Analysis Critical Perspectives: Media Notes: Youth -

Critical Perspectives: Youth - 

Definitions:

• Hegemony: The values of one social group being enforced upon another.
• Mediation: Intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it (influenced by social, economic, political and other factors).
• Representation: The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way by the mass media. 
• Collective Identity: A social group who shares a set of norms and values. 
• Structuration: The process in which human agency, people, and social structure, society, are in a constant relationship. The social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individuals which means that society is flexible and can change over time.

Examples:

• Hegemony: Rupert Murdoch owned newspapers enforcing biased political beliefs. Altering the media to ensure it agrees with their personal beliefs/ a vested interest. 
• Mediation: Political policies, Theresa May's new grammar school policy. 
• Representation: Fold devils of Islamic culture post 9/11.

Collective Identity Material - 

Contemporary:

• Attack the Block (2011)
• Fish Tank (2009)
• The Perks of Being Wallflower (2012)
• Inbetweeners
• Misfits
• Skins
• Fresh Meat
• Bad Education
• Waterloo Road

Historical:

• To Sir With Love (1967)
• The Young Ones (1961)
• Quadrophenia (1979)
• Rebel without a Cause (1956)
• The Breakfast Club (1985)
• Mean Girls (2004)
• Wild Child (2008)

The Independent: Media Demonising Youth - 

Key Points:

• More than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about crime.
• The research – commissioned by Women in Journalism – showed the best chance a teenager had of receiving sympathetic coverage was if they died."We found some news coverage where teen boys were described in glowing terms – 'model student', 'angel', 'altar boy' or 'every mother's perfect son'," the research concluded, "but sadly these were reserved for teenage boys who met a violent and untimely death."
• The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591 times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96 times).

Theoretical Approaches: Levels - 

Representation:

• Giroux (1997):  Giroux argues that in media representations youth becomes an ‘empty category’. This is because media representations of young people are constructed by adults. Because of this they reflect adults concerns, anxieties, and needs. As a result of this media representations of young people do not necessarily reflect the reality of youth identity.

• Acland (1995):  I’m interested in the effects of media representations of delinquent youth. Developed the concept of the ideology of protection. Thinks the media representations of anti-scoail youth reinforces hegemony.

• Hebdige (1979):  A subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong. Youth as fun and or trouble. Youth subcultures resist hegemony through style.  Hebdige said that subcultures use style to represent their resistance to the dominant ideologies of a corrupt society. They take symbols like the smart clothes or mopeds (Quadrophenia) and modify or customise them to show their alternative values.

Effects of Representation:

• Gerbner (1986): Cultivation theory;  "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television." Also stated " You know, who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it's a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell". He studied the effect of television on people’s perception of crime. He found that people who watched a lot of television tended to overestimate the levels of crime. He called this ‘mean world syndrome’.

• Gauntlett: Media has influence on how people interpret identities. 

Role of Representations on Society:

• Gramsci (1920s-30s): Coined the term Hegemony; a way of the ruling people keeping control of the proletariat. 

• Cohen (1972): Youth subculture, sensationalisation, folk devils and moral panic. Media representations of youth reinforce hegemony (agree with Acland). Three elements of media reporting: 1. Exaggeration and Distortion 2. Predicition and 3. Symbolisation. 

• Althusser: Ideological state apparatus; dominant ideology reinforced through different groups such as the media. Althusser divides social institutions into two categories: 1. The Repressive State Apparatus (functions through violence either potential or actual) and 2. The Ideological State Apparatus (functions through ideology such as family, religion, education, law, political parties, trade unions, he arts, mass media). 

• Gould (1999): Media stereotypes of youth involve being: rebellious, an artificial tribe, sexual, nihilistic, violent and self-destructive.

• Wilkins: A spiral of lacking tolerance, more acts of those groups being defined as crimes, action against the groups, alienation of deviant subcultures, more crime committed by stereotyped group which results in less tolerance of these groups by the hegemonic conforming masses who share the bourgeoisies norms and values.  

Other Theorists: 

• Philo: Argues that contemporary ‘hoodie cinema’ reflects middle class anxiety about the threat to their dominance posed by the working class.

