Media

Redhead and Thornton?

Redhead found that house raves ended up having the police setting up road blocks in riot gear; illegal parties became banned due to the Criminal Justice Act. Thorton implied that moral panic around it attracted more people; more people were seen as deviant.

Tuchman et al

(1978) - symbolic annihilation to describe the way in which women's achievements are: - ignored - condemned - trivialised - often their achievements are presented as less important than their looks and sex appeal.

Stuart Hall

- 70's 'black muggers'

Storey?

Storey 2003 claimed the American capitalist systems are successful which has led to successful imposition of Americanization.

Why moral panics happen?

- A reaction to rapid social change: When new groups emerged in the 50's and 60's the older generation had concerns about the nature of society, deviating away from traditional norms and values. - Furedi suggests moral panics arise when society cannot adapt to dramatic social change; they feel there is a loss of control. - Cohen and Young infer that our anxieties come from the media, the media assumes that people in the country share the same norms and values about what is acceptable, "folk devils" are made news worthy as they go against this. - Means of making a profit: Moral panics occur because the ones who create the media want it to occur; moral panics will sell the media. However, sometimes the social problem is unsolved but loses its newsworthiness so is not featured anymore. - Serving ruling class ideology: Stuart Hall (Marxist) moral panics serve an ideological function, black muggers helped turn the white working class against the black working class diverting attention away from capitalism and justified repressive laws. - Reflection of people's real fears: Left Realists believe moral panics are based on reality the media identifies people who are a threat to some people - some moral panics are justified.

Newson

- Desensitisation - Media violence if shown to a child for long enough leads to desensiting their violent effects as they are used to seeing violence so they do not understand what is bad about it: Tom and Jerry and The Simpsons are examples.

Who says media empowers women?

- Gauntlett (2008) argues that magazines aimed at young women emphasise that women must do their own thing and be themselves, whilst female pop stars, like Lady Gaga, sing about financial and emotional independence. - This set of media messages from a range of sources suggest that women can be tough and independent whilst being 'sexy'.

Cultural Effects model?

- Marxists see the media as a very powerful ideological influence that transmit capitalist norms and values. - It takes into account that different people will interpret media differently; but it's expected to be interpreted in a certain way to the masses. - the drip drip effect shows the media has become intertwined in current society. - the media content helps keep control over society and the rich ideas are becoming the mass ideas. Curran suggests tabloid newspapers are guilty of ideological practices.

Ritzer

- McDonaldization of culture, American brands can operate on a global scale, it's found in 119 different countries.

Feminist views of Female representation?

- Postmodernism: mass media challenges traditional male roles, no evidence women pay attention to the media - only portrays social tastes. - Popular feminists: girl power has allowed women to have a better position in the media. - Radical feminists: the media reinforces the beauty myth, along with "pop culture" and girl power.

Morley

- Reception analysis model - media content is not passively accepted as truth by audiences - (1980) Nationwide programme - ideological content iterpreted - 29 groups made up of people from a range of educational and professional backgrounds. - audiences were active in their reading of media content 1) The preferred (or dominant) reading accepts the media content as legitimate, e.g. the British people generally approve of the Royal Family, so very few people are likely to interpret stories about them in a critical fashion. This dominant reading is often shared by journalists and editors, and underpins news values. 2) The oppositional reading opposes the views expressed in media content. 3) The negotiated reading whereby the audience reinterpret the media content to fit in with their own opinions and values, e.g. they may not have any strong views on the Royal Family, but enjoy reading about celebrity lives. - Morley argues that the average person belongs to several sub-cultural groups and this may complicate a person's reading of media content in the sense that they may not be consistent in their interpretation of it. Reception analysis theory therefore suggests that audiences are not passive, impressionable and homogeneous. They act in a variety of subcultural ways and, for this reason, media content is polysemic, i.e. it attracts more than one type of reading or interpretation.

Selective Filters?

- Step one: Selective exposure, the audience chose how they want to receive the media; depends on a number of factors (eg: education). - Step two: Selective perception, the audience interpret the media how they want; tend to ignore views which disagree with theirs. - Step three: Selective retention, people only remember information which confirm their ideas. Festinger 1957 people seek information which their existing views. Postman 1986 believes we now live in a "3 minute culture".

