The mass media institution is the primary institution for managing the flow of information, images, and ideas among all members of society. Mass media serves an entertainment role for society, but it also influences how we understand ourselves and the world. Mass media technology is the engine of globalization, giving people worldwide immediate access to other cultures and other markets. Rapid advances in electronic communication technology since the 1950s have resulted in widespread access to multiple forms of mass communication-"old media" such as newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television, ad film and "new media" such as the Internet, digital television and radio, MP3 players, ever more elaborate multifunctional smartphones, and video games. Electronic media now allow two-way as well as one-way communication, and they can store and manipulate vast amounts of information. The mass media is thoroughly embedded in our daily lives and a larger focus of our leisure time than any other social institution. Mass media is largely controlled by the economic elites, and therefore can be used to push their agenda both in the political realm and by impacting public opinion in ways that may serve to perpetuate income inequality and disenfranchisement of minority groups.