Ch. 4: Media & Deviance

Question 1

What is the #1 form of media used for ages 18-54?

Answer 1

Internet

Question 2

What are the 4 functions that media contributes to social order?

Answer 2

1. Surveillance
2. Correlation
3. Transmission
4. Entertainment

Question 3

Describe the media’s function of “Surveillance.”

Answer 3

Ways information is collected + disseminated in society.

Question 4

Describe the media’s function of “Correlation.”

Answer 4

Ways information about our world is interpreted + prescriptions for behaviour in response to events.

Question 5

What function of the media does the following represent: ‘Informing the public on travel advisories for Jamaica.’

Answer 5

Correlation

Question 6

Describe the media’s function of “Transmission.”

Answer 6

Communication of information, norms, values from generation to generation

Question 7

Describe the media’s function of “Entertainment.”

Answer 7

Communication intended to amuse / relax

Question 8

Describe the difference between today’s crime rate and how Canadians today perceive the current crime rate.

Answer 8

Today: crime rate is the lowest it has been in 50 years
Perception: Canadians believe we are subjected to WAY more crimes due to media

Question 9

In terms of differential reporting, what 3 types of crimes are reported MORE in the media, despite occurring less?

Answer 9

Street crimes, violent crimes, and violent crimes committed by strangers

Question 10

In terms of differential reporting, what 3 types of crimes are reported LESS in the media, despite being the most common?

Answer 10

Corporate crime, property crime, crimes committed by those known to the victim

Question 11

What community in Canada is affected by the most violent hate crimes?

Answer 11

Trans-community

Question 12

Name 3 things the media does to dramatize crime.

Answer 12

1. Language choices
2. Focus on atypical cases
3. Use of brief + horrific headlines

Question 13

What factor represents the failure to highlight racialized Canadians in the media, who are at a much higher risk of being victims to crime?

Answer 13

Incompleteness of reporting

Question 14

What is the Echo-Chamber effect?

Answer 14

When online, if the rhetoric does not align with our own beliefs on a topic of interest to us, stats show people leave the site and attend another one.

Question 15

What immediate impact does the media have in desensitizing violence?

Answer 15

Children who witness violence are more likely to commit violent acts

Question 16

What long-term impact does the media have in desensitizing violence?

Answer 16

those who spend ordinant amount of times watching / playing violent games = sympathetic nervous system does not kick in when viewing real-life violence

Question 17

More exposure to violence =

Answer 17

more tolerance to violence

Question 18

What is the Broken Windows Theory?

Answer 18

Crime occurs wherever / whenever social controls are not strong (there is opportunity)

Question 19

What crime is the Broken Windows Theory able to depict?

Answer 19

vandalism

Question 20

What is Moral Panic?

Answer 20

Exaggerated + sensationalized concern over a particular phenomenon

Question 21

What are the 5 characteristics of Moral Panic?

Answer 21

1. Heightened Concern
2. Hostility toward offending group
3. Certain level of consensus that there is a real threat
4. Disproportionality
5. Volatility

Question 22

Which moral panic characteristic does mass hysteria, such as blowing fears out of proportion, describe?

Answer 22

Disproportionality

Question 23

Which moral panic characteristic does overwhelming the community with deep fear describe?

Answer 23

Volatility

Question 24

What are 2 reasons why women mostly experienced the Salem Witch Trials?

Answer 24

1. More susceptible to devil’s influence
2. Accused of witchcraft

Question 25

What were the 2 Folk Devils in the Salem Witch Trials?

Answer 25

1. Women
2. People with epilepsy

Question 26

What are 3 ways the media failed to accurately reflect the scale + character of the riots?

Answer 26

1. Scare headlines
2. Reporters staged events
3. Stacked stories, leading to problematic cumulative event

Question 27

What are 3 ways the media wrote from the standpoint of a “white man’s world” during the riots?

Answer 27

1. Ignored the difficulties of life in the ghetto
2. Absence of voice - Emphasized police response vs those who were actually involved
3. Police, bystanders, and victims were overwhelmingly white vs portraying African Americans as acting violent

Question 28

Who does media ‘frame?’ (4)

Answer 28

1. Individuals
2. Health Issues
3. Social Issues
4. Social groups

Question 29

What are 4 implications of social group framing?

Answer 29

1. Social group not represented
2. Social issue associated with specific social group
3. Media represents a singular image
4. Impacts social policy

Question 30

What critical approach believes the ownership of the means of production equates to power?

Answer 30

Marxist Approach

Question 31

Explain the 3 trends in media ownership according to the Marxist approach?

Answer 31

1. Convergence: individual companies own multiple forms of media
2. Conglomeration: companies merge (or buy) out others, creating larger companies
3. Concentration: a small number of companies control cost media products