Culture & Identity Unit Flashcards

Question

Explain advertisers shaping media content as part of mass media.

Answer 1

Advertisers bring down the cost of production and allows newspapers and networks to sell their product cheaply. However advertisers are only likely to be placed around programmes that make people critical consumers. Therefore left wing media that are critical of capitalism go out of business because they cannot attract advertisers.

Answer 2

1. Over-representation 2. Mis-representation 3. Exaggeration 4. Omission

Answer 3

This is where some groups have their interests promoted more than others who get very little coverage.

Answer 4

This involves misquoting or inaccurately paraphrasing what people say. It can also be misrepresenting or distorting an argument or drawing unjust conclusions.

Answer 5

This is distorting the important of an issue e.g. the over-reporting of violent crimes tend to mislead the public about its prevalence.

Answer 6

This is the failure to include key facts/data or alternative arguments/evidence. This type of bias is probably the most worrying because we don't know when it's happening. It's easier to spot a biased argument than spot when information is completely absent.

Answer 7

1. Owner interference 2. Consumer exploitation 3. Print media bias 4. Straight white men

Answer 8

Owners regularly interfere with media content to suppress stories that harm their business interest. For example, if a company owns a record label they do to want negative press about their brand.

Answer 9

Advertisers bring down the cost of production and allow newspapers and networks to sell their product cheaply. Advertisers only like to be placed around programmes that make people receptive to capitalism. they will not advertise around programmes that make people critical consumers. Left wing media go out of business because they can't attract advertisers.

Answer 10

Only the BBC is required by law to be impartial. All print media can be biased in favour of a particular political party and present stories in a biased way.

Answer 11

Most owners, journalists, and editors are white, heterosexual men. The content of the media tend to reflect their own interests.

Answer 12

1. Editor control 2. Public consciousness 3. Consumer bias 4. Female demand

Answer 13

Editors are the ones that control most of the media content, not the owners. They make they day-to-day decisions about what to feature based on what sells, or what is in the public interest.

Answer 14

The public are knowledgable and choose what to consume - they drive the content of the media. If it is not popular, it will not sell.

Answer 15

Consumers can choose their own forms of bias. There is a diversity of genres and outlets - we have a pick and mix media which truly depends on personal preference.

Answer 16

Most women's magazines are run by female editors. Also owners cannot afford to ignore consumer demand even if they have their own ideologies. There are multiple cultures amongst journalists.

Answer 17

All sociologists agree that the media does influence our identities and shape our culture. It is designed to have an impact using catchy music, emotional languages and images. However the extent to which we are influenced is contentious. Sociologists have two major research questions: 1. Do we influence the media or are we shaped by it? 2. Are national cultures disappearing?

Answer 18

In this very early model of media it is seen as having an immediate and dramatic effect on behaviour. It uses the medical analogy of a needle. The medium is the syringe (radio/tv) and the content is what is injected.

Answer 19

Ideas flow from the media to opinion leaders (friends, teachers, family). Then to less active sections of the population. What are this models problems? - It implies that people are strongly conditioned by opinion leaders and have little free will - People can challenge norms and values and resist influence

Answer 20

Media still has important effects but not like the hypodermic syringe. If ideas, images and interpretations are broadcast over a long period o time, there is a cumulative impact on the culture. There is a slow 'drip-drip' effect, where people unconsciously come to a accept ideas over time.

Answer 21

Marxist sociologists claim that the media may not affect us immediately, but over a longer period of time. If we keep seeing the same messages broadcast we are influenced by them eventually.

Answer 22

Some sociologists argue that the media is very powerful and affects us dramatically like a shot in the vein. Other sociologists think that our friends and family have more impact on our identities.

Answer 23

1. Criminal Subcultures 2. Conflict Subcultures 3. Retreatist Subcultures

Answer 24

Criminal subcultures tend to emerge in areas where there is an established pattern of adult crime and a 'learning environment' for the young. They are mainly seeking financial reward.

