MEDIA 1: representation of social groups Flashcards
name the 3 sociologists that look into media representations of nationality.
- Mulhurn (irish)
- Vir, hall & foye (scottish & welsh)
- Graham (welsh)
Mulhern
representations of nationality
critical of media portrayals of the IRISH and says they are stereotyped in 2 ways:
1. homesick and drinking bad guinness in north london
2. too successful to be homesick while making lots of money in the city, reporting the good wealth home via skype
media e.g:
Mrs Brown’s boys
- swearing
- fast talking
- ill mannered
- heavy drinkers.
Vir, Hall and Foye (scottish)
representations of nationality
SCOTTISH
Found that those living in the highlands feel under-represented in the media portrayals and coverage.
“The scottish person is always drunk and an abusive drunk at that.”
media e.g:
Angry scottish Ginger from the simpsons (Groundskeeper willie)
- dirty /unkept
- Always at home- lazy
- Aggressive
- Foul language
Graham
representations of nationality
Suggests that the media can sometimes force other nationals into TV programmes leading to ‘tokenism’.
media e.g:
Gavin and Stacey (portray’s welsh accent as being a thick).
Vir, Hall and Foye (welsh)
representations of nationality
Found that in Wales, there was a perception that reality TV can be exploitative in their portrayal of the welsh.
media e.g:
Dirty Sanchez (reckless/stupid)
The valleys (rowdy teens/ focused appearance rather than intelligence)
name the 5 sociologists that look into traditional/negative representations of ethnicity.
- van dijk
- malik
- barker
- hall
- moghissi
van dijk
traditional/negative representations of ethnicity
longitudinal study of media representations of ethnic groups in the UK.
found that groups were portrayed in 5 ways:
1. criminals (media e.g. top boy)
2. abnormal (media e.g. forced marrriages in britain)
3. a threat
4. dependent (media e.g. white brit celeb sent to poor country: ‘white saviour complex)
5. unimportant(media e.g. madeline mccann)
(look at summary sheet for more info)
Malik
traditional/negative representations of ethnicity
Found that the use of media and also representations of minority ethnic groups was poor in contemporary society. Claimed that broadcasters were guilty of…
- Tokenism
- Stereotyping
media e.g: love island (always a token black) , Raj in the David Walliams books.
Barker
traditional/negative representations of ethnicity
Studied ethnic minority groups in eastenders. Have been heavily criticised for stereotyping of ethnic minority groups- e.g. asian characters given roles of doctors/shopkeeper.
Media e.g. EASTENDERS (explain very well)
Hall
traditional/negative representations of ethnicity
‘The white eye’: sees representations of ethnic minorities in white directors POV.
Black characters are portrayed in 3 ways-
- Natives
- Entertainers
- Slaves
Moghissi
traditional/negative representations of ethnicity
women were presented as victims of honour killings and males as terrorists.
name the 5 sociologists that look into changing/positive representations of ethnicity.
- Malik
- Barker
- Hall
- Gill
- Nayak
Malik
changing/positive representations of ethnicity
Found that the use of media and also representations of minority ethnic groups was poor in contemporary society. Claimed that broadcasters were guilty of…
- Tokenism
- Stereotyping
media e.g: love island, south park- token black
barker
changing/positive representations of ethnicity
Studied ethnic minority groups in eastenders. Have been heavily criticised for stereotyping of ethnic minority groups- e.g. asian characters given roles of doctors/shopkeeper.
Media e.g. EASTENDERS (explain very well)
Hall
changing/positive representations of ethnicity
‘The white eye’: sees representations of ethnic minorities in white directors POV.
Black characters are portrayed in 3 ways-
- Natives
- Entertainers
- Slaves
Gill (hybridity)
changing/positive representations of ethnicity
Blasians and brasians
media e.g. Jas shaun- particularly popular in the UK due to his association with rappers like snoop dog.
Nayak (hybridity)
changing/positive representations of ethnicity.
‘White wannabes’- white working class who adopt ‘black rap style’ e.g. eminem
what are the 4 sociologists that look into traditional/negative representations of femininity?
- Tunstall
- Tuchman
- Ferguson
- Glascock
Tunstall
traditional/negative representations of femininity
- Media representations emphasise women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activitiesto the exclusion of all else.
- Media ignores the fact that majority of british women go out for work
- Men are however rarely presented nude or defined by their marital/family status
media e.g: wolf of wall street, baywatch and womens football
Tuchman
traditional/negative representations of femininity
- Narrow range of roles for women lead to their ‘symbolic annihilation’ in the media.
