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Sociology - Media > Topic 4 : Media Representations Of CAGEDS > Flashcards

Topic 4 : Media Representations Of CAGEDS Flashcards

1
Q

What is the media gaze

A

The way the media views things

Representations of groups in the media don’t necessarily represent the truth, or society’s view of them

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2
Q

What does media representation lead to and who says this

A

Leads to symbolic annihilation (Gerbner and Gross)

symbolic annihilation = CAGEDS groups are trivialised, stereotyped or underrepresented by the media
= LEADS to a distorted impression by society

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3
Q

Why do media representations matter - postmodernist view

A

Baudrillard - media representations of social groups can become hyper-reality for people who do not have experiences with the group in real life
= this LEADS to certain groups to be treated in often negative ways

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4
Q

Why do media representations matter - Neo-Mx view

A

GMG - media representations will always serve the needs of the RC, and reinforce cultural hegemony
= this LEADS to the justification of the existing inequalities in society

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5
Q

Media representations of the elderly

On US TV, what percentage of characters are older and what roles do they take on

A

Fisk - 1.5% are older characters. Most in minor roles and figures of comedy and impairment

Biggs - similar findings in the UK

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6
Q

Media representations of the elderly

What does Newman argue

A

Upper class and middle class elderly people are portrayed in TV and drama as occupying high status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians and business experts

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7
Q

Media representations of the elderly

What is a real life example of higher class elderly people portrayed with high status jobs

A

Average MP - older, white, male
= figures of authority

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8
Q

Elderly presenters of the news / shows

A

Often paired with younger / attractive female co host

Older women presenters are ‘exiled to radio’ after reaching a certain age around 40 (AO2 : BBC criticised for replacing Anna Ford with a younger presenter)

A CONSEQUENCE of this is that it can normalise older men with younger women in romantic relationships

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9
Q

What did the Independent Television COmmission find regarding the elderly and their representation in the media

A

More than 3,000 adults in their 60s and 70s said that older viewers felt under-represented on TV

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10
Q

5 typical ways the elderly are portrayed

A

Grumpy - stubborn and resistant to social change

Mentally challenged

Dependent - on younger members of society

As a burden - economic burden (pensions, health care) and a social burden on their families

As enjoying a second childhood

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11
Q

Media representations of the elderly AO3

A

Media producers are gradually changing their representations, as they realise that this group may have disposable incomes
= the grey pound

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12
Q

Media representations of the elderly

Carrigan

A

Advertisers are reluctant to use older models for fear of alienating younger customers

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13
Q

Contrast between elderly men and elderly women

A

Older women on TV are symbolically annihilated - expected to be forever young and are objectified

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14
Q

What are the two ways teenagers are represented and who says this

A

Hebdige

Represented as trouble or as fun

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15
Q

What % of news stories of teenagers are negative vs % that are positive

A

Negative - 57%
Positive - 12%

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16
Q

Teenagers as trouble + AO2

A

Portrayed by the news as a social problem, or anti authority
= this LEADS to being constructed as ‘folk devils’ as part of a moral panic

AO2: cohen’s mods and rockers study

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17
Q

Are teenagers a moral panic? AO2

A

Wayne et al - content analysis of 2130 news items
= found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society
= found minimal young person POVs
= media only delivers a one dimensional picture of youth which LEADS to fear and condemnation

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18
Q

Are teenagers a moral panic? AO3 analysis

A

Wayne et al - this distracts from real problems that young people face EG homelessness, unemployment, mental health etc. that is caused by government / social failure

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19
Q

How does the representation of teenagers contribute to society’s hegemonic ideology?

A

Teenagers become a scapegoat for fears about family breakdown, violence in society, consumerism etc.