Robinson?

- adverts making fun out of the elderly were not liked by students or adults, they were "out of touch". - The media have adverts such as "anti-aging products" which reinforces the idea it's an "undesirable state".

Postmodernists and effects of globalisation?

- argue that the clear divide between high and low culture has become blurred due to globalisation & technological advances - anyone can visit places which were thought to be "special". Opera is now shown to the mass culture, so is Shakespeare. Although it could be denoted a negative, it can get lower classes in touch with more complex ideas.

McCabe and Martin

- came up with the disinhibitation effect; the idea that children sometimes remove their inhibition and replace it with violence. A02a- Happy Slapping. Assault to record. Weaknesses: Feshbach and Sanger 1971: aggressive programmes are an outlet for aggressive behaviour known as the Catharsis effect.

Hill and Hughes

- challenge the view that cyberspace is more likely to contain web content that supports alternative minority political issues or views - 78% of political opinions expressed on the American websites were mainstream. - cultural pessimists argue that increased choice of media delivery systems and particularly the digitalisation of television, has led to a decline in the quality of popular culture. - Harvey suggests that digital television may have dramatically increased the number of channels for viewers to choose from, but this has led to a dumbing down of popular culture as television companies fill these channels with cheap imported material, films, repeats, sport, reality television shows and gambling. - Harvey argues that, increasingly, television culture transmits a candy floss culture that speaks to everyone in general and no one in particular.

Wayne et al?

- content analysis of 2130 news items across all the main television channels during May 2006 - young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society. - very rare for news items to feature a young person's perspective or opinion. - the media only delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding. - distracts from the real problems that young people face in the modern world such as homelessness, not being able to get onto the housing ladder, unemployment or mental health and that these might be caused by society's, or the government's, failure to take the problems of youth seriously.

Strinati?

- denoted that the mass media shapes consumer choice, the media can create desires and pressures to conform then we use this to shape our identities. - At the end of the day the media decide our trends, content and quality of products; Hollywood movies are now all about the special effects. - elements of high culture have now become popular culture things are created for the mass audience.

Newman

- focus very positively on the concerns of the wealthy and the privileged - the media over-focuses on consumer items such as luxury cars, costly holiday spots and fashion accessories that only the wealthy can afford - he also notes the enormous amount of print and broadcast media dedicated to daily business news and stock market quotations, despite the fact that few people in Britain own stocks and shares. Representations of the middle classes: The middle class are over-represented on TV dramas and situation comedies. Part of the British newspaper market is specifically aimed at the middle classes and their consumption, tastes and interests, e.g. the Daily Mail. The content of newspapers such as the Daily Mail suggests that journalists believe that the middle classes of middle England are generally anxious about the decline of moral standards in society and that they are proud of their British identity and heritage. It is assumed that their readership feels threatened by alien influences such as the Euro, asylum seekers and terrorism. Consequently, newspapers, such as the Daily Mail, often crusade on behalf of the middle classes and initiate moral panics on issues such as video nasties, paedophilia and asylum seekers. Most of the creative personnel in the media are themselves middle class. In news and current affairs, the middle classes dominate positions of authority - the 'expert' is invariably middle class. Representations of the working class the working class is generally labelled as a problem, e.g. as welfare cheats, drug addicts or criminals. working class groups, e.g. youth sub-cultures such as mods or skinheads, are often the subject of moral panics, whilst reporting of issues such as poverty, unemployment or single-parent families often suggests that personal inadequacy is the main cause of these social problems, rather than government policies or poor business practices. Studies of industrial relations reporting by the Glasgow University Media Group suggest that the media portray 'unreasonable' workers as making trouble for 'reasonable' employers.

Batchelor

- gays are not integrated into the mainstream media but are a target for teasing and bullying. Lesbianism is hardly shown.

