Representations of power and inequality in televisual media

Ideology

• We all have learned to look at the world according to the belief system that is part of the culture we were socialized into– ‘Unexamined presuppositions’– Morality– Beliefs about what is ‘natural’ or ‘true’ or ‘factual’– Acceptance of the dominant definition of a wide

variety of concepts

Representations and ideology

• Ideology is much more commonly followed (and thereby reinforced) than questioned in televisual media– Efficiency in conveying meaning– Audiences will usually prefer narratives that support

rather than question the dominant beliefs of the society– Most creatives accept dominant ideology themselves

and develop narratives that flow from it– Financial backing for content that is unconventional will

be difficult to obtain

Occasional opposition

• There are occasions when a creative source will develop content that questions the prevailing ideology– Financial source whose personal beliefs run counter to the

prevailing beliefs of a society– Creatives are more likely to challenge the existing ideology

than are members of the general population– There is a market (though relatively small) for content that

questions prevailing representations– High quality work may be enjoyed even if its prevailing

message questions the dominant ideology– The dominant ideology changes over time

Three regions of concepts

ajSocial God, the flag,

free enterprise, the troops, patriotism,

manliness flag

Social security, torture, Bailout, tuition increase

Terrorism,Communism,North Korea,Taliban, Saddam Hussein

The portrayed world and the real world

• Televisual media project a world that is sometimes and in some ways at odds with the ‘real’ world—the world of physical experience

• Though it is hard to evaluate a single narrative with regard to its relationship to reality (except when it purports to represent an actual historical event) we can identify trends and overarching characteristics of genres, television or film or games overall, etc.

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

Power

• Several forms of power in society exist– Economic power– Political power and authority• The legitimate use of force

– Cultural power• Religious leaders, celebrities

Social Class

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

Socioeconomic class

• America is said to be a ‘classless society’– Large middle class– Historically, law and individual fate have been less

dependent upon an aristocracy of privilege– The myth of the ability to rise above birth and

become rich, powerful, famous, etc. has been strong in the United States• ‘Horatio Alger stories’

– Those who talk about class are attacked politically

• It is clearly in the interest of those who benefit heavily from a system that the culture of that system deny any unfairness in that distribution– That is not to say that the system necessarily is

unfair, only that the perception is valuable to the haves and potentially damaging to the have-nots

Portrayals of power

• Televisual media portray powerful individuals, relationships (roles of owner/worker, coach/player, etc.)– What are the expectations for the behavior of the

different characters?– What are the moral lessons of the narratives?

The reality of class in America

• The United States has one of the most hierarchically differentiated economic systems of all industrialized countries

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)

Yes—social class exists in America

• Vast differences among Americans in their incomes, property, power

• Life chances largely determined by social class at birth– Education– Access to technology– Network of opportunities

• But things are getting better, right?

Social class affects:

• Media access/choice• Content preferences• Interpretation of media content• Representation within media content• Power over media

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

Internet use by household income

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

LT$15K

$15-25K

$25-35K

$35-50K

$50-75K

$75K+

Use Internet

• 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

Source: Mediamark Research, Inc.

Content Preferences

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Primetime Daytime

<$20K

$20-50K

>$50K

Source: 2000 Porter Novelli Healthstyles Survey

Interpretation of content

• Class-based worldview influences interpretations

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

• The tone of primetime 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

What are lower or working-class women like?

• Trashy• Oversexed• Unsophisticated• Domestic– Kids

• Dependant/“Golddigger”• Focused on men

What are lower or working-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

What does all this lead to?• Blaming the victim• Maintenance of a heavily hierarchical reward system• Low self-esteem among ‘lower classes’• Ability of the well-to-do to engage in modern “Social

Darwinism”– Don’t have to face their own responsibility for poor

conditions many live under• Exultation of self-interest– Mean World (for real)

Media facilitate “classless society” myth by:

• Presenting the interests of the well-off (e.g., stocks, financial portfolios, and leisure time) as general concerns

• Downplaying the structural economic concerns (e.g., job security, income) of the working class and poor, and

• Emphasizing shared interclass concerns (e.g., safety, crime)

• Portraying the middle class as the norm, with little representation of interclass tension

Prime Time programming

• Early television included a number of working-class leads– Ralph Cramden– Marty

• More recent examples– All in the Family– Roseanne

Tabloid news shows

• Tabloid news shows tended to “focus on stories involving upper-class criminals, particularly celebrities, whereas “highbrow” news programs were more likely to focus on stories involving working-class, unemployed criminals.”