• McRobbie: Suggests that contemporary British TV often contains ‘symbolic violence’ against the working class. For example, representations which emphasise middle class dominance and depict the working class in negative ways.

Textual Media Examples - 

This exemplifies the idea of youth as rebellious and nihilistic in an anarchic manner of rebelling against the hegemonic state. 

This article exemplifies youth in various manners; this article is more sympathetic in that gives reasons for rebellion against the state due to socialisation. 

This displays youth as sexual, as according to Ann Gould's theory on youth subculture, in which young people are ruled by more animalistic traits when compared to adults of a shared society ruled by norms and values variant from the subculture of youth which conforms to Albert Cohen's theory.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Examplar - 

• America
• Gould: Artificial Tribes of Youth: jocks, indie/ rock kids, won't turn down the music, "welcome to the island of misfit toys". 
• Gould: Youth as violent: the boyfriend hitting his girlfriend mid fight, Derek and Candice. 
• Hebdige: Youth as fun: the crazy dancing at the school disco. 
• Gould: Youth as self-destructive and rebellious: having parties with underage alcohol and drugs. 
• Gould: Youth as nihilistic: main characters friend committed suicide. 
• Gould: Youth as sexual: Brad and Patrick together at the party. 
• Hebdige: Youth as fun: the tunnel scene.
• Hebdige: Youth as troublesome: eating pot brownies. 

Bullet Boy Exemplar - 
(The hegemonic mediation of working classes; the owners of the media are middle to upper classes and enforce their biased perceptions on the masses) (Ideological state apparatus is groups that allow for the enforcement of hegemony values: institutions such as education, peers, religion etc)

• BBC Films and UK Film Festival
• London
• Cohen: Youth as rebellious: was in prison but got released. 
• Cohen: Youth subcultures, moral panic, folk devils, scapegoats: young black male in hoodie arrested and released not charged with any crime. 
• Philo: Hoodie Cinema: youth as working class troublesome hoodies. 
• Gould: Youth as nihilistic and rebellious: smoking cigarettes.
• Gould: Youth as an artificial tribe: specific subculture with a different lexicon/ socialect "aight", "blud", "innit". 
• Gould: Youth as sexual: the characters kissing and undressing before having sex. 
• Hebdige: Youth as troublesome: the characters friend pretends to shoot him with an empty gun. 
• Gould: Youth as violent: the character shoots the dog of the person who was cussing him. 
• Hebdige: Youth as fun: ice-skating and playing like children. 
• Althusser: Ideological state apparatus: peers (girlfriend, mum, minister step father) convincing him to not get involved in crime or other such behaviour. Repressive state apparatus, threat of violence either potential or actual, in reference to warnings from his probation officer.

Analysis Critical Perspectives: Media Essay: Youth -

Critical Perspectives Essay: Youth - 

• Do media representations of youth reflect societies perceptions and concerns?

Society is the pinnacle of the confirmative masses norms and values held within the traditions of culture; the collective identity of youth conform not to the main ideologies but instead to that of their own subculture, as coined by Cohen, of varied principles to the wider society. Such is the process of structuration that the constant relationship between social structure and human agency is flexible and liable to change if the masses norms and value change. Youth as a deviant culture of human agency bend and flex the rules of society perhaps before they are willing to change.

Newspaper: Old (London Riots 2011)

Film/ TV: New

Film/ TV: Old (Fresh Meat 2011-2016, Inbetweeners 2008)

Conclusion

Analysis Generic Theory: Media Notes: All

Generic Theory - 

Definitions:

• Representation: The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.
• Hegemony: The values of one social group being enforced upon another.
• Mediation: Intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it.
• Identity: Who a person believes they are.
• Collective Identity: A social group who shares a set of norms and values.
• Structuration:  Structuration is the process in which human agency, people, and social structure, society, are in a constant relationship. The social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individuals which means that society is flexible and can change over time. 

Representation:

The working classes are stereotypically mediated as a group who are on "chavs", have many children with many different people, don't work and live off of the system.

