class

Question 1

neo-marxists - hierarchy is celebrates in the media

Answer 1

mass media - social class tend to celebrate hierarchy and wealth
Uk press - hardly portray upper classes in critical light - often portrayed in nostalgic way eg the crown
Naim - monarchy has successfully converted much of the modern media to supports of them - until recently was rare to see criticism

mass media of king - reinforcing sense of national identity

Question 2

neo-marxists - hierarchy is celebrates in the media eval

Answer 2

harry and meghan - attracted criticism by right-wing media for various issues including use of private jets

meghan markle successfully sues the mail on sunday for their publishing of personal correspondence between her and her father last year

Question 3

traditional marxists - consumerism and lavish lifestyles - desirable

Answer 3

newman - media focus very positively on lifestyles of wealthy

Keeping up with the Joneses culture - luxury cars, holidays - lavish lifestyles provide media content for mass audiences

news dedicated to stocks despite the fact that very few people in the UK own stocks and shares

advertising of expensive products towards children - culture of pester power - continuation of capitalism

Question 4

pluralist - representations of rich are justified

Answer 4

from pluralist perspective - representations justified:

• media view UK as meritocratic and the media portrayals of the wealthy are representative of the idea that talented people are deserving of high rewards
• such stories may motivate people to work hard in the belief that they attain these rewards, which benefits the economy
• focus on finance, stocks and shares merely reflects importance of these sectors for economy

Question 5

negative representations of the royal family

Answer 5

media more critical of royal family after death of Diana - represented as uncaring and out of touch

postmodern scepticism towards national institutions

Question 6

the elite do get negative press

Answer 6

not always rose-tinted - eg MP scandals

mass media broadcasters - leak of panama papers in 2016 - manny of the elite found avoiding tax

Matt Hancock breaking covid lockdown rules

Question 7

the middle class are over represented

Answer 7

marxists - middle class overrepresented - 4 broad explanations

• overrepresented on TV while w/c underrepresented
• newspapers aimed at middle class and their consumption so tastes and interests that can only be afforded by them
• content of newspapers suggest journalists think middle class anxious about decline of moral standards
• most of the creative employees in the media are themselves middle class

Question 8

being middle class is an aspiration

Answer 8

Jones - media gives impression “we’re all middle class now” - values and lifestyles of middle class are the norm

Lawler - taste is used as a symbol of class identity - lives shaped by choices in consumer goods

focus is on the individual rather than their social class

Question 9

symbolic annihilation of the working class

Answer 9

marxists - some mass media representations of w/c also part of institution’s capitalist ideology

Gerbner - w/c symbolically annihilated on TV - esp non-fiction - w/c mainly in soaps and crime dramas

Newman - very few TV dramas in past 10 years focus on live of working class despite being significant section of society

often presented in the context of trouble eg welfare scroungers

Question 10

media creates false consciousness and distracts the working class

Answer 10

marxists - media content - attempt to distract the working class audience from inequalities of capitalism

Curran and Seaton - newspapers aimed at the w/c readers assume not interested in serious analytical content

w/c consume mass culture eg love island

Question 11

pluralism - working class

Answer 11

tabloid newspapers provide readers what they want - proof of this lies in the sales of newspapers targeting the working class such as the sun

it is estimated that around 10 million people read the sun on a regular basis in the UK

Question 12

positive representations do exist - working class

Answer 12

some portray very sympathetically
- portray working class life and problems in dignified realistic and supportive way

pride 2014

Question 13

negative representations of poverty

Answer 13

McKendrick et al - week’s output of mainstream media 2007 - coverage of poverty is marginalised in the UK media

causes and consequences of poverty rarely explored

news - poverty in developing world covered as much as poverty in the uk but reported to gain more sympathy

marxism and neo-marxists - GUMG emphasise media representations reflect the interests of the powerful - little media content explicitly discusses class privilege

Question 14

content analysis of language poverty

Answer 14

Shildrick and MacDonald - labelling poor as chavs - suggesting the poor are undeserving of public sympathy - stigmatised identity

Lawler - media uses discriminatory and offensive terms to vilify - white trash - stereotypical forms of appearance eg tracksuits and drug use

• moral panics

Question 15

tv representations of poverty

Answer 15

rise in poverty infotainment programmes eg benefits street

chav, white trash - used to describe the underclass

stereotype has replaced the stereotype of the working class being hard-working

Lawler - chav has now become a way the middle class helps to secure its identity through sense of superior over w.c

The Jeremy Kyle show - dysfunctional w/mc people

Shildrick et al - media talks about weakness of individuals rather than social deprivation - reinforced popular impression poor and poor due to their own failings

Question 16

marxism

Answer 16

marxists argue mass media is ideological agency that functions to maintain, legitimise and reproduce class inequalities and to bring about a state of false class consciousness in those in bottom of society

profit and wealth are justified in the media as being deserved - product of capitalist class’s exploitation of labour

Question 17

pluralism

Answer 17

representations of social classes reflect the reality of capitalist society

reported because they fit news values

if w/c people didnt life them - wouldnt consume

Question 18

owen jones

Answer 18

Jones - demonisation of the w/c - blaming poor for failure and only presenting negative representations in the media

media and government aid this process and use it to support large cuts in welfare and disability benefits

HOWEVER - the new right argue that welfare dependency harms society - argue growing underclass is damaging to sicety

Question 19

postmodernism

Answer 19

class boundaries no longer distinct - reflect the fragmentation

no longer possible to describe these representations with certainty