Craig + Watney

- homosexual characters are portrayed in the media, e.g. in popular drama, they are often stereotyped as having particular amusing or negative psychological and social characteristics. Campness - this is one of the most widely used gay representations, found mainly in the entertainment media. The camp persona reinforces negative views of gay sexuality by being somewhere in between male and female. Macho - a look that exaggerates masculinity and which is regarded by heterosexual men as threatening because it subverts traditional ideas of masculinity. Deviant - gays may be stereotyped as deviants, as evil or as devious in television drama, as sexual predators or as people who feel tremendous guilt about their sexuality. In many cases, gay characters are completely defined by the 'problem' of their sexuality and homosexuality is often constructed to appear morally wrong. - Responsible for AIDS - Watney has illustrated how British news coverage of AIDS in the 1980s stereotyped gay people as carriers of a gay plague. He argues that news coverage of AIDS reflected mainstream society's fear and dislike of the gay community and resulted in unsympathetic accounts that strongly implied that homosexual AIDS sufferers only had their own 'immoral and unnatural' behaviour to blame for their condition or death.

Hypodermic Syringe?

- magic bullet - an early model discovered by Lipman and Lasswell ('powerful effects' theory) in the 1920/30's - aiming to explain the direct relationship between the mass media and its audience. - passive; it's being injected into them - the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds and the hysteria that ensued is a classic illustration of this - Feminists feel the link between porn and real life sexual violence exists. - Morgan 1980 claimed porn is the theory rape is the practice. Dworkin 1990 said porn trivialises rape.

Tunstall

- media representations emphasise women's domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. - media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. - men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital or family status. - working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. - working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.

Cornford and Robbins?

- new media are not so new and that the media today is an accommodation between old and new because to use a game console, a television is required, while to connect to the Internet, a telephone line is still needed. - interactivity is not something new because people have written to newspapers and phoned in to radio and television for many years. - the only thing that is new about new media is its speed - information, news and entertainment can be accessed in 'real time'.

Neo-philiac?

- new media is beneficial to society for several reasons. - Increased consumer choice - there are now hundreds of choices available to people in the form of media outlets and delivery systems. It is argued that competition between media institutions results in more quality media output. - An e-commerce revolution - a great deal of retail commerce is conducted on the Internet. Most major commercial companies now have their own websites. - Revitalising democracy - new media technologies may offer opportunities for people to acquire the education and information required to play an active role in democratic societies and to make politicians more accountable to the people. Some media sociologists have suggested that the Internet can revitalise democracy because it gives a voice to those who would otherwise go unheard. It allows like-minded people to join together and take action which may lead to social change. Some neophiliacs who are part of the anti-global capitalism movement have used the Internet to challenge the power of international capitalism.

Cultural pessimists?

- new media technology has been exaggerated by neophiliacs. Cornford and Robins (1999) argue that new media are not so new and that the media today is an accommodation between old and new because to use a game console, Cultural pessimists criticise the idea that new media are increasing the potential for ordinary people to participate more fully in the democratic process and cultural life. The Internet is actually dominated by a small number of media corporations. Over three-quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment websites are affiliated with the largest media corporations, according to Curran. There are some negative effects associated with the commercialisation of the Internet, e.g. many companies that sell products and services on the Internet engage in consumer surveillance. New technologies, e.g. in the form of cookies, can monitor and process the data generated by interactive media usage so they can segment and target potential future audiences and thus enhance profits. Hill and Hughes (1997) ... Some sociologists, politicians and cultural commentators argue that new media, particularly the Internet, is in need of state regulation. All points of view are represented on the Internet, but it is argued that easy access to pornography, and homophobic, racist and terrorism-inciting sites is taking free speech too far.

Curran and Seaton?

- newspapers aimed at working class audiences assume that they are uninterested in serious analysis of either the political or social organisation of British society. - political debate is often reduced simplistically to conflict between personalities - the content of newspapers such as The Sun and the Daily Star assumes that such audiences want to read about celebrity gossip and lifestyles, trivial human interest stories and sport.

