Class Represnation

Question 1

Upper class

Answer 1

Rarely portrayed negatively

• elite figures
• feature heavily
• royal family as ideal family
• upper class favoured positively as media companies need their support

Question 2

Middle class

Answer 2

Over represented class group in most film and tv 
- presented as normal and rational

Question 3

Working class are portrayed negatively

Answer 3

Used as scapegoats in moral panics

Question 4

Shildrick and MacDonald (wc)

Answer 4

Calling the working class terms like chavs lead to people not having public sympathy

Question 5

Wc are presented as (Newman)

Answer 5

Benefit scrounges as opposed to presenting poverty in reality
- if poverty is mentioned it is often in statistical terms

Question 6

Curran and Seaton on wc

Answer 6

Forms of media aimed solely at WC e.g Daily mail and sun newspapers
- form of exploitation, contributing to lack of education on political issues as media is dumbed down

Question 7

Jones on wc

Answer 7

Middle class journalists suffer from ‘liberal bigotry’ they assume that all WC people are feckless, promiscuous, foul mouthed racists who hate multiculturalism and refugees

Question 8

Pluralists

Answer 8

The media view the UK as a meritocracy and the media portrayals of the wealthy are representative of the idea that talented people are deserving of high rewards

Question 9

Neo Marxists

Answer 9

Most of the creative personnel in the media are themselves middle class
- in news and current affairs, the middle classes dominate positions of authority - the ‘expert’ is invariably middle class

Question 10

Marxists state that

Answer 10

The negative portrayal is an ideological tool that functions to maintain, legitimise and reproduce class inequalities 
- to bring about a state of false class consciousness in those who occupy the bottom rungs of society

Question 11

Gauntlett (evaluation)

Answer 11

Media representations of class are diverse and varied

Question 12

Evaluation of Wc views

Answer 12

There are some more positive portrayals of WC people

Question 13

MC evaluation

Answer 13

There are representations of MC which are not perfect families
- eg outnumbered

Question 14

Pluralists say that these representations

Answer 14

Reflect the reality of capitalist society

Question 15

Shows like

Answer 15

Downton Abbey or films like the Kings speech

• tend to portray the upper classes in a nostalgic or eccentric way
• rosy picture characterised by honour, culture and good breeding

Question 16

Newman

Answer 16

The media tend to ignore the issues with capitalism such as the large bonuses which bankers have (as this focuses on the gap between the rich and the poor)

Question 17

Content of newspapers such as the

Answer 17

Daily mail suggest that journalists believe that the mj Eddie classes of middle England are generally anxious about the decline of moral standards in society and that they are proud of their British identity and heritage

Question 18

Jones

Answer 18

States how differently the media value classes by exploring media representation of Madeline McCann and Shannon Matthews

Question 19

Newman argues that when news

Answer 19

Organisations focus on the working class

• it is generally to label them as a problem
• welfare cheats, drug addicts or criminals

Question 20

Cohen

Answer 20

Notes that the media often fails to see the connection between deprivation and wealth
- British media is so focused on the good fortune of capitalism it ignores the casualties