Raha ja majandustegevuse representatsiooni ja tähendusvälja muutumine ajakirjandustekstides perioodil 1985–2005 ajalehe Postimees näitel
Date
2009
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
The goal of current master thesis was to describe the movements of representation and the semantic field of money and economic activities during 1985-2005 in the public texts of newspaper Postimees. In addition, the functions of media were analyzed in representation of money and economic affairs. The author’s intention was to draw the society and communication researcher’s attention to the need to investigate the money also in social sciences. Three themes compiled the theoretical and empirical basis: sociology of money, the change of Estonian society and media system starting from 1980 and also the meaning of money for Estonian inhabitants. The main theorist was Simmel and his “Philosophy of Money” (compiled in 1900). Also, Marx and Weber found their places in this thesis as the classics of sociology of money. Media texts form newspaper Postimees were used as empirical data. Texts were analyzed using content and critical discourse analysis (Fairclough) methods. The sample of content analysis consisted of 172 articles from third week of January of year 1985 (sample was 50), 1995 (sample was 65) and 2005 (sample was 57). The sample of discourse analysis consisted of 45 articles (8 texts of 1985, 17 texts of 1995 and 20 texts of 2005) and texts stemmed from whole January. In discourse analysis the construction of foreign and local money and economic sphere was analyzed. In thesis two main hypotheses were set. First, it was presupposed that money, words related to money, currency and economic activities are represented differently in journalistic texts in Soviet Union (year 1985), transition period (year 1995) and in economical growth periood (year 2005). The differences appear in themes raised through money and economic activities, in relationship of object and subjekt in texts, in modality of money and in position of money as talking subject of media.
Pre-described hypothesis was confirmed as a result of content analysis. Socializing and educating of the people dominated in the main and sub themes of the articles, aspects related to living environment and security gained less attention. Compared to later periods, reference to money was rarely made in economic discussions. If texts included reference to currency, mainly the ruble was used. There was also some quotation made to the US dollar and on much lesser extent to the other currencies. Articles related to money and economic affairs were mostly written in positive key: press communicated the constant progress and vitality of the Soviet centrally-planned economy, but the issue of deficit was also raised in the stories about working people. In the transitional society the representation of money and economic activity changed completely: money was mostly connected to domestic and international business, educating and socializing of people and representation of lifestyle were forced to the background. Subjects like security and crime became also relevant topics in texts. Members of the business and finance community became very active spokespersons. US dollar was strongly represented alongside the local currency. It is also remarkable that the representation of money and economic activities in general in 2005 resembles more the one in 1985 than the one of the transitional society. This shows that the media of the transitional society as even more oriented on money. Representation of money and business activities in the new century shows signs of underdispersion: money is more widely spread all over the newspaper throughout the pages, sectors and speakers. Even though the modality of money has become more positive, the share of positive and negative articles is equal (⅓ of both). The second collection of hypothesis concentrated on the semantic field of money. It was assumed that other meanings beside economic ones are constructed for money through media texts; more specifically it was assumed that:
- in the 1980’s the ruble was used to construct a wall between the Soviet and Western culture, meaning that money was used as a “tool” of ideology.
This hypothesis was confirmed. Soviet press performed the reproduction role of the ideological objectives through the field of economic affairs. People had to be protected from the power of Money. By determining the prices and salaries and “hiding“ the inflation the stable currency – ruble – was constructed. The state also designated “social responsibilities” for people, which had to prove their commitment to the state through work.
It was also assumed that:
- in the 1990’s one of the functions of the Estonia kroon was to rebuild the state: along with the introduction of the market economy, the economic functions of money were becoming more dominant, but its use as an ideological instrument also continued (rebuilding the state).
This hypothesis was confirmed. Market based economy meant that economic functions of money became more important: issues like economic interdependance of Estonia and other countries, fluctuation of prices and changes in exchange rates of currencies were widely discussed. The kroon was also used for rebuilding the newly regained statehood (one pillar of the national security was the fact that Estonian kroon had a fixed exchange rate against the German mark). At the same time there was lack of texts discussing the inflation at human level: what did Estonian peole think of Estonian kroon as symbol of rebuilding the state? Third hypothesis was that:
- in the beginning of 2000’s the objective has been the introduction of Euro, which would strengthen the image of belonging to Europe and continue the withdrawal from or even confrontation to Russia.
This hypothesis was confirmed, even though the desire for euro in the media texts began already in the transition period, when opposition to anything related Russia was in full swing. Another phenomenon of this era is the marginalization of the US dollar in the media texts as the world currency and the introduction of euro as the new one. The role of the media in broadcasting the money was also looked in this thesis. The role has changed remarkably from the reproducing of the ruling ideology in the Soviet media to the introducer of new norms during the transitional period and finally to the guardian of the public finances in the 21st century. During last three-four years dramatic hanges have taken place in society as well as in economy (economic crisis have taken place). Therefore the next research topic should consentrate to the change of semantic field of money in changing society and also look at the role of media in this process. Current thesis offers vocabulary and methodology for that purpose.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), magistritööd, meedia, trükiajakirjandus, päevalehed, raha, majandus, representatsioon, muutused