media and what it communicates have completely different background and content when rooting in Chinese society. At the same time, the realistic imagine of producers, stereotypes shape and obsolete narration of the text show that what the TV media represents is a false "common values of space".