Barnes

- oppressive and negative representations of people with disabilities are rarely presented as people with their own identities 1) In need of pity and charity - Barnes claims that this stereotype has grown in popularity in recent years because of television appeals such as Children in Need. 2) As victims - Barnes found that when people with disabilities are featured in television drama, they are three times more likely than able-bodied characters to be killed off. 3) As villains - people with disabilities are often portrayed as criminals or monsters, e.g. villains in James Bond films often have a physical impairment. 4) As super-cripples - Barnes notes that people with disabilities are often portrayed as having special powers or as overcoming their impairment and poverty. In Hollywood films, the impaired male body is often visually represented as a perfect physical specimen in a wheelchair. Ross notes that disability issues have to be sensational, unexpected or heroic in order to be interpreted by journalists as newsworthy and reported on. 5) As a burden - television documentaries and news features often focus on carers rather than the people with disabilities. 6) As sexually abnormal - it is assumed by media representations that people with disabilities do not have sexual feelings or that they are sexually degenerate. 7) As incapable of participating fully in community life and Barnes calls this the stereotype of omission and notes that people with disabilities are rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community such as students, teachers or parents. 8) As ordinary or normal - Barnes argues that the media rarely portray people with disabilities as normal people who just happen to have a disability. They consequently fail to reflect the real, everyday experience of disability.

Klapper

- selective filter model - 1960 - for a media message to have any effect, it must pass through three filters. - Selective Exposure - the audience must choose to view, read or listen to the content of specific media. Media messages can have no effect if no one sees or hears them. However, what the audience chooses depends upon their interests, education, work commitments and so on. Selective perception - the audience may not accept the message; some people may take notice of some media content, but decide to reject or ignore others. Selective retention - the messages have to 'stick' in the mind of those who have accessed the media content. However, research indicates that most people have a tendency to remember only the things they broadly agree with. E.g. smokers and anti-smoking adverts, ignore

Orbach

- slimness=happiness and consequently Orbach suggests that such media imagery creates the potential for eating disorders.

Wolf?

- suggests that the images of women used by the media present women as sex objects to be consumed by what Mulvey calls the male gaze - according to Kilbourne (1995), this media representation presents women as mannequins: tall and thin, often US size zero, with very long legs, perfect teeth and hair, and skin without a blemish in sight. - Wolf notes that the media encourage women to view their bodies as a project in constant need of improvement. - the beauty myth

Jamie Bulger

- two year old who was abducted and was murdered by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. He was taken to a railway where bricks, paint, iron bars and stones were thrown at his face. They were both found guilty and taken to a youth offending unit. Child's Play 3, was a film which eventually was banned.

Newman and the elderly?

- upper class and middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film dramas as occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives - news programmes seem to work on the assumption that an older male with grey in his hair and lines on his face somehow exudes the necessary authority to impart the news. - However, female newscasters, such as Anna Ford, have long complained that these older men are often paired with attractive young females, while older women newsreaders are often exiled to radio. L - leading female film and television stars are also often relegated to character parts once their looks and bodies are perceived to be on the wane, which seems to be after the age of 40. - Sociological studies show that when the elderly do appear in the media, they tend to be portrayed in the following one-dimensional ways. - As grumpy - conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change. - As mentally challenged - suffering from declining mental functions. - As dependent - helpless and dependent on other younger members of the family or society. - As a burden - as an economic burden on society (in terms of the costs of pensions and health care to the younger generation) and/or as a physical and social burden on younger members of their families (who have to worry about or care for them). - As enjoying a second childhood - as reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities that they have always longed to do before they die.

Post-modernists and globalisation?

The global media brings more choice to your identity and lifestyle, allowing alternatives and spreading beneficial views of democracy. Societies can adapt from others creating new culture, fashion, and music known as hybridization when there is success of something in more than one country.

Representation of children?

