class revised Flashcards
neo-marxism - hierarchy and wealth are celebrated in media - representations of upperclass
monarchy and upper class - positive press
The UK press hardly portray upper classes in a critical light
Downton Abbey - portray idealised picture of ruling elite
Naim - monarchy has successfully converted much of modern class media to its cause
after WWII - Monarchy reinvented itself as a family
traditional marxism - consumerism and lavish lifestyles are seen as desirable in the media - representations of the upper class
Newman - media focus very positively on lifestyles of wealthy - eg luxury cars, expensive holidays
this creates a culture of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ in mainstream society
Newman - enormous amount of print and broadcast media - dedicated to business new and stocks
Advertising of products to children creates a culture of pester power - ensures continuation of capitalism and consumerism
- socialisation into fast consumerism and false needs
criticisms of upper class representation
pluralism - justified
- media sees UK as meritocratic - talented = rewards
- stories act as motivation to work
these both economy
- focus on finance and stocks - important sectors
Royal family - negative press
Meghan Markle
- Postmodern scepticism towards national institutions
Elite - negative press
Pm scandals, Panama papers 2016
middle class are overrepresented
overrepresented on TV - w/c underrepresented (dramas - mc predominant eg BBC drama Doctor Foster)
british newspapers eg Daily Mail - aimed at middle class and consumption, tastes and interests eg houses and gardens - can be afforded
content of newspapers in Daily Mail - journalists think mc generally anxious about decline of moral standards in society - they feel threatened by influences eg terrorism
most of the creative personnel in media themselves are middle class - positive representations product of media gaze of mc dominated media establishment
middle class overrepresented evaluations
little empirical evidence to support this
pluralists - middle class is the largest social class in British so natural for both print and digital media to target the interests of this social class
middle class is an aspiration
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
symbolic annihilation of working class
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
the media creates false consciousness
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 which distract them from failings of capitalism eg love island
evolution of working class representations
pluralism
the media responds to audience demands
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
some portray very sympathetically
- portray working class life and problems in dignified realistic and supportive way - Pride 2014
Symbolic annihilation of poverty
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
Content analysis of language - rep of poverty
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
TV representations of poverty
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
marxist perspective on media representations of social class
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
pluralist perspectives on media representations of social class
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
Owen Jones - perspectives
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