Teenagers have no ‘voice’ so cannot fight back

Teens have their own culture (values) which differs from the established adult culture

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20
Q

Teenagers as fun + AO3

A

Magazines are produced specifically for young people to socially construct youth lifestyle and identity

Internet music sites, radio stations etc. attempt to shape musical tastes of young people

AO3: new media - facebook, instagram - allow youth to project / construct their identities from around the world

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21
Q

8 typical representations of children

A

As victims of horrendous crimes (white children victims get more media attention than adults / children from ethnic minority backgrounds)

Cute

Little devils

Brave little angels (suffering from long term diseases)

Brilliant (child prodigies / heroes)

Accessories (how they humanise celebrities)

Modern (children know so much more ‘at their age’)

Active consumers (leads to pester power - engels -)

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22
Q

General features of the representation of middle class

A

Jones - “we’re all middle class now”

Values of the MC are seen as the norm
WC seen as abnormal

GMG - there is little media content which discusses class inequality and power differences

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23
Q

Reiner

A

Representations of wealthy people show them as an example of success within a meritocratic society

Audiences are encourage to identify with the culture of consumption

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24
Q

Nairn

A

The royal family are deemed to be like us - the queen seen as an ordinary mother doing extraordinary things

Mx : this representations undermines economic differences between the WC and RC, sticking to the status quo and puts the WC in a FCC

