...patterns of behavior. Yet, the mass media has largely failed in addressing and helping to solve social problems. As seen through its presentation of the three major variables of race, class, and gender, the mass media has actually served to contribute to the social problems it covers, reinforcing them, and creating an inter-related cycle in which these problems continue. TV has become perhaps the primary vehicle that society receives its information and presents its values and expectations. One of the most important roles television plays is its presentation of news and information. What a station chooses to present as newsworthy can play a strong role in how people view their society and the world around them. Often, television news sources have followed a philosophy of “if it bleeds, it leads”, focusing on violence in urban environments. This violence occurs more frequently in black neighborhoods, resulting in what amounts to essentially as a steady, nightly stream of reports on violence in the inner-city by and among African-Americans. In this way, the television media plays a strong role in formulating racial problems as seen by the interactionist approach. With the constant display of these images two problems quickly emerge. First, the minority groups become subject to stereotypes as the images presented become fixed mental images and are exaggerated and applied to the group as a whole. Whites, according to this model, “learn” that minority groups are “less...
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...of a child’s values, beliefs, dreams, and expectations, which shape the adult identity a child will carry and modify through his or her life.” Studies investigating Social Learning Theory, done by Baker (2007, p.26) have consistently reported that children can model roles and behaviors seen on television. Media play a significant role in the socialization process, body image, and moral judgments in children and adolescents. Cartoons on television are some of the first factors of socialization in a child’s life. Although many adults feel that cartoons are obviously fantastical, unrealistic, and therefore harmless to children, the research evidence proves otherwise. “According to developmental literature, children before the age of ten years often have difficulty differentiating between reality and fantasy”(Baker, 2007, p.25). Anderson found (as cited by Lund) that students who had regularly watched educational television as children had higher grade point averages than those who did not. Other research has found a more negative influence on children. Lund found that by the time a child is 18 years old he or she will have seen 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders on television....
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...comes to the advances of a nation dealing with cultural diversity. As stated previously, the United States was founded on the beliefs of diversity. A change from, the British rule that no one desired to be under any longer and the desire to create and build their own country. The earliest settlers dealt with cultural diversity when knew immigrants came over from Europe. Some of those settlers were from Poland, Germany, Ireland, and so on. In those days the diversity leaned more towards religious preference as opposed to skin color (Schaefer, 2012). As the years have passed and this country has evolved the diversities that are now dealt with are the diversity of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation. While the United States has grown in population and still continues to grow, the prejudices and stereotypes have grown as well. One would consider that because this country was...
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...has composed a list of the 50 most beautiful people. The list typically includes movie and television stars, musicians, British royalty, models, and television personalities. Every year the magazine crowns the year’s “most beautiful” and features them on the cover. Of the 22 most beautiful 19 have been women and out of the 19 women 16 have been White. This signals to People’s readers that beautiful means White and everything else does not equate beauty. However, this is not unique to People or even magazines like it, but instead represents a larger trend that is present in all forms of Western popular culture. In the various mediums of popular culture, ideologies about female beauty are exceedingly prevalent and constantly managed and reproduced. These ideologies carry with them the notion that in order to obtain ideal female beauty one must be very thin, young, have long hair, and wear expensive or revealing clothing (Stern, 2004). In addition to this there is also a raced definition of beauty, which predominates Western popular culture and dictates that White women with light hair and eye color can only attain true beauty. By looking closely at fashion magazines, television shows, movies and advertisements it is easy to see how Asian, Black and Latina women are underrepresented and misrepresented; and more importantly beauty is not typically associated with these and other nonwhite races. The power and importance of popular culture in today’s society has further supported beauty...
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...view of the employer and stereotypes of the employees given that these circumstances highlight what the working class experience at the workplace. The Office emphasizes and influences many aspects of stereotypes and social norms in a satirical manner. The television series is shown as a mockumentary that criticizes the popular culture of corporate Americans and presents everything in a comedic fashion style. It demonstrates the lives of employees at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company branch at Scranton, Pennsylvania. The main point of the show is to exemplify the stereotypes, oppression, and prejudice towards race, sex, working class, and higher positions that happens at the workplace. The show revolves around racial slurs where employees and employers often have unpleasant interpretation of each other. Normal conversations may take place between employees that would usually involve a negative compliment about race, sex and religion which would generally lead to an awkward moment of silence or discomfort from the other employees. The workplace at the Office shows that male employees are often seen as aggressive and sociable while the female employees are seen as calm and passive. Furthermore, men are represented as greater hierarchy in control of everything compared to women. The main employer of the show is regional manager Michael Scott. He is viewed as someone that's impolite and inappropriate with little awareness. Social norms and stereotypes by Michael are results of...
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...“African – Americans, Asian – Americans, and Latino’s have been depicted in television, sports, and films in ways that have been changed in our society” (Omi 655). Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in Propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary stereotyping is defined as “a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, held by a number of people.” (Webster’s dictionary) Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behavior and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes. For example, African- Americans are associated with basketball, and acting. Asian – American men are made out to be the bad guys in film, women are seen as prostitutes and are sexual abused. Last but not least Latino’s are popping up everywhere, in hit TV shows like Ugly Betty, in major league baseball and in the music business. Stereotypes have existed since the beginning of time in our everyday life through religion, politics and the media. Humans have the tendency to use stereotypes in their humour, their descriptions of others, and even in their beliefs. One may believe it is possible to rid oneself of such habits; however if one looked at the regular promotions of propaganda, it would make this objective impossible. Stereotypes, however, aren't...