• Also tend to show “rags to riches” stories or the “hollowness of wealth”

Connection to race

• European Americans greatly overestimate the percentage of African Americans who are poor

• Their personal shortcomings lead to a need for care from professionals– Problems stem from personal failings (not society, actions

of others)– Jerry Springer– WWE

• Implies that social policy should protect the populace from a dangerous, personally lacking group rather than treating a structural problem

Soap operas

• “On soap operas, single mothers are typically portrayed as White, upper-middle-class professionals, with nurturing male friends and an abundance of reliable child care providers (Larson, 1996).”– “Teenage girls who were heavy viewers of soap operas

were more likely than lighter viewers to underestimate the relationship between single motherhood and poverty and to overestimate the percentage of single mothers in high-paying jobs.”

Stereotypes in media and popular culture

• African American men—members of “threatening and violent underclass”

• African American women—welfare queens or “ignorant, promiscuous women caught in a self-perpetuating ‘cycle of dependency’”

• Emphasis on African Americans tends to render white poor ‘invisible’ in popular culture

• Popular music draws heavily from urban lower class and rural working class

Connection to race

• Content analyses show a great overrepresentation of African Americans in depictions of the poor

• Gilens (1996) content analysis of three major news magazines found African Americans were represented in 62% of stories about poverty though they comprised 29% of poor (no more info available)

• Asian Americans, stereotyped as hard working and conscientious, rarely show up in stories about the poor

• European Americans greatly overestimate the percentage of African Americans who are poor

Stereotypes in media and popular culture

• African American men—members of “threatening and violent underclass”

• African American women—welfare queens or as “ignorant, promiscuous women caught in a self-perpetuating ‘cycle of dependency’”

• Emphasis on African Americans tends to render white poor ‘invisible’ in popular culture

Authority

• Portrayal of the police– Police enforce the laws that both protect people

and property

Police shows

• Focus on violent personal crimes– Small minority of crimes– However, they provide dramatic potential

• Portrayal of criminals– Early content study found that criminals were

almost entirely anonymous– More recent portrayals seem to indicate a move

toward more personalizations• Portrayal of business people as criminals?

Police shows

• Portrayal of police work– Far more exciting than is the norm– Lots of phone calls, filling out forms– More violent than most police experience– More effective than real life• In almost all cases the crime is solved and the

perpetrator in custody or in jail at the end of the show

– More romance thrown in

Police shows

• Dangerous portrayal of civil rights– Most civil rights are portrayed as a loophole for

scumbags to escape justice• Focus on the worst criminals• Focus on abuse of civil rights

– Defense lawyers are portrayed very negatively• Mainly looking for loopholes to get horrific criminals off• Often sleazy, arrogant• Portrayed as having tons of time to spend on cases

The cops themselves

• Cops are usually portrayed as hard-working, dedicated public servants– Angered by the ugly world they are exposed to– Frustrated by the liberal rules that limit their

ability to do their jobs– Relationships on the job are more important than

those at home (if there are any)– Sharp, inventive in their pursuit of the bad guys– Tough, macho (even the women)

Portrayal of crime

• Crime often stumbled upon• Reasons for crimes tend toward psychotic

avarice, revenge– Relatively little explanation of situational causes of

crime

Depictions of drug crimes

• “Although the ‘typical’ drug consumer and dealer is an employed, high-school-educated European American man, the majority of arrests depicted on reality-based crime programs involve African American and Latino men in densely populated, urban areas (Anderson, 1994).”

Depictions of drug crimes

• “Although the ‘typical’ drug consumer and dealer is an employed, high-school-educated European American man, the majority of arrests depicted on reality-based crime programs involve African American and Latino men in densely populated, urban areas (Anderson, 1994).”