Answer 25

Conflict subcultures tend to develop in areas where there is little opportunity to achieve through education or hard work. Conflict subcultures often engage in gang violence to release anger and frustration. These gangs offer status and prestige if members show loyalty to the gang.

Answer 26

Retreatist subcultures are mainly formed around drug use. They too have failed in the legitimate ways of achieving wealth through education and hard work, but have also failed through crime. As failed gang members/criminals, these young people retreat from the goals of society.

Answer 27

Merton felt that anomie was not a temporary state as Durkheim implied, but an integral feature of American society due to a mismatch between the goals of the American dream and persistent economic inequality. American society encouraged people to seek 'money success' but the structure does not provide unlimited opportunities - only a few can ever achieve that wealth. This leads to a 'strain to anomie' and results in four types of deviance; innovators, ritualist, retreatists, and rebels.

Answer 28

Cohen (1955) argued that much delinquency in inner cities was due to immediate gratification rather than 'money success'. He agreed with Merton that those who experienced failure at school find it hard to adhere to dominant values. Therefore gangs evolve to give members status and hit back at the system that has branded them as failures. The delinquent subculture takes the norms of society, and 'turns them upside down' through stealing, aggression, and vandalism. Much of their behaviour is therefore due to 'status frustration'.

Answer 29

1. Innovators adopt illegitimate means of reaching the goals through crime. 2. Ritualists abandon the cultural goal but obsessively stick to the rules. 3. Retreatists reject both the culturally prescribed roles and the institutionalised means, and 'drop out' of the race completely. 4. Rebels are the rarest deviants. They seek to replace existing goals and the means of getting here with an alternative society.

Answer 30

Innovators adopt illegitimate means of reaching the goals through crime.

Answer 31

Ritualists abandon the cultural goal but obsessively stick to the rules.

Answer 32

Retreatists reject both the culturally prescribed roles and the institutionalised means, and 'drop out' of the race completely.

Answer 33

Rebels are the rarest deviants. They seek to replace existing goals and the means of getting here with an alternative society.

Answer 34

Laurie Taylor argues that Merton does not consider power. Who makes the laws and who benefits from them? Society may be like a giant fruit machine that is rigged so that only some players and consistently rewards. People deprived of money resort to: - Using foreign coins or magnets to increase there chance of winning [Innovators] - Play on mindlessly to increase their chances [Ritualists] - Give up the game [Retreatist] - Propose a new game altogether [Rebellion]

Answer 35

Marxism is a structural, conflict approach which sees society as being based on the exploitation of the working class by capitalists. The working class are controlled by hegemony (their values are dominated via the media and education) and youth subcultures are a reaction to this conflict.

Answer 36

Hall and Jefferson (1976) were part of a group of sociologist from the CCCS. They argued that working class young people (particularly those who hard not done will in school) formed the weakest point in the ruing class control of society, as unlike adults they are not tied down by jobs and family commitments. Youth culture is an inarticulate way is resolving the problems faced by each generation of working class youth. The fact that each generation faces a different set of conflicts can explain why different kinds of youth subcultures emerge. The CCCS used the term 'spectacular subcultures' to describe the various youth subcultures between the 1950's-70's, and examples of their often flamboyant attempts to defy society follows.

Answer 37

As a reaction to the capitalists attempt to control the working class, youth subcultures exaggerate the behaviours that define them in order to oppose this capitalist control. Clarke (1976) studied the skinhead youth culture and found that they were an exaggerated version for working class masculinity. They dresses a distinct style of manual working clothing, they stressed violence and they were very temporal. Clarke argued that skinheads used their style to recreate the 'traditional' working class community and to 'magically' recover it from extinction.

Answer 38

Brake (1984) suggests that youth subcultures provide 'magical solutions' to the lives of their members. Young people can in reality do nothing to alter the power differences in society but owning a subculture allows them the opportunity to convince themselves that their generation will be different to their parents. It is 'magical' briefcase it is simply an illusion - a trick that will not be sustained in reality.