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...Anthony Poindexter 3/12/13 Mr.Kuntz Social Problems 110 Media Analysis Project. As we sit down and watch the television we see that the most popular shows and cartoons that we mainly watch consist of different types of stereotypes. Not knowing what the media's subliminal message is at this moment, it plays a key role into what our children are taking in with everything they watch and how what they view as a child effects how they see other people. Heiner discusses this in his book that social problems and critical construction-ism affect the way we live today and in the future. There are three TV shows that i have watched and carefully analyzed that show how the media today, has twisted the way we see Television. Not even really knowing that what we are watching is a Guinea-pig instrument that the government uses to make us see how they want everyday life to be. For example these are some of the shows that use stereotypes in every episode to trick us and to make us desire to be like them just because of their gender, race or class. The Cartoon "Hey Arnold" was created by Craig Bartlett and was diversely a stereotypical show that was basically showing people how middle class/poor kids in the ghetto lived and told the adventures they had together. The main Character in this cartoon was a little scrawny low class white kid named Arnold. Arnold is well respected around the city that he lives in just because of his humble and well-mannered nature. He is a quiet kid that has...
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...Omi and Winant (1986) argue that race is a social concept. They refer to Max Weber in explaining that “racial conflict” is not a result of biological factors, but social and political reasons (as cited in Rothenberg & Mayhew, 2014, p. 14-15). Indeed, if we look at the world today, there are many conflicts among ethnic ethnic groups that seem physically indistinguishable, for example Jews and Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis, and the like. Omni and Winant further argue that racial categories and their meanings are defined by specific contexts of society and history and that they vary over time and between different societies. They point out that in the United States, there exists a rigid line between “whites” and “nonwhites”; whereas in countries such as Brazil, there exist many “intermediate” racial categories (as cited in Rothenberg & Mayhew, 2014, p. 14-15). In some societies, the categorization itself is different. For example, according to Navarro (2012), whereas the US Census categorizes people by race, Latinos identify themselves more in the context of cultural characteristics, such as language and customs. According to Omni and Winant, one of the first things we notice when we meet someone is their race. From which, we draw preconceived notions of who the person is. They further add that in modern times, film and television have played a vital role in defining and disseminating racial stereotypes of minorities (as cited in Rothenberg & Mayhew, 2014, p. 16-17). In...
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...When discussing reality television there is much debate over whether or not it has a positive or negative impact on society. Currently there are so many different types of reality television programming, that it is hard to determine which side to be on. Some reality programming has merit and it is understandable why it would be broadcasted, but other reality programming just produces garbage that should not be on television or even put on the internet for that matter. There is a major difference between the two though. Good reality TV should be able to keep broadcasting, but shows that are produced on MTV, VH1, and other networks should be banned from television because it promotes stereotypes in relation to race, gender, and ethnicity. In today’s infinitely expanding world of technology it is becoming easier and easier to influence the minds of viewers with TV, therefore reality TV poses a dangerous threat to society and the way are thoughts are molded. However not all reality TV is bad and should not be punished for the programming that is damaging our society’s future by changing our views and thoughts. When talking about reality TV that has a bad influence and is dangerous to society the first thing that should put into someone’s mind is any programming that is on MTV. MTV produces mind altering and numbing shoes that create stereotypes for gender, race, and class. There biggest success and the most dangerous show of all is their most popular show the “Jersey Shore”...
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...When I Grow Up: An Analytical Study of the Interpretations of Children on Pop Culture Elements found in Selected TV Commercials “TV takes our children across the globe before parents give them permission to cross the streets.” - Joshua Meyrowitz BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Advertising is a form of mass communication strategy created to promote the purchase of a certain product, message, or service in the market. It carries the messages that come to you from the people who pay for the media (Biagi, 2001, p. 227). It is also an act of popularizing something through mass media to attract the attention of the consumers, audiences, or mainly the public for higher sales and marketability. Tracing through the history, evidences of advertising is said to have started thousands of years before when people started trading things for survival. Thus, the rise of technology, industrialization, and capitalism triggered the success of advertising in the heightening state of competition worldwide and in every aspect; from commodities, to people and politics. The industrial revolution, according to some historians, is the root of commercial advertising (Campbell, 2002, p. 387). Because of the continuous occurrence of new products in the market and there is a need to sell them off instantly, businessmen tried the concept of large scale advertising to sell more. Over the time, manufacturers realized that if their products were distinctive and became associated with quality, customers...