1) As victims of crimes - some critics of the media have suggested that White children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds. 2) As cute - this is a common stereotype found in television commercials for baby products or toilet rolls. 3) As little devils - another common stereotype especially found in drama and comedy, e.g. Bart Simpson. 4) As brilliant - perhaps as child prodigies or as heroes for saving the life of an adult. 5) As brave little angels - suffering from a long-term terminal disease or disability. 6) As accessories - stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckhams may focus on how their children humanise them. 7) As modern - the media may focus on how children 'these days' know so much more 'at their age' than previous generations of children. 8) As active consumers - television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure, 'pester power', the power of children to train or manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the children's status in the eyes of their peers. (SUE PALMER)

Cohen

1964 - Interactionist: carried out sociological research found that people are labelled and change their actions to meet their labels, he focused on the mods and rockers - believing their criminality was exaggerated by the media. A modern day example is the London riots; one group which is targeted regularly is students; sociologists could say this is because moral panics are just recycled. He came up with the deviancy amplification spiral. A02: Some sociologists believe the new media have changed society to the extent that the deviancy amplification spiral can no longer be used.

Akinti?

2003: TV coverage of ethnic minorities are over focusing on crime, underachieving black children, AIDS in Africa; neglecting the benefits which cultural diversity brings. He also found that TV often focuses on inaccurate and superficial stereotypical issues.

Violence - imitation

Bandura- Children were shown aggressive behaviour and they were more likely to imitate it. Social Learning Theory suggests that you are more likely to imitate violent behaviour from a model and children were susceptible to this kind of behaviour.

Blumer and McQuail

Blumler and McQuail (1968) and Lull (1995) see media audiences as active. Their uses and gratifications model suggests that people use the media in order to satisfy particular social needs that they have, e.g. Wood (1993) illustrated how teenagers may use horror films to gratify their need for excitement. Blumler and McQuail identify four basic needs which people use the media to satisfy. Diversion - people may immerse themselves in particular types of media to make up for the lack of satisfaction at work or in their daily lives, e.g. women may compensate for the lack of romance in their marriages by reading Mills and Boon romantic novels. Some people even have alternative lives and identities as avatars on websites such as Second Life. Personal relationships - media products such as soap operas may compensate for the decline of community in our lives, e.g. socially isolated elderly people may see soap opera characters as companions they can identify with and worry about in the absence of interaction with family members. Cyber-communities on the Internet may also be seen by users as alternative families. Personal identity - people may use the media to 'make over' or to modify their identity. Social networking websites, such as Facebook, allow people to use the media to present their particular identities to the wider world in a way that they can control. Surveillance - people use the media to obtain information and news in order to help them make up their minds on particular issues. Marxists are critical of this model because they suggest that social needs may be socially manufactured by the media and may therefore be 'false needs'.

Post-modernist and new media?

Distinction between reality and media is becoming blurred, the media images now seem like reality, this is known as hyperreality; this could be due to the media saturated society.

McPhail?

Electronic colonialism- culturally penetrated with American values

Ferguson and Winship?

Ferguson - conducted a content analysis of women's magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. - She notes that such magazines are organised around a cult of femininity, which promotes a traditional ideal where excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family, marriage and appearance. - However, Ferguson's ideas were challenged by Winship (1987), who argued that women's magazines generally play a supportive and positive role in the lives of women. - Winship argues that such magazines present women with a broader range of options than ever before and that they tackle problems that have been largely ignored by the male-dominated media, such as domestic violence and child abuse.

Moral panic with refugees and asylum seekers?

In 2003 a moral panic occurred over the amount of refugees into the UK. The Daily Mail ad Sun linked this with terrorism; many people were worried about entering the UK ifhat was our view that they took advantage of our system.

Cumberbatch?

In 3500 studies no conclusive evidence media violence influences behaviour.

Two Step Flow?

In the 1940's and 50's Katz and Lasarsfeld found there were 2 different steps; the media is received by an audience member which will be affected by their own beliefs and values. Opinion leaders are the ones who get the message and pass it on. Step one is that opinion leaders are exposed to the media and the message is then passed on.

Batchelor?

Mass media have an important role to play in attitudes of young people regarding sexuality, his content analysis found that sexual health was portrayed as positive; but there was little concern about safe sex. Another point was that men clearly found it acceptable to boast about what they had done sexually. In addition, there is a lack of lesbian and gay teenagers who are portrayed in the media, which alienates them and is out of touch with today's youth.

Curran and Seaton

Two perspectives dominate the debate about the new media in Britain. - The neophiliac perspective. - The cultural pessimist perspective

Dyer?

