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In "The Reality of the Mass Media," Luhmann extends his theory of
social systems--applied in his earlier works to the economy, the
political system, art, religion, the sciences, and law--to an
examination of the role of mass media in the construction of social
reality.
Luhmann argues that the system of mass media is a set of recursive,
self-referential programs of communication, whose functions are not
determined by the external values of truthfulness, objectivity, or
knowledge, nor by specific social interests or political
directives. Rather, he contends that the system of mass media is
regulated by the internal code information/noninformation, which
enables the system to select its information (news) from its own
environment and to communicate this information in accordance with
its own reflexive criteria.
Despite its self-referential quality, Luhmann describes the mass
media as one of the key cognitive systems of modern society, by
means of which society constructs the illusion of its own reality.
The reality of mass media, he argues, allows societies to process
information without destabilizing social roles or overburdening
social actors. It forms a broad reservoir (memory) of options for
the future coordination of action, and it provides parameters for
the stabilization of political reproduction of society, as it
produces a continuous self-description of the world around which
modern society can orient itself.
In his discussion of mass media, Luhmann elaborates a theory of
communication in which communication is seen not as the act of a
particular consciousness, nor the medium of integrative social
norms, but merely the technical codes through which systemic
operations arrange and perpetuate themselves.
Biracial but white-looking, Nina Moore is the daughter of a rich
and famous black musician and a deceased white woman no one in the
family will talk about. Burdened with secrets her father refuses to
divulge, Nina finds that living as a black woman in white skin,
she's attracting the wrong men, receiving privileges she didn't
earn and running from a past she didn't create. After dumping her
colorstruck fiance, Nina falls for Ahmad Jefferson, a sexy and
intriguing ex-convict and single father who has no love for white
folks and won't give her the time of day. While Ahmad focuses on
raising his young daughter alone, he makes it clear his friendship
with Nina will never develop into anything more, and as he searches
for a "real sista" to invite into his life, Nina uncovers a family
secret that loosens her hold on everything that has ever held her
upright. 2nd Edition. First edition published by Avon Books, New
York, August 1999.
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