CMN 149 Lecture Notes - Americans in the U.S.A.

Flashcards based on CMN 149 Lecture Notes - Americans in the U.S.A.

What American value emphasizes seeing oneself as separate with individual destinies?

Individualism

What is a potential drawback of American individualism?

Lack of a safety net ('safety in numbers')

What founding principle of the U.S. is often violated in systems like education and housing?

Equality ('All people are created equal')

How do American servers often behave, reflecting the ideal of equality?

Informally

What are Americans supposedly less concerned with, in favor of the future?

History and tradition

How is achievement often displayed in American culture?

Materialism

What is a common consequence of the American emphasis on being busy and working hard?

Neglect of community, mental health, and individual well-being

From what does the American emphasis on achievement and work ethic stem?

Protestant work ethic

What is a characteristic communication style common in American culture?

Directness and assertiveness

What is a potential negative consequence of American directness in communication?

Lack of 'saving face' for others

How is time often viewed in American culture?

As a resource or money

What belief results from the interaction of American values and assumptions?

American Exceptionalism

How does the U.S. rank in terms of media literacy education compared to other countries?

15th out of 44

What percentage of Americans read below the equivalent of a 6th-grade level?

54%

What is advertising, in essence?

A persuasive message or propaganda

What role does advertising play in society beyond selling products?

Socialization agent, conveying norms and values

What does repetition in advertising normalize?

Behavior

What is 'race' defined as?

A socially constructed category based on perceived physical characteristics

What is 'ethnicity' defined as?

A shared cultural heritage or identity

What is the significance of race, despite not being a biological truth?

It has real consequences

What historical period saw the emergence of race as a construct to justify exploitation?

European colonial expansion

What policies followed the Civil Rights era, yet still perpetuated structural racism?

Neoliberal policies

What is a 'code' in media terms?

A system of signs that convey meaning

What are the two levels of meaning within a code?

Denotative (literal) and connotative (subjective)

What are key components of media construction?

Selection, framing, editing, language, and symbolism

What does Noam Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent' theory address?

How media serves the interests of those in power rather than acting as a check on political power

What are Chomsky's 5 filters of the media machine?

Ownership, advertisers, establishment influence, flack, and the common enemy

What is semiotics?

The study of signs and how we make sense of the world

What is a 'signifier' in semiotics?

Something that creates meaning (e.g., an image or word)

What are 'affordances' in the context of technology?

What you can do with the technology

What are 'defaults' in the context of technology?

The expectation of use for a technology

What is Stuart Hall's Representation Theory concerned with?

How the media reinterprets reality and fixes meanings

What is 'symbolic annihilation'?

The absence or trivialization of a group in media

What is 'tokenism'?

The inclusion of a minority as a symbol of diversity

What is a 'schema'?

A mental framework used to organize and interpret information

What are 'stereotypes'?

Oversimplified, generalized beliefs about a group

What are the types of stereotypes?

Positive, negative, and neutral

What is 'prejudice'?

A psychological engagement that impacts the social

What are 'controlling images'?

Narratives that serve to justify actions into something neutral or normal

What is 'plastic representation'?

Superficial, artificial, and flattened representation

What is 'cultivation theory'?

Long-term exposure to media shapes our view of reality

What is 'framing theory'?

Media highlight some aspects of a story while downplaying others

What is 'agenda-setting theory'?

Media tells us what to think about

What is 'symbolic annihilation'?

Absence or trivialization of a group in media which equates to social erasure

What does social identity theory state?

We self-categorize into in-groups and out-groups

What is the self-serving bias?

When things go wrong, we blame situational factors instead of ourselves

What is the fundamental attribution error?

Doing self-serving to other people

What is stereotype threat?

The risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group

What is 'othering'?

A sociological framework where certain groups are marginalized or portrayed as different based on an established norm

What is main result of othering?

Exclusion along racial, cultural, gender, or socioeconomic lines

What does 'Whiteness' refer to?

The systems and privileges associated with the racial identity of being white

What is the problem with ignoring Whiteness?

Invalidates different experiences, categorizes the difference which individuals experience. As a White Person, your individual differences are invalidated under the term of whiteness which makes you the default.

What is 'Meritocracy'?

The idea that people get ahead based on their accomplishments rather than social class/status

What is the framing of 'American' in media?

Most charterers characterized as American will be seen as white

What is WASP?

White Anglo Saxon Protestant

What is a ''weeder'' class?

Exclusionary practice of not sharing things widely

What is the ''White savior'' narrative?

Those who are not white, who need savings from their own condition. People don't need savings from their own condition, they need saving from the societal expression.

What is the focus of race?

Physical traits, and how society interprets them

What are examples of race?

Black, white, asian, indigenous, pacific islander

What does it mean for race to be fluid?

It is rigid in some systems (E.g., legal categories), but socially constructed and context-dependent meaning that factors of racial identities can change over time, influenced by social, cultural, and political factors.

What is the use of race in society?

Often used to categorize, stereotype, or justify unequal treatment

What is the key-notes of race based on the class?

Race has been used historically to establish and enforce hierarchies and social divisions among different groups, influencing access to resources and opportunities.

What is the focus of ethnicity?

Cultural traits and social practices

What are examples of ethnicity?

Latino/Hispanic, Arab, Jewish, Irish, Navajo, Hatian

What is the origin of ethnicity?

More often self-identified and chosen based on shared culture and history.

What does fluidity mean in regards to ethnicity?

more fluid, people may identify with multiple or changing ethnic backgrounds due to a variety of factors.

What is the use of ethnicity in society?

emphasizes cultural connection, heritage, and belonging

What are the key-notes of ethnicity?

Ethnicity can sometimes overlap with race, but also cut across racial lines (e.g., Afro-Latino)

what happened during the Civil Rights era?

legal segregation ended (Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Civil Rights Act (1965), Fair Housing Act (1968)) but new forms of structural racism emerged.

what did post-civil rights neoliberalism see?

It saw mass incarceration, housing discrimination, school resegregation, labor market inequalities, healthcare disparities and political disenfranchisement.

what does neoliberalism mean?

It promotes a “colorblind” approach to race and frames redistributive practices as unfair and inefficient.

what are the reasons we are NOT in a post-racial society?

Symbolic progress does not equal structural change, colorbline ideology obscures reality, racial inequality is widespread, racism is not behind us and the “post-race” myth prevents accountability and action.

what historical period sought to classify humans as species using scientific racism and pseudoscientific theories like phrenology and eugenics?

Enlightenment