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...ETH/125 Denise Langdon Final Project Throughout the class I have learned many new things about different racial groups, sexual orientation, religious groups, and gender. The media has a strong role in promoting diversity and creating prejudices and stereotypes. In school I was taught that Blacks were separated from Whites in the south, but I did not realize this was until 1964. That is not that long ago. Living in California I do not see racial separation still today, but in a visit to South Carolina you can see the separation still exists. I guess I had assumed that segregation ended soon after the freeing of slaves. In 1964 that would have been part of my Mom’s generation and this is not something that she had ever mentioned, but she did not grow up in the south. I do believe many people make assumptions of other people and that is part of the problem we have with the issues with prejudice and stereotyping races. I feel if I traveled to South Carolina again I would have greater empathy for the Black Americans from that area. Before I could see that the Black American’s were different from the Black American’s I met here in California but I did not know why. My sister lived in South Carolina for a few years while she was in the Navy and she too noticed the difference in the Black Americans that lived there compared to those she knew in California. Personally I had not researched the treatment of people of my ethnic background. During school I learned about the potato...
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...Every day children are exposed to stereotypes and misrepresentations of Native Americans, with a stereotype being “preconceived or oversimplified generalizations usually, but not always, involving negative beliefs about a particular group” (Brunette). For children to learn the stereotypes so young and to think that that is how a certain group of people really is, only perpetuates the cycle of how some races or ethnic groups are treated, even something as seemingly innocent as Disney’s Pocahontas or Virginia Grossman’s Ten Little Rabbit, can really be a stereotype in hiding. “…Children between 2 and 5 years of age start to become aware of race, ethnicity, gender, and disabilities…Children learn stereotypes and attitudes about race from their parents, caretakers and the world around them” (Brunette). The knowledge that young children hold about Native Americans can vary greatly form child to child. Some children know about a tribe that lives in their area, while others just have the images that Disney has put in their heads. Most children believe that Native Americans are a thing of the past, that there are no living Native Americans today, A kindergarten class visits a children’s museum on a nearby American Indian reservation. As they enter the foyer, their guide, a member of the reservation’s Native tribe, greets the group. “When are we going to see some real Indians?” asks one of the children. “You are meeting one. I am American Indian,” says the guide. The children are...
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...Impact of Media Messages on Children’s Perception of Race and Gender Student’s Name Institution Impact of Media Messages on Children’s Perception of Race and Gender Introduction Children are sensitive to what they see and hear. The contemporary world exposes children to all sorts of audio and visual media. These media contain various messages concerning race and gender. Out of such media messages, children are in a position to create perceptions on various races and gender. Disney movies are an example of the media that are consumed by children. The movies impact a lot on how children understand the meaning of race, class and gender. The continued consumption of such media by children would only serve to further shape their various perceptions. This paper sets out to show that there are numerous media messages that can impact on the understanding of race and gender by children. The media is powerful in terms of the messages it relays to the audiences. The social judgments of viewers can be greatly influenced by what they see on television news (Mastro, Lapinski, Kopacz & Behm-Morawitz, 2009). According to Mastro, Lapinski, Kopacz & Behm-Morawitz (2009), the Whites in the United States of America perfect in racial prejudice against their fellow black countrymen and women. The Whites perceive the Black as being aggressive and overly violent. This negative depiction of the Black Americans by the White Americans is hugely contributed to by media exposure. The ethnic...
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...offer some general stereotypes which most American are probably subjected to each time they tune into their favorite program. The problem with making assumptions based on stereotypes, racism, and bias maybe considered two-fold. Of primary concern should obviously be the narrow-minded and over generalized prejudice which exist in mainstream media culture. Then, of only slightly less distress, would be the willingness of society to accept such demeaning norms. However, within the “high definition” world of television, some prime-time shows are shattering overused typecasting. Although some are not also. For instance, one such common immoral stigma would be that only men of European heritage may hold position of authority at home and more importantly, in an office. Furthermore, African, Spanish speaking, and other ethnic American will be depicted as second-class citizen. Additionally, women of all races may not hold any position of a profession as do their made co-star. Luckily, most of these false accusation were proven wrong. For this analysis of television diversity, or lack of, a look at the portrayal of African American men as in their position within a working environment, the dynamic of their family structure, and the overall social implication of such position will be explored. Then, in reflection of the growing population of Spanish speaking people, a look at the near absence may reveal a certain ethno centric standard of mainstream television. In such culturally...
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...patterns of behavior. Yet, the mass media has largely failed in addressing and helping to solve social problems. As seen through its presentation of the three major variables of race, class, and gender, the mass media has actually served to contribute to the social problems it covers, reinforcing them, and creating an inter-related cycle in which these problems continue. TV has become perhaps the primary vehicle that society receives its information and presents its values and expectations. One of the most important roles television plays is its presentation of news and information. What a station chooses to present as newsworthy can play a strong role in how people view their society and the world around them. Often, television news sources have followed a philosophy of "if it bleeds, it leads", focusing on violence in urban environments. This violence occurs more frequently in black neighborhoods, resulting in what amounts to essentially as a steady, nightly stream of reports on violence in the inner-city by and among African-Americans. In this way, the television media plays a strong role in formulating racial problems as seen by the interactionist approach. With the constant display of these images two problems quickly emerge. First, the minority groups become subject to stereotypes as the images presented become fixed mental images and are exaggerated and applied to the group as a whole. Whites, according to this model, "learn" that minority groups are...
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