Answer 39

- Muggleton (2000) argued much of CCCS's work assumed youth subcultures of the 60's/70's were form the working class. Hippies were middle class and there is no explanation provided for how they came about. - Marxists have been accused of ignoring the importance of ethnicity. Certain ethnic groups have formed youth subcultures as a reaction to inequality there they perceive to be unique to them. - McRobbie (1991) argued that critical sociologists have largely ignored the role of girls in subcultures. Malestream sociologists have failed to notice that girls do not 'fit in' with their description of the role of subcultures despite the fact they too are part of the working class. - Functionalists would argue that Marxists exaggerate the concept of resistance. They would agree that young people join subcultures for a purpose, but according to Eisenstadt (1956) this is simply an attempt to carve out an identity for themselves rather than relying on the ascribed identity of being the child of a particular adult. - Postmodernists see the Marxist explanation as outdated. Today's youth subcultures no longer have a clear purpose. Maffesoli uses the term 'Neo-tribes' to explain that young peoples 'groupings' are found for the purpose of shared friendship and not a collective purpose.

Answer 40

Feminists such as Heidensohn (1995) have argued that that research into subcultures is malestream which means that these accounts have been written by male sociologists about male involvement and females have been largely ignored. The debate therefore is if indeed females continue to be ‘invisible’ or whether today females are taking a more active role in youth culture.

Answer 41

McRobbie and Garber (1976) extended the concept of control theory to explain how females are controlled more strictly by their parents and prevented from going out and joining ‘visible’ subcultures. She argues girls responded by forming a bedroom culture - a culture based around romance, fashion and the private domestic space the girls bedroom. Her study concluded that girls did indeed have subcultures of their own, but they were not visible on the streets as the boys were. Feminists claim that when exploring youth subcultures females are largely missing. Most of the studies only briefly mention females in the background or as ‘pillion passengers’ (riding on the back of motorbikes etc. like groupies) and this has led sociologists such as McRobbie and Garber (1976) to use the term ‘invisible girl’ when describing the role of females in youth culture.

Answer 42

More recent evidence that females are marginalized in subcultures comes from Thornton (1995). She studied the dance music scene of the 1990’s and discovered that although females were more likely to go ‘clubbing’ than boys they were given less status than males because they were associated with a taste for mainstream pop music.

Answer 43

Feminists have drawn attention to the neglect of women in malestream sociology and turned our attention to the actions of young girls and their role in society.

Answer 44

- Despite the more public role of women in society today, there are very few studies of girl subcultures in Britain. Studies of girl subcultures in the USA such as the Riot Girls are a powerful image of girl responses to anger and oppression, but in the UK, females have been involved in more ‘gender neutral’ movement in recent years such as rave, goth and emo subcultures. This may suggest that there is now a ‘blurring’ of femininity and masculinity in our post modern era and it could be an indication that gender is now a less important feature of our identity. - Postmodernists like Polhemus argue that there is a supermarket of style which means that all our identities are now more fluid and we choose what we want to be- gender is less important. - Feminists have been criticized for dealing only with gender related issues, which neglects social class and ethnicity dimensions of subcultures. Cohen and would argue that subcultures are a reaction to class. - Functionalists such as Eisendadt have argued that the sole purpose of youth culture is to smooth the transition from childhood to adulthood so he argues that any differences in the people or the various form of youth culture formed is unimportant; what is important is that it operates as a transitional mechanism that benefits the individual in their move to adulthood. It can be argued that the bedroom subculture is beneficial for girls as it will smooth their transition into an adulthood which requires females to be more home-based than males

