Sociology Now, Census Update

ON APRIL 20, 1999, two seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Eric

Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked through their school corridors, guns blazing, murdering

their classmates. When their rampage was over, 12 students and one teacher lay dead, many

others had been wounded, and the shooters had taken their own lives.

This horrific mass murder was only one of nearly 30 such “rampage” school shootings in

our nation’s schools since the early 1990s. While virtually all other crimes of violence have

decreased in the United States since 1990, these alone have increased. Why?

While some have blamed permissive parents, permissive gun laws, and psychological

problems, nearly everyone agreed that the media had something to do with it. Then-

President Clinton suggested that it was the Internet because Klebold and Harris had visited

many violent racist websites. Others suggested it was violent video games or violent TV

shows and movies.

The debate about Columbine

repeats the debate our society has

had for decades: Do the media cause

violence, or do the media reflect the

violence that already exists in our society?

Think of how many times we have heard variations of this debate: Does gangsta rap, or

violent video games, or violent movies, or violent heavy metal music lead to increased vio-

lence? Does violent pornography lead men to commit rape? Or do these media merely remind

us of how violent our society

already is?

The sociologist approaches

this debate differently. To the

sociologist, one does not

choose between these two

positions. It’s both: The media

both reflect the society in

which they were created and

also affect our behaviors and

Mass Media

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The media both reflect the society in

which they were created, and also affect

our behaviors and attitudes. If they

didn’t reflect our society, then they

wouldn’t make any sense. And if they

didn't have some effect on our attitudes

or behavior, then they wouldn't “work.”