Media construct what is stereotyped as "gayness" - vocal highs, expressions, walks etc: making the visible the invisible.

Mort

Metrosexual man reflects change in attitudes about men.

Flew?

New media leads to a global popular culture. Undermines local cultures and countries cultures are becoming more alike.

Van Dijk

Van Dijk's (1991) content analysis of tens of thousands of news items across the world over several decades confirms that news representations of Black people can be categorised into several types of stereotypically negative news. - Ethnic minorities as criminals - Black crime is the most frequent issue found in media news coverage of ethnic minorities. ( African-Caribbeans, tend to be portrayed as criminals, especially in the tabloid press and more recently as members of organised gangs that push drugs and violently defend urban territories.) - Ethnic minorities and moral panics - Watson (2008) notes that moral panics often result from media stereotyping of Black people as potentially criminal. (This effect was first brought to sociological attention by Hall's classic study of a 1970s moral panic that was constructed around the folk devil of the 'Black mugger'. Further moral panics have developed around rap music, e.g. in 2003, 'gangsta rap' lyrics came under attack for contributing to an increase in gun crime.) - Ethnic minorities as a threat - ethnic minorities are often portrayed as a threat to the majority White culture. It is suggested by some media that immigrants and asylum seekers are only interested in living in Britain because they wish to take fraudulent advantage of Britain's 'generous' welfare state. Poole (2000), pre 9/11, argued that Islam has always been demonised and distorted by the Western media. It has traditionally been portrayed as a threat to Western interests. Representations of Islam have been predominantly negative and Muslims have been stereotyped as backward, extremist, fundamentalist and misogynist. - Ethnic minorities as dependent - news stories about less developed countries tend to focus on a 'coup-war-famine-starvation syndrome'. Often such stories imply that the causes of the problems experienced by developing countries are self-inflicted - that they are the result of stupidity, tribal conflict, too many babies, laziness, corruption and unstable political regimes. External causes such as colonialism, tied aid, transnational exploitation and the unfair terms of world trade are rarely discussed by the British media. - Ethnic minorities as abnormal - the cultural practices of ethnic minorities are often called into question and labelled as deviant or abnormal. Many Asian people believe that the media treatment of arranged marriages was often inaccurate and did not reflect the way that the system had changed over time. Ameli et al. (2007) note that media discussion around the issue of the wearing of the hijab and the veil is also problematic, often suggesting that it is somehow an inferior form of dress compared with Western female dress codes and that it is unnecessary and problematic. It is often portrayed as a patriarchal and oppressive form of control that exemplifies the misogyny of Islam and symbolises the alleged subordinate position of women in Islam. - Ethnic minorities as unimportant - Van Dijk notes that some sections of the media imply that the lives of White people are somehow more important than the lives of non-White people. News items about disasters in developing countries are often restricted to a few lines or words unless there are also White or British victims. Moreover, Sir Ian Blair, the former Metropolitan police commissioner, claimed that institutionalised racism was present in the British media in the way they reported death from violent crime. He noted that Black and Asian victims of violent death did not get the same attention as White victims. However, the murder of the Black teenager Stephen Lawrence by White racists in 1993 received high-profile coverage, both on television and in the press. - Ethnic minorities as invisible - in 2005, a BBC News Online survey noted that Black and Asian people were represented as newscasters and television journalists, but the range of roles that ethnic minority actors play in television drama is very limited and often reflects low status, e.g. Africans may play cleaners or Asians may play shopkeepers. Ethnic minority audiences were also very hostile towards tokenism - the idea that programmes contain characters from ethnic minority groups purely because they 'should'. Ethnic minority audiences complain that Black and Asian people are rarely shown as ordinary citizens who just happen to be Black or Asian. Stories focuses on white people prioritised. Minimum coverage of Black victims e.g Tunisian massacre.

Rosenau?

claimed that global culture is an American entertainment culture e.g.: Disneyfication; places are stripped of their own identity and replaced with American. Kellner 1999 conversed global culture is all about sameness.

How much a year spent on diet products?

£10 Billion