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Social Class and the media

Social Class and the media. The powerful influence most denied in the United States. Social stratification. In all societies there is some form of hierarchy Distribution of social rewards/values is not entirely equal in any society Hierarchy varies How steep Bases for hierarchy.

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Social Class and the media

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  1. Social Class and the media The powerful influence most denied in the United States

  2. Social stratification • In all societies there is some form of hierarchy • Distribution of social rewards/values is not entirely equal in any society • Hierarchy varies • How steep • Bases for hierarchy

  3. Social Class • Stratification within a society based on a number of variables • Income • Education • Breeding (Tastes) • Blood (Old rich v. nouveau riche)

  4. Does class exist in America? • Largely denied by U.S. culture • “Classless society” • “The belief that the United States is a classless society or, alternatively, that most Americans are “middle class” persists . . . despite pervasive socioeconomic stratification” • (Bullock, Wyche and Williams, 2001)

  5. Reasons for denial • Meritocracy • Market system • Equal opportunity • Legal blindness to most demographic differences • Upward mobility • Overshadowed by other concerns • Race • Sex (Gender) • Religion • Nationalism

  6. Yes—social class exists in America • Vast differences among Americans in their incomes, property, power • Life chances are significantly influenced by social class at birth • Education • Access to technology • Network of opportunities

  7. But things are getting better, right?

  8. What about social mobility? • Mobility among classes is relatively common in the United States, but: • Children of the rich tend to be afforded a great deal of advantage in education, networking, ability to try and fail, etc. • People of different classes have fairly limited personal contact • Geographic segregation • PRIZM • Intermarriage across widely differing social classes is uncommon • Cinderella • Pretty Woman • Princess and the Pea • The Nanny • Old money tends to maintain the class position of the next generation • Greatest access to higher circles has been through technology

  9. Social class affects: • Media access/choice • Content preferences • Interpretation of media content • Representation within media content • Power over media

  10. Social class and media use • Access to media • More expensive media tend to be used more by the relatively well-to-do • Digital divide • Literacy levels • Written materials • Taste cultures • “High culture” v. “low culture” (popular culture) • Opera v. hip-hop

  11. Internet use by household income

  12. Source: Mediamark Research, Inc.

  13. iPods/MP3 players are gadgets for the upscale. Fully 18% of those who live in households earning more than $75,000 have them; 13% of those living in households earning $50,000 to $75,000 have them; 9% of those living in households earning $30,000-$50,000 own them and 7% of those living in households earning less than $30,000 have them. (20% of respondents did not tell us their household income.) • Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project

  14. Content Preferences

  15. Source: NEA 2002 Survey of Participation in the Arts

  16. Source: 2000 Porter Novelli Healthstyles Survey

  17. Interpretation of content • Class-based worldview influences interpretations

  18. Stereotypes • Just as for African Americans or women, etc. there are stereotypes that go with being working class or lower class • Usually negative for those lower on the status hierarchy

  19. What are lower-class women like? • Trashy • Oversexed • Unsophisticated • Domestic • Kids • Dependant/“Golddigger” • Focused on men

  20. What are lower-class men like? • Violent • Brutish • Dominant • Stupid • Ignorant • Focused on cars, sports, sex • Racist • Sexist • Engage in hair-brained schemes to get ahead • Lack taste

  21. Representation • Over-representation of professionals and relatively well-to-do on TV • Parallel situation in film, though more varied • Working class and poor ‘invisibility’ • Except as cops and criminals • Occasional representations are often stereotypic

  22. When lower- and working-class people are depicted • Tend to be portrayed as foolish or ignorant • “Trailer trash” can be portrayed in ways that would cause significant outcry if applied to racial minorities, etc. • Archie Bunker • Homer Simpson • Seen as sexist, racist, violent, unintelligent and entirely lacking in taste • Jerry Springer • WWE • Blue Collar Comedy Clampetts go to Maui

  23. Prime Time programming • Early television included a number of working-class leads • Ralph Cramden • Marty • More recent examples • All in the Family • Roseanne

  24. However, the tone of Prime Time is heavily white-collar/professional or upper class • The main exceptions are law enforcement personnel in “cop shows,” ‘reality’ shows and daytime talk shows • Often connect poor and working class with negative depictions, low culture

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