Media & Inequality

Question 1

Mass Media

Answer 1

The technologies, practices and institutions through which information and entertainment are produced and disseminated on a mass scale
-ex: newspaper, magazines, books, billboards, posters

Question 2

HISTORY OF MEDIA

Answer 2

Block printing (700 bc china)
Newspaper
Television
Internet

Question 3

4 functions of social order that the media contributes to

Answer 3

1. Surveillance of the environment: ways that information is collected and disseminated in society (what’s relevant)
2. Correlation of parts of society: ways that information about our world is interpreted and prescriptions for behavior in response to events
3. Transmission of social heritage: communication of information, norms, values from generation to generation
4. Entertainment: communication intended to amuse/relax

Question 4

Critical theory

Answer 4

Challenge the type of society we have while analyzing the media in relation to power, equality, conflict and change

Question 5

Political-economic theory

Answer 5

-Focuses on ownership/control of the media and opposition of subordinate groups.
-Addresses media ownership, the state, media policy, globalization; ‘who decides what’s news?’

Question 6

Hegemony

Answer 6

dominant group wins the voluntary consent of popular mass

Question 7

Propaganda Model

Answer 7

media companies as businesses will transmit content that reflects their commercial interests

Question 8

Public vs Private owned media

Answer 8

-government=non-profit
-corporations=for profit

Question 9

Symbolic interactionism

Answer 9

-use of everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole
-mass communication does not allow for a mutual exchange of verbal and non-verbal cues

Question 10

Social constructionism

Answer 10

Goal= to examine how people interact to create a shared social reality
-analyzes the processes by which the objective facts of social life acquire their objectivity

Question 11

Erving Goffman

Answer 11

gender advising
-Men and women may take their cues for how to act with one another from external sources
-Advertisements don’t depict men and women; they depict masculinity and femininity
-ex; women as sexual objects

Question 12

Maslow’s Hierarchy

Answer 12

1. Self-actualization
2. Esteems (self-security)
3. Love/belonging
4. Safety
5. Physiological

Question 13

Difference between Absolute poverty and Relative poverty

Answer 13

Absolute poverty: lack of necessities
Relative poverty: inadequate compared to average living standards (measured in Canada)

Question 13

Low-income measure (LIM)

Answer 13

Represents people making less than half of the median income
-LIM-AT in 2016= 14% of Canadians were low income

Question 13

Low-Income Cut-off (LICO)

Answer 13

Defines low-income as spending 20% more than the average Canadian on food, shelter, clothing
-(difficult to use, especially to compare countries)

Question 14

Market basket measure (MBM)

Answer 14

Estimates costs of basic goods, representing modest basic standard of living for reference family (1 man, 1 women, 2 children)

Question 15

why are Indigenous Peoples more effected by poverty?

Answer 15

Geographic isolation
Unemployments
Lack of education
Lack of opportunity
Poor living & health conditions
Intergenerational trauma

Question 16

Social Stratification

Answer 16

A hierarchical system of inequality that is based on class, socioeconomic status, and power combined with other forms of differentiation such as gender and ethnicity

Question 17

Social mobility VS Vertical mobility

Answer 17

Social mobility: movement within and between class
Vertical mobility: movement between classes

Question 18

INTRAGENERATIONAL vs INTERGENERATIONAL

Answer 18

INTRAGENERATIONAL: May be born poor, moves up
INTERGENERATIONAL: Grandparents low-class, parents middle-class, you upper-class (within lifetime)

Question 19

Systems of Social Stratification (4)

Answer 19

-Slavery (Human trafficking etc)
-Castes (Hereditary rank (born into wealthy/poor class))
-Estates (Feudalism)
-Social Classes

Question 20

Achieved Status VS Ascribed Status

Answer 20

Achieved status: EARN it
Based on achievement (“American dream”)
“Anyone can make it through hard work” (meritocracy)
Ascribed status: BORN with it
Social mobility is overall limited (generally that of our parents)

Question 21

GINI COEFFICIENT

Answer 21

used to measure inequality

Question 22

The David-Moore theory

Answer 22

inequalities exist in all societies and they must be necessary
-Criticism: does not take into account that some people are not able to affords the costs to be educated, ignores disparities between rich and poor that are extreme

Question 23

Class
Status
Power

Answer 23

Class: ownership of property; economic inequality
Status: prestige; honor
Power: ability to exert control over others despite their objections

Question 24

Weber talking about economic inequalities

Answer 24

-Argued that class and economic inequalities were not the only measure of social stratification
-Doubted that overthrowing capitalism was the answer to inequality
-socialism would transfer the power from the capitalist class to the government elites

Question 25

The 3 interlocked parts of power in the US, identified by Mill

Answer 25

(none are elected! Yet play a large role in policy making!!)
The military elite
The corporate elite
The political elite

Question 26

Neoliberalism

Answer 26

Current political philosophy
-emphasizes privatization, deregulation, reduction of welfare state through reduction in programs and lowering taxes

Question 27

Keynesian economics

Answer 27

‘welfare state’
-social welfare (medicare, employment insurance etc)

Question 28

Thornstien Veblen’s symbolic interactionist theory

Answer 28

-The theory of leisure class
-Highlighted the symbolic embodiment of social inequality through the practice of conspicuous consumption
-Wealth and social position are communicated through status symbols

Question 29

Conspicuous consumption

Answer 29

Ostentatious display of wealth