The working class social group have the ability to unite in their collective identity due to shared norms and values around family attitudes, hard work and other such ideologies. 

Mediation:

                                         

The notion of the underclass is that it is working class people without jobs who used the riots as a means to steal, vandalise and behave violently. 

Collective Identity:

                                            

The above text is an example of the supposed "working class" chav subculture collective identity. Representation of working classes in the media may lead to a deviancy amplification spiral in which the identity becomes adopted by the masses of the social group due to the mediation of the subject. The collective identity of the working classes is hugely separate to music genre, clothing style and attitude to authorities etc but the chav subculture is forced upon all working classes as a stereotype by the media. 

Collective Identity Self-Constructions:

Collective identity can also be self-constructed by the social group on social networking sites or in social situations; these identity ideas can be positive or negative.

                                       

For instance, far right liberal social groups have gained a large gathering of support from the working class young collective identity in both America and Britain in support of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. This has even inspired the generation to produce their own examples of parody accounts for important public figures such as the tweets pictured above; these are instances of #corbynfever. 

Structuation:

                                           

"Hairspray" was set in the early 60s and displayed the attitudes surrounding the segregation of black and white citizens in America. The film also follows the human rights movement in which people peacefully rioted against the segregation. 

Important Theories - 

David Buckingham: (1987)

• "A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and heir consequences for social groups."

David Gauntlett: (2002)

• Identity is consciously constructed and the media provides some of the tools needed for this presentation of collective identity. The media coveys messages which encourage a series of messages about appropriate identity and lifestyle choices. Although, the public have their own diverse set off feelings. Neither feeling is more powerful than the other. 

I interpret this as the idea that the media has encoded messages which can be understood and decoded differently by various members of an active audience. The audience are not passive simply accepting their daily dose of the media via hypodermic syringe but are instead able to challenge and conform. Neither is more powerful than the other. 

Stuart Hall: (1980)

• Encoding is the message the producer has given the text.
• Decoding is the way in which the audience can interpret it themselves as an active audience. 

Anthony Giddens: 

• There is a social structure which shapes our lives such as traditions, institutions, moral codes and unwritten social rules but this relies on the system being followed. 
• Structuration is the process in which human agency, people, and social structure, society, are in a constant relationship. The social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individuals which means that society is flexible and can change over time. 
• "Society only has form, and that form only has effects on people, in so far as structure is produced and reproduced in what people do". 

Paul Lazarfelds et al: (1944 and 1955)

• The two step flow theory is a communication model that hypothesises ideas of flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.

Analysis Critical Perspectives: Media Essay: Islam -

Critical Perspectives Essay: Islam - 

• The post 9/11 mediation of Islam is biased and unfair to what extent do you agree with this statement. 

The mass media is an important institute of secondary socialisation within society and its mediation of matters and can directly influence the masses interpretation of a collective identity; this process is called hegemony and is when the values of one dominant group is forced upon a submissive social group. A collective identity, these can be portrayed positively or negatively by the media, is a social group which share norms and values as a result of religion, class, gender, age, ethnicity and so on. Unfortunately, mediation, which is the intervention into an ideology to resolve it, of such collective identities is not always positive, as is often a subject of discussion when it comes to the reporting of Islam in the mass media specifically post 9/11.

The collective identity of Islam is one based off of shared norms, values and principles around beliefs in religion. The six main values of the Muslim community is the belief in Allah as the one and only God, belief in angels, belief in the holy books, belief in the Prophets, belief in the Day of Judgment and the belief in Predestination. These beliefs are of a peaceful religion that is too often seen as deviant from the Christian norm of western countries. Although, globally Christianity is the largest religion held by 31% of the population Islam is only shortly behind at 23%. Despite this, the theory of Orientalism in media as coined by Said is that the representation and understanding of Islam is that they are uncivilised and coordinated to be violent, their socialisation process is inferior and that generally their lives are of lesser value than their western counterparts. This conforms to Head’s 2014 investigation into Islamphobia being reported in 8 manners; one being that they are seen as “violent, aggressive, threatening, supporting of terrorism and engaged in a clash of civilisations”.