- Not socially valued
- Media depicts traditional ideals
media e.g: wolf of wall street
Ferguson
traditional/negative representations of femininity
- cult of femininity
- womens magazines
Glascock
traditional/negative representations of femininity
Males are presented as more physically aggressive and women more verbally aggressive
MEDIA E.G. mean girls/ marvel films.
what are the 3 sociologists that look into traditional/negative representations of masculinity?
- Katz
- Easthorpe
- Gauntlett
katz
traditional/negative representations of masculinity
- ‘epidemic’ of male violence is rooted in the medias inability to move away from stereotypical versions of what it means to be a man.
- Young men and boys receive constant messages conscious and subconscious and conscious, from sources of media like video games, films and porn
- reinforce hegemonic masculine ideals of violence, sexism and homophobic ways of thinking.
media e.g. GTA
Easthorpe
traditional/negative representations of masculinity
- A variety of media transmit the view that masculinity based on strength, competition and violence is biologically determined. Therefore it is a natural goal for boys to achieve.
MEDIA E.G. deadpool, DC & marvel
Gauntlett
traditional/negative representations of masculinity
- Many magazines are still aimed at male audiences that continue to sexually objectify women and present images of traditionally masculine men.
- Magazines represent retributive masculinity
media e.g: andrew tate
what are the 4 sociologists that look into changing/positive representations of femininity?
- Gill
- westwood
- glascock
- gauntlett
Gill
changing/positive representations of femininity
Significant shift in advertising representations of women- rather than being presented as passive objects of the male gaze, they are now often depicted as active, independent and sexually powerful.
Media e.g: barbie
westwood
changing/positive representations of femininity
- representations of gender have changed
- ‘Transgressive female roles’- female roles have now gone beyond gendered expectations.
- Females are now presented in a way that means they are breaking hegemonic social and moral gender roles.
media e.g: new female Doctor who (big shift)
Glascock
changing/positive representations of femininity
- supports westwood’s claims
- explains that in the media there is now a range of femininities portrayed in the media such as ‘independent women’
MEDIA E.G. repunzel, Katness Everdeen
Gauntlett
changing/positive representations of femininity
- Focuses on the relationship between the media & identity
- producing a greater diversity of choice for people when constructing their gender identities.
- Younger audiences are now more open to having female as well as male lead characters in films
MEDIA E.G. knocked up (male leads being more caring) lady Gaga- promoted financial and emotional independence.
what are the 4 sociologists who talk about changing/positive representations of masculinity.
- easthorpe
- nixon
- mort
- whannel
Easthorpe
changing/positive representations of masculinity
**glossy magazines aimed at middle class and young men (MEDIA E.G. **GQ, maxim & FHM)
the content suggested that…
* Men are emotionally vulnerable
* They should treat women as equal
* They should care more about their appearance.
nixon
changing/positive representations of masculinity
- the Levi’s laundrette advert
- Men are taking more care of their appearance
mort
changing/positive representations of masculinity
use after- in support of Nixon
This caused more consumption of male toiletries/products
Whannel
changing/positive representations of masculinity
- claims that presentation of David Beckham is contradictory.
- His good looks, football and commitment mark him out to be a traditional ‘real man’
- Balanced with the alternative media representations that stress his metrosexualtiy emotional commitment to family and spends time on his appearance.
Nairn
traditional representations of upper class
- media representations of the monarchy
- the family that are **‘like us but not like us’ **and the narrative of their lives is presented like a soap opera
media e.g: “kate made me cry” “prince harrys nazi costume” - royalty also reinforce a sense of national identity.
media e.g:extensive queues to pay respect to the queens coffin- sense of community.
Leech
traditional representations of middle class
- middle class lifestyles are presented as the ‘ideal’ lifestyle in media advertisement
- developed concept of the ideal ‘cereal packet family’
- presented as the the norm for society
media e.g: fleabag, friday night dinner.
Newman
traditional representations of working class
- Working class are stereotyped and labelled in an unflattering and pitying light
- Stories on youth subcultures who are working class tend to be linked to moral panics
MEDIA E.G. benefit cheats, Waterloo road.
Dodd and Dodd
traditional representations of working class
- exclaimed that Eastenders presents the nostalgic view of the traditional motion of working class communities
- Don’t accurately reflect a modern day working class culture.
Jones
traditional representations of working class
- ‘chav’ becoming way of condemning working class
- ‘chavtainment’
- Working class have gone from historically being the “Salt to the earth” to being portrayed at the **“scum of the earth” **
media e.g:
jeremy kyle, only way is essex
Baumberg et al
traditional representations of underclass
- researched the ‘benifits stigma in britain’
- 29% of news stories referenced benefit fraud
- except very few of them are actually fraud
- an example of deviance amplification
Golding and Middleton
traditional representations of underclass
- moral panics surrounding the underclass
- Discovered that “welfare issues” were not discussed unless connected to other social issues (criminal links)
- lead to government justifying cuts in welfare state funding
Price
traditional representations of underclass
- Developed the concept ‘poverty porn’ to describe programmes
- media exploits the participants and their lifestyle in order to entertain the audience.
media e.g: channel 4’s Benefit street
Nairn
changing representations of upper class
- Although media representations of the upper class have been traditionally positive- it has changed over recent years.
media e.g: Diana scandal, prince charles caught advising governmental policy.