Answer 45

Researchers have found that there are several trends in the way that women’s identity is portrayed in the media. These are: 1. Women tend to be in domestic settings – in the home/ the kitchen. 2. Women’s bodies are highly sexualised – they are often semi naked, cut up in parts, sometimes headless, hands positioned over their heads 3. Role appropriate behaviour is encouraged – to be feminine and find Mr. Right 4. Women are judged by their appearance – even ‘female firsts’ into space, sport, business and politics are described in physical ways (blonde, brunette) 5. The entertaining sideshow – women are often positioned alongside older men in programmes and recruited for appearance 6. The virgin / whore complex – women are depicted as ‘good girls’ or ‘bad girls’ depending on how sexually active they are. Good girls smile at the camera, bad girls stare or scowl. Men have more complex identities – good footballer, bad husband. 7. Marginalization – black, lesbian and older women are under-represented in the media. We see white, heterosexual, young, slim, tall women most of all. The research found that over 1,300 news reports involved sexism. The report came to six conclusions about press reporting of women’s lives: - Press reporting often lacks context - Focus on women's appearance and the degree to which their behaviour conforms to ‘femininity’ - Tabloids in particular objectify women excessively - There is selective and de-contextualized reporting about victims of sexual violence and the perpetrators of such violence - Glamorize and eroticize violence against women and girls. - Women’s issues’ are covered in a narrow and stereotyped way.

Answer 46

Press reporting often lacks context which can lead to inaccurate, incomplete and misleading impression of women’s lives

Answer 47

Photographs and coverage often focus on women's appearance and the degree to which their behaviour conforms to ‘femininity’ This can reduce women’s aspirations.

Answer 48

Tabloids in particular objectify women excessively and reduce them to sex objects in a way that would not be acceptable on TV or in the workplace.

Answer 49

There is selective and de-contexualised reporting about victims of sexual violence and the perpetrators of such violence which negatively affects women’s confidence in the criminal justice system.

Answer 50

The reporting of rape and violence and adverts for pornography in newspapers often glamorize and eroticize violence against women and girls.

Answer 51

Women’s issues’ are covered in a narrow and stereotyped way. Women who have achieved political careers like US politician Hilary Clinton or MP Teresa May are denigrated, infantilized (talked about like young girls) and humiliated by male journalists

Answer 52

- Feminists have highlighted the problem of male ownership and control of the media, and the way it affects messages. They have also highlighted the power of stereotypes in shaping attitudes and behaviour and the impact this has on culture. - Research on radio and television have found similar patterns to the 2012 report. For example Cochrane (2011) found that 72% of contestants on BBC Question Time were male, 92% were male on Mock the Week and 84% of reporters and guest were male on BBC Radio 4s Today programme. The game industry does not fare much better. Ivory (2006) found that females are also invisible in games or presented in in a heavily sexualized way. This may be one of the reasons that most gamers are male. However the survey found that women do use social networking sites more than males, communicating and sharing content.

Answer 53

- Feminists are divided on the ‘cause’ of female oppression in the media. They therefore have different solutions to the problem, which hinders collective action. - Content analysis may not be as objective as it claims since the researcher must select and record data accurately. In some instances such as a television programme the researcher must make choices about how to interpret particular forms of behaviour. - This method can also be time-consuming due to analyzing a range of newspapers or TV programmes in detail. - Also, it does not tell us what the content means to those involved in making it and those watching. Media messages may be interpreted differently by the audience /consumer.

Answer 54

Primary deviance is when an act is recognised as breaking norms but is tolerated and normalised by members of a group e.g. parking on double yellow lines or not putting a shopping trolley back in the supermarket rack. The deviant behaviour is seen as marginal to the person’s identity and an excuse can be made for them; ‘they were in a rush’.

Answer 55

Secondary deviance arises when primary deviance is no longer tolerated and is stigmatized or punished in some way e.g. taking class A drugs. The social reaction implies that the act says something important about the person’s character. Law enforcement agencies and other official agencies react to the person as ‘a burglar/gang member/fraudster/junkie’. The label then creates stigma (a devaluing of someone’s identity).

Answer 56

Primary deviation does not always lead to secondary deviation. Many young people drift in and out of deviance and go through stages of experimenting with deviant behaviour without establishing a long term pattern. However those who face many social disadvantages are more likely to fall in to a deviant identity rather than drift out.

