media and social class representation

reiner - myth of meritocracy

• according to reiner, the media displays people with materialistic wealth and nobody questions where theyre money comes from

• we assume that we can achieve these means through meritocracy

• those who are wealthy are viewed as deserving of their wealth

• e.j steve jobs or elon musk

• this is maintaining a false cass consciousness that discourages any questions about capitalism and the gap between the rich and poor

• this then leads the poor in thinking they can achieve this social mobility

• they belive that social class and position is deserved and meritocratic

• therefore media creates trad social class persp: the rich are deserving while the poor arent

narin

• royal family are represented positively

• even if there are negative stories or controversial actions taken by royal family members they are quickly replaced with positive ones

• Nairn found that the royal family are shown as a concept which equates to niceness, decency and ordinariness

• for example the queen is seen as ‘like us, but not like us,

• (e.g. as fulfilling normal role such as a grandmother but also does extraordinary things)

• royal families life’s constitute something of a soap opera

• for example, royal events such as weddings and funerals are national events or public holidays

• an obsession with the royal family developed after the second world war

clancy

• her research analysed the royal correspondents whose job it is to get access to the royalty and create their media coverage

• clancey used in-depth interviews with the royal correspondents and found these were people who are drawn from those who have appropiate capital to get access to the royal family

• as royalty is surrounded by secrecy, getting access means their coverage rarely would disturb ideological bases of monarchial power

• clancy argues this leads to them reproducing power of the monarchial institution

• whilst other journalists and interviewers do write about the monarchy they are often seen as an outsider , especially if they write negatively , and then may bot be allowed to royal events again

golding and middleton

• the media generated moral panics about working class people

• they only make the news when its about crime, sex or fraud and this is to create moral panic and to further stigma against them

• two categories the poor are presented in : deserving poor who get treated as victims and undeserving poor -as welfare cheats and criminals

• their findings stated that by demonising those on benefits,it made it easier for the government to make back spending cuts on welfare

• this creates a negative identity , as benefit scroungers or people to be pitied

owen jones

• working class are demnised in the media

• talks about chavtainment where the suffering of the working class becomes mass entertainment to be laughed at

• examples such as the jeremy kyle show that goes on to inquire about biological dads of single mothers

• the working class and underclass are seen as a joke

• they are being shown as the scum of the earth

• given a negative label as chavs

price

• uses the example of benefits street to highlights the existence of poverty porn , where media representations of the underclass are purposely exaggerated to have a shocking effect on the audience

• he explains that representation is frequently missed by viewers and is deliberately presented with goal that audiences interpret it as aspects of lower-class culture that usually is stigmatised or comdemned by hard working middle /upper class families

• he used discorse analysis and ideas from hall to argue that benefit street is intended to be decoded by its audience as a portrayal of those aspects of lower class culture that ought to be condemmed by hard working class families

• he also argued that the narratives in benefits street have a human and poignant quality, often presenting decent and compassionate people disenfranchised by an unfair society

• he argues that these more empathetic aspects of the representation are frequently missed by viewers and political commentators

dood and dodd

• elements of realism are beginning to be represented in working class characters in shows such as eastenders , where this soap opera portrays real problems such as ‘unemployment,imprisonment,rape,drugs,alcoholism,attempted suicide,crime,murder,homosexuality,infidelity,divorce,aids,abortion,ageing and death’ as opposed to previous shows such as coronation street

• therefore there has been a shift /change from using the working class as entertainment in a negative way to highlighting the negative day to day experiences faced by many working class individuals in contemporary society

examples of the royal family

• representations of the upper class have changed overtime through the media portrayals of the royal family

• we can argue that traditionally, the royal family have been presented positively due to them being part of the bourgeosie and the upper class

• also because media owners are also upper class an are likely to represent them positively

• however negative stories have come out about the royal family, being presented by the public

negative stories of the royal family

• an eample of this was when prince andrew was outed for having a freindship with jeffrey epstein (a convicted child offender) and sexual assault accusations

• this shows a change of media representations of social class because he was seen as a powerful , upper-class white-british man who usually is seen as important and positive but him and other upper-class people are now being exposed for their wrong doings on the media

prince charles

• lobbying of government ministers and civil servants in which he was reported as having met with gov ministers 36 times since 2010

• this was described as inappropiate and unwise since the prince is supposed to adpot a neutral attitude towards government policy

• his meetings were assumed to have involved giving advice to government or questioning government ideas

• other evidence suggests that such critisism is not sustained but is balanced by positive portrayal of prince charles charitable works

• overall evidence indicates that little long-term attention is given to critisism of the royal family or to questioning their role

• research into media representations of the royal family would seem to provide evidence of both continuity and some change

daily mail middle class bias

• the daily mail telegraph and newspapers are seen as focusing on the tastes ideas and concerns of the middle classes (sometimes referred to as middle england)

• portrayed as educated and successful and able to cope with lifes problems

• marxists argue that these characterisations serve to promote ruling class ideology

• marxists believe that such media representations of the middle class reinforce a type of ‘false class conciousness’ in which people who are successful are seen as hardworking and deserving of their success rather than as a result of unequal life chances

pluralists and middle class

• argue that media representations of the middle classes accurately reflect the way that media consumers perceive their society

• researh into media portrayals of the middle classes finds little evidence of changing representations

• this may be because media professionals themselves tend to come from the middle classes and also because this social class group is often regarded as stable and relatively conservative

newman

• argues that there are very few sitcoms , films or television dramas that concentrate realistically on the everyday lives of working class people

• this is in spite of the fact that this group comprises a numerically significant and important section of society

• he points out that when working class people are portrayed, they are often cast in an unflattering or pitying light

devereux

• argues that working class people are seen as falling into two main categories

• the deserving and undeserving poor that contrasts with the negative images of those on welfare benefits

• realistic point of view of the working class : inclusion of a young man names ricky thompsom who,as a young man, was heavily involved in trade unions and working class politics - this can be seen as positive portrayal of working class culture that is not simply a negative stereotype or nostalgia but is an attempt at a more realistic point of view

neo marxists and meritocracy

• the portrayal of meritocracy is seen by neo-Marxists as evidence that such media representations of an effort to maintain ‘false class consciousness’ that discourages critical examination of why some people have enormous wealth and other remain poor and why some people in society seem more able to access private schools such as Cambridge or oxford and others seem unable to thrive in education in spite of their own intelligence and ability.