Reiner
changing representations of upper class
- Media representations of wealthy people are being used to show e.g’s of hard work, success & meritocracy.
- Success is celebrated by the media
- Audiences encouraged to identify with the culture of consumption and materialism that is portrayed in the lifestyle of the wealthy
media e.g. alan sugar, mark zukerburg, Molly mae.
Devereux
changing representations of working class
- more positive & realistic portrayals of the working class where they seem to be happy and deserving poor.
media e.g: ‘the royale family’ more realistic attempt at portraying working class families
Dodd and Dodd
changing representations of working class
Shows like eastenders have introduced realism through approaching issues like drug, alchohol abuse and crime and homosexual relationships. (MEDIA E.G)
Price
changing representations of working class
- Discourse analysis
- Benefit street does have narratives that present the characters as decent and compassionate people captured by an unfair society.
Heintz-knowles
traditional representations of youth
media tends to portray stereotypical views of children in tv programmes
1. Children are motivated most by peer relationships and romance and least by school (e.g. horrid henry, tracy beaker)
2. Majority of the characters engage in anti-social behaviours which results in positive outcomes (e.g. horrid henry, tracy beaker)
3. Children from minority ethnic groups are under-represented (e.g. hanna montana)
Griffin
traditional representations of youth
- Media represent youths negatively and amplify deviance creating a moral panic
- Media portrays youths in 3 ways; deviant, dysfunctional & suffering a deficit
MEDIA E.G. top boy, sex education, euphoria
Wayne
traditional representations of youth
- youths in the media focused on youths being perpetrators or victims of crime
- this: ignores stories of how young people are affected by problems in housing, education, health, unemployment or parental abuse.
women in Journalism
traditional representations of youth
Teenage boys were presented in national and local newspapers and found the following…
1. Negative language used to describe them; e.g thugs, scum, sick, inhumane, heartless
2. Few stories showed teen boys in a good light
Kelly
traditional representations of youth
Research on language used by journalists to describe young people
1. Young people are dangerous
2. Young people are in need of protection
3. Young people are immature
MEDIA E.G.“children killing children- teen knife epedemic” muder of briannah
Cohen
traditional representations of youth
Study on ‘Folk devils’ and moral panics’ showed how the media depicts youths as dangerous and deviant.
MEDIA E.G. the mods and rockers.
Landis
traditional representations of elderly
identified a number of stereotypes in representations of older people.
* depicted as being one-dimentional e.g. grumpy old man, lonely, having wisdom.
* media e.g:carl from UP, dumbledoor.
Cuddy and Fiske
traditional representations of elderly
- In the USA, tv programmes portrayed just 1.5% of their characters as elderly.
- Usually played minor roles and used as a form of comedy.
- The media often depicted their mental, physical and sexual capacities as ineffective.
media e.g. carl from up
Milner et al
tradtional representations of elderly
- Media do not portray a balanced view of ageing
- To do this they would need to present the challenges of getting older alongside the more positive opportunities associated with ageing E.G. active ageing.
Carrigan and szmigin
traditional representations of the elderly
- More elderly consumers than before
- least likely to be portrayed in advertisement.
- When they are portrayed in media; it is as smelly and incompetent.
examples of tv dramas that show realistic portrayals of childhood.
- so awkward
- euphoria
- pretty little liars
- sex education
- tracy beaker
Postman
changing representations of youth/childhood
- idea of childhood has begun to disappear as children interact more and more with the media
- Children and youths being exposed to adult content e.g. sex and violence.
media e.g. videogames, vaping, cebeebes (bedtimes no longer exist)
osgerby
changing representations of youth/childhood
- Studied changes in media representations of youth
- Recurring themes of ‘youth as trouble’
- representations of the youth are very much dependent on what is going on in the world at the time
media e.g. Greta Thunburg
Lee et al
changing representations of elderly
Study on adverts (positives and negatives study)
* Old people were underrepresented
* Appear only 15% of advertisement
* 90% of these advertisements were positive
* Significant gender differences
Biggs
changing representations of elderly
- Found that there was evidence of change in representation of old age in the media
- A larger number of older people appearing in soap operas
- Representing older people as more active
**MEDIA E.G ** gangsta granny and eastenders.
carrigan and szmigin
changing representations of elderly
Older people have a higher disposable income.
media targets the elderly market.
