Class Represnation Flashcards
Upper class
Rarely portrayed negatively
- elite figures
- feature heavily
- royal family as ideal family
- upper class favoured positively as media companies need their support
Middle class
Over represented class group in most film and tv - presented as normal and rational
Working class are portrayed negatively
Used as scapegoats in moral panics
Shildrick and MacDonald (wc)
Calling the working class terms like chavs lead to people not having public sympathy
Wc are presented as (Newman)
Benefit scrounges as opposed to presenting poverty in reality
- if poverty is mentioned it is often in statistical terms
Curran and Seaton on wc
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
Jones on wc
Middle class journalists suffer from ‘liberal bigotry’ they assume that all WC people are feckless, promiscuous, foul mouthed racists who hate multiculturalism and refugees
Pluralists
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
Neo Marxists
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
Marxists state that
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
Gauntlett (evaluation)
Media representations of class are diverse and varied
Evaluation of Wc views
There are some more positive portrayals of WC people
MC evaluation
There are representations of MC which are not perfect families
- eg outnumbered
Pluralists say that these representations
Reflect the reality of capitalist society
Shows like
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
Newman
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)
Content of newspapers such as the
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
Jones
States how differently the media value classes by exploring media representation of Madeline McCann and Shannon Matthews
Newman argues that when news
Organisations focus on the working class
- it is generally to label them as a problem
- welfare cheats, drug addicts or criminals
Cohen
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
