Sociological discourse, year 3, number 6 / December 2013

Contemporary society propagates flexible identity, which is susceptible to trends and images of the world created by the media. The media have an increasing role in shaping people, especially young people, which are one of the most important consumers of content placed in media. Young people become just one of the expedient of manipulation controlled by the media, and as such they are a perfect target for shaping. Style of life that propagates main stream culture is widely accepted because it is closely related to consumer society and capitalism that are our everyday life. The globalization of the media industry has brought negative changes when it comes to the quality of media content, such as globalization of taste and unification of product, all of which are a result of commercialization and monopolization in the sphere of media content distribution. The personality of the modern age is a kind of' ''electronic individual'' whose identity is shaped by the media. Technological advancement and profitability as the underlying logic of capital, particularly contribute this. Since the media are not a passive reflection of society, but its active and dynamic factor instead, it is important to study the mass media feedback to society as well. The goal of any society should be to create a media-conscious individual able to critically observe the forms of mass culture. That individual becomes an active member of society who deliberately uses forms of mass culture in order to achieve progressive social change.