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25
General representations of WC
Curran and Seaton - content of tabloids are aimed at the WC and should thus represent their POV The sun, daily mirror etc. aimed at WC - suggests they have little interest in serious public affairs (government) and more interest in infotainment Newman - there is little realistic representation on the everyday lives of WC (despite large proportion of population)
26
Butsch - The Royle Family
WC are represented as well-intentioned buffoons, figures of fun Portrayed as having unintelligent conversations and watch TV all the time Mx - perpetuates class inequalities through negative stereotypes
27
WC as chavs, white trash and scum
Lawler - using words like chav creates impressions of hostility and helps MC secure their identity and legitimises their privileged position over the WC Shildrick et al - media does not represent the wider structural issues which lead to a lack of social mobility - EG problems within education
28
What do Neo-Mx / PM say about disability
Shakespeare - disability is a social construct - created by the attitude of society, not the person themselves
29
Media gaze of disability
A hyperreality has been created about disability for those who haven’t had a direct experience of disability white MC men control media - our understanding of disability is largely based on the media gaze of those men Media gaze represents disability as a problem based on an individual’s impairments, not as a problem created by society’s reaction to this impairment
30
Symbolic annihilation disability
Cumberbatch et al - 2.5% of TV programmes portrayed disabled people despite them representing 20% of the real world
31
Negative representations of disability
Philo (GMG) - half of programmes with mental illness story lines represented these people as threat - 63% negative portrayal of mental illness Brian et al - media coverage describing those with mental health related disabilities had gone drown from 2004 - 2011 (AO3 : is this changing)
32
Media stereotypes of disability - Barnes
Majority of information about disability across all media patronise, criminalise and dehumanise disabled people
33
Media stereotypes of disability - cumberbatch and negrine
In cinema disability represented as: the criminal or a powerless and pathetic character
34
Consequences of media stereotypes of disability
Disabled people are seen as: Pitiable Object of curiosity (dehumanising) Sinister or evil Object of ridicule Burden - unable to participate in daily life
35
Media stereotypes of ethnicity (black)
Hargrave - black people twice as likely as white to be portrayed as criminals
36
Media stereotypes of ethnicity - society + analysis
Causing social problems and not victims of them: Underachievement in school Child sexual exploitation Illegal immigration Posing a threat to the “British way of life” - forced marriages, honour killings AO3 - why does the media do this - pluralists : to make money - instrumentalists : divide the WC to stop a class war - hegemonic : assert white dominance
37
Media stereotypes of ethnicity - international news + AO3 analysis - WHY?
GMG - developing nations represented as chaotic Focus is on civil war, terrorism, famine Little context is ever given to the reason (EG colonialism) AO3 - why does the media do this Pluralists - lack of context is due to restraints of news broadcasters and news values (simplicity) Hegemonic - to distract attention from the role of the West in creating these problems
38
Islamophobia and the media AO1 + AO3 analysis - consequence
2007 - 91% of reporting on Muslims in newspapers were negative News reporting around Muslims relates to female oppression AO3 - WHY + consequence Pluralists - news values + what audiences tend to watch Negative stereotypes
39
Islamophobia and the media AO2
Media coverage of Muslims has led to stereotypes where they represent a threat to British values and public safety Goffman - this LEADS to Muslim identity becoming a “stigmatised identity” - undesirable Baroness Warsi - media coverage HAS LED TO a level of Islamophobia which is seen as normal
40
What does Sam Harris say about the coverage of Muslims
Media highlighting transgressions of social norms by extremist Muslims shouldn’t be considered Islamophobic
41
What do Neo Marxists say about whether the representations of ethnic minorities are stereotypical
The media does represent ethnic minorities in a stereotypical way to assert white dominance
42
What do pluralists say about whether the representations of ethnic minorities are stereotypical
The media doesn’t represent them in a stereotypical way - they represent them in a way which reflects news values and what audiences want
43
The symbolic annihilation of gay and lesbian sexuality - Gross
Gross - media often symbolically annihilate gays by excludingm trivialising or condemning. Despite change, homosexuality is still underrepresented / portrayed negatively
44
The symbolic annihilation of gay and lesbian sexuality - Cowan and Valentine
In a study of BBC, found that gay people 5 times more likely to be portrayed negatively than positively
45
Gill
Sanitisation of gay sexuality To avoid risk of offending heterosexual audiences or putting off advertisers, media represents gay sexuality in a sanitised way EG - gays rarely portrayed in a sexualised way, instead appear stylish and attractive to appeal to women Opposite for lesbians - portrayed in a hyper sexualised manner - for older heterosexual males
46
Growing tolerance, changing stereotypes
Media still underrepresents gay and lesbians but this is changing - greater acceptance Why? Media companies realised that gay and lesbianism is a consumer marketer - pink pound
47
Examples of better representation of gay and lesbian people
Netflix: Queer eye Sex education
48
Underrepresentation of women in the media INDUSTRY
IWMF - women faced a glass ceiling and stayed at junior level 60% of senior roles are men 74% of national news journalists are men Twice as many male editors as there are women
49
Martinson
In media content Over 50s = 82% are men, 5% are women (symbolic annihilation)
50
Cumberbatch et al about the reason for the underrepresentation of older women
Generally there are fewer old women than men, and narrower range of roles
51
The male gaze - Neo-mx, Marxist feminists and radical feminists
Leveson inquiry - tabloid press failed to show respect for the dignity of women Women represented as sexual objects to provide pleasure for men Women’s worth defined by beauty Tuchman et al - underrepresentation and limited roles LEADS to trivialisation which LEADS to symbolic annihilation
52
Connell
Media influences the construction of gender differences by reproducing stereotypes of gender roles One stereotype is the beauty myth (wolf)
53
Tebbel
Women’s bodies are represented so that the normal body type is thin, youthful and ultimately unattainable This has LED TO the symbolic annihilation of the female body
54
Why does the media create this stereotype around female bodies
Fashion, cosmetic and beauty industries do this to keep women buying their products as a means of consistently needing to “improve” themselves (Mx perspective / Mx feminist)
55
Pluralist view for media stereotypes
Stereotyping occurs because it satisfies what audiences and advertisers want so they produce the same sort of content
56
Liberal feminist view for media stereotypes
Representations of women are due to an under-representation of women as chief executives, senior managers etc. in media organisations This encourages a male view of the world This will change when women gain more power in the media world and are able to break through the glass ceiling
57
Marxist / Marxist feminist view for media stereotypes
Media representations of women are driven by a desire to attract advertisers - stereotyping women helps advertisers to sell products (cosmetics, diet plans) If media producers encourage a realistic view of the female body, advertisers may lose revenue and withdraw support Media and big companies exploit women financially, making WC women feel especially marginalised as they can’t participate in the stereotypical lifestyle promoted in the media
58
Radical feminists view for media stereotypes
Media represents women like this to reproduce patriarchy Media seeks to limit women’s roles so they subordinate to men and satisfy the male gaze through the beauty myth Women can’t challenge power-relations or male dominance
59
Are media sterotypes of gender changing - McRobbie
In an increasingly postmodern world where views on men and women are more fluid, media is more able to change to reflect different representations of men and women
60
Are media sterotypes of gender changing - gauntlett
Expectation of men and women being treated equally is beginning to be reflected in the media
61
Changing representations for women
Women are more successful than men in education so are becoming more successful in the job market Pluralists - this is reflected in the media - EG magazines now cater for working women instead of just housewives = as opinions in society change, the media will change as well (accepting vs rejecting media)
62
Knight
Despite representations of women changing where they are seen as strong and independent, they are still represented as attractive and glamorous = beauty myths still prevail
63
Changing representations of males - Gauntlett
Magazines encourage men to talk about mental health Men to be more caring and emotional Male body used as a sex object Men are more aware of appearance and weight - rise in ED amongst men

Sociology - Media (6 decks)

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