Prior to completing this discussion, please read Section 15.5 in your textbook and the Parental Characteristics Associated with Bullying Perpetration in US Children Aged 10 to 17 Years (Links to an external site.) article, and watch the Bullying exerts psychiatric effects into adulthood (Links to an external site.) Also, review the information from Chapter 1 about Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and the Understanding Bullying (Links to an external site.)  fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site. At  least two of these sources should be cited in your original post.

Utilize Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to address the topic of  motivations for and influences on bullying. In your initial post, complete the following:

• Using each of the five systems in Bronfenbrenner’s theory, describe  how a child’s environment (including family, school, and community)  might predispose the child to bullying.
  • For example, within a person’s microsystem are the parents. How  might parents be an influencing factor on whether or not a child is  prone to bullying?
• Find and report (with proper citation) one current statistic on the  factors influencing school bullying behaviors. Does this statistic seem  to follow the same trend supported by Bronfenbrenner’s theory? If not,  explain how it challenges the theory.
• Finally, provide one unique solution to reduce or completely end bullying.

1 What three topics does McChesney address in this book?

2 What is Political Economy? What is the most fundamentally important determinant in this theory?

3 Why is Political Economy a method better suited for his study than what the Skeptics and the Celebrants offer?

4 What is Political Economy of Communication? What is the relationship between communication, economic resources, and political power?

5 Summarize two examples, from Chapter 3, McChesney uses to explain the connection between communication, economic resources, and political power. You might consider selecting one historical and one contemporary example.

6 Summarize two examples, from Chapter 4, that address how the openness of the Internet was closed by powerful monopolistic interests from the pre-Internet age.

7 Summarize two examples, from Chapter 5, that address how the Internet has begat new emergent monopolistic interests in the digital age.

8 Why does the Internet, according to McChesney in Chapter 6, threaten the viability of valuable public debate in journalism and what effect does that have for political power?

9 Using two contemporary media industries we’ve studied in class, discuss how you would use political economy of communication to examine these media industries? What would your analysis tell us about the relationship of political power, economic resources, and contemporary media?

10 Conclude with a discussion of whether you agree or disagree with McChesney’s method and why you think his use of political economy works (or doesn’t work) for studying contemporary media.