Interpretevism

Question 1

Prout and James

Answer 1

age categories are socially constructed and vary in different societies…
Negative labelling and stigmatisation of both the elderly and the young by the media and other agents of social control and socialisation could be said to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 2

Youths-Cohen and Griffin

Answer 2

Cohen-work on moral panics would be a relevant explanation for the inequality that young people face in the media.
Griffin argued that the media portrayed youth as a social problem in 3 ways - Deviant, Dysfunctional and Suffering a Deficit.

Question 3

Elderly - hockey and James

Answer 3

Discuss ‘infantilisation’ of old people - The meanings attributed to age stages = how this may contribute to power differences. Making old age appear similar to childhood, seen as childlike and losing their status of being an adult. Old people are given ‘pocket money’ in a care home. They have their privacy invaded and get people to dress them and wash them.

Question 4

Elderly-landis

Answer 4

supports the findings of Age Concern and identified a number of stereotypes in representations of older people. They were depicted as ‘one-dimensional’ and described in a number of ways such as: grumpy old man, mentally deficient, feisty old woman ,sickly old person, depressed or lonely, having wisdom, busybody, having a second childhood

Question 5

Elderly- carrigan and szmigin

Answer 5

If the elderly are depicted in caricatures and labelled negatively such as them ‘being smelly and incontinent’, then perhaps those stereotypes become reality.