Key Sociologists: Class Representations in Media

Question 1

Baumberg et al. (2012) on media representation of people who claim benefits

Answer 1

• His Study “Benefits Stigma in Britain” analysed 6,600 articles between 1995-2011
• 29% of news stories on benefits were about benefit fraud but the government estimates only 0.7% of people who claim benefits are fraud

Question 2

Butsch (2003) on media representations of the working class

Answer 2

• US TV depicts the working class as dumb or figures of fun.
• The working class are portrayed as well intended people who lack common sense

Question 3

Curran & Seaton on media representations of the working class

Answer 3

• News aimed at a working class audience assumes that they are uninterested in political analysis.
• They portray politics as a simple conflict and clash of personalities

Question 4

Gauntlett (2008) on media representations of the working class

Answer 4

• Class isn’t represented the same across media which represents it in a diverse range of ways

Question 5

Jones on media representation of the working class

Answer 5

• Journalists suffer from liberal bigotry and assume that all working class people are foul-mouthed and hate refugees or immigrants
• Believes that the working class are romanticised for the middle class gaze through shows like Eastenders

Question 6

Newman on media representations of wealth

Answer 6

• The media focus positively on wealthly lifestyles and portray it as aspirational
• Media focus on consumer goods or holidays that are unaffordable to the many
• Print media frequently discuss daily stocks despite few owning them

Question 7

Newman on media representations of the working class

Answer 7

• In the last decade very few TV shows like comedies or dramas focus on the livelihoods of working class people

Question 8

Nairn (2019) on representations of the monarchy

Answer 8

• The Royal Family are presented as a family like us but not like us
• The portrayal like a soap opera encourages us to identify with them
• Media portrayal reinforces national identity

Question 9

Webster (2007) on media representations of the working class

Answer 9

• Working class people are represented as “chavs”
• Often defined as “Social Scum”