Answer 57

Interactionist theory has grown in the latter half of the twentieth century and has become one of the dominant sociological perspectives today. It is a micro sociological study of individuals and focuses on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems.

Answer 58

Social stigma is the extreme disapproval of (or discontent with) a person or group on socially characteristic grounds that are perceived, and serve to distinguish them, from other members of a society. Stigma may then be affixed to such a person, by the greater society, who differs from their cultural norms. Stigmatisation involves labelling then rejection, exclusion and possibly incarceration. Goffman (1963) argues that the deviant may internalise this view of themselves and embark on ‘deviant career’, seeking out others who share their way of life. Goffman argues that groups of ‘sympathetic others’ form supportive subcultures to support the secret way of life away from the eyes of the authorities. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where the label becomes part of the way that the person sees themself. The label takes on a ‘master status’ and comes to define them. This leads to more deviance.

Answer 59

- The approach recognises that the forces of the criminal justice system are important players in the phenomenon of crime. - It draws our attention to the relative nature of deviance. There is a recognition that the nature and extent of deviance is socially constructed.

Answer 60

- It is unclear to what extent to which the criminal justice system affects whether a labeled individual continues in their deviant career. - There is a failure to explain why deviant acts are committed in the first place. Important structural causes of crime are often neglected like social class inequalities. - If there is no such thing as an intrinsically deviant act, where does that leave actions such as rape and murder? - It tends to treat deviants as the passive victims of the social control agencies.

Answer 61

The pursuits of folk devils frequently intensifies into a mass movement that is called a moral panic. When folk devils are the subject of loosely organised but persuasive campaigns of hostility through gossip and the spreading of urban legends. The mass media sometimes get in on the act or attempt to create new folk devils in an effort to promote controversy. The campaign against the folk devil influences a nation's politics and legislation. - Cohen was interested in the truth behind the 'Mods vs Rockers' media hype in the late 1960's. According to the media the violence between them was a national problem that represent the decay (atrophy) of society. Cohen found the following in his research (which contradicts the media stories): 1. The violence that the media reported was actually minimal 2. The majority of young people at the seaside during these so called 'riots' were neither 'Mods' nor 'Rockers'.

Answer 62

A moral panic is the process of arousing social concern over an issue - usually the work of moral entrepreneurs. This inevitably involves the creation of folk devils. A moral entrepreneur is a person, group or organisation with the power to create or enforce rules, and implore their morals, views and attitudes onto others (e.g. politicians, teachers, parents and religious leaders). A folk devil is an over simplifies, ill-informed generalisation of people/groups who moral entrepreneurs wish to demonise.

Answer 63

1. Cohen has highlighted that moral panics can occur when belabour or values emerge that can be perceived as a threat to social order. This is still a relevant observation in modern day Britain. 2. Cohen demonstrates that concerns can escalate through media sensationalism and shows how the process of deviant amplification creates 'folk devils'. This has given us insight into the way that provocative media reports and negative public opinions leads such groups being even more socially excluded or deviant, which in turn ca cause them to identify even more strongly with their subculture identities.

Answer 64

1. Cohen is wring from an interactionist perspective where there is a tendency to focus on the lower levels of social control, like the police without looking at the role of the state. 2. When interactionist focus on the labelling of deviance they fail to examine the reasons for deviant behaviour beginning in the first place.

Answer 65

- There are many factors that influence our identity in our changing social world, for example, technological charge including advances in social media, the influence of globalisation, the influence of mass culture, the complexity of modern life and the increasing awareness of and access to a range of identities and lifestyles. - Norms and values are travelling much faster than they did before. For example, and idea floated casually on Twitter by a celebrity can often appear on mainstream news a day later. Norms and values took much longer in the days before mass media.

Answer 66

- There have been changes to subcultures too. They become absorbed into mainstream culture much faster, as mