Mass media and astrology as a reflection of the culture industry

Year 2021, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 83 - 93, 15.12.2021

Gülenay Pınarbaşı

Abstract

The unknown has always been a subject of great interest for both the ancient and contemporary societies. We can say that making the unknown known is equivalent to the modern individual's self-motivation through confidence in the search for meaning. It is not easy to find an answer to the question of what is astrology amidst its convoluted relationship with numerous fields such as religion, science, astronomy or psychology. As we navigate this labyrinth, the development of astrology from traditional to digital mass media will act as our guiding compass. Astrology, which, by its origin, initially sought to interpret and forecast natural phenomena and later administrative and ideological problems, has entered a brand new era with the advent of the mass media. Daily forecasts, which had never had a place in astrology in almost 5 thousand years, were included in the astrology system through newspapers in the 1930s. Astrology has become one of the standardized cultural products manufactured and disseminated by the mass media for the mass market. This attribute of astrology has implications for the consumer society of the 21st century: astrology is the product of a desire commercializing the experience of the future. Today, the media has diversified its tools, taking on the dimension of communication-interaction. With this great change in the mass media, it is possible to discuss a mutual effect among communication, culture and society.
The present study will discuss how mass media have incorporated, with the popularization of astrology in parallel with mass media, a modern form of computing to astrology. The aim of the study is to try and understand the relationship between traditional & new media and astrology. The present study discusses the history and appearance of astrology's place in mass media, respectively. It also makes mention of the astrological counseling offered in books, on telephone lines and by mail. The examples were selected from both Turkey and the world, highlighting the astrological phenomena that can be considered the turning points. Lastly, the study includes astrological calculations made via computer programs and artificial intelligence made possible with digitalization, and examples from Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, while the social media example was limited to Facebook.

Keywords

massmedia, astrology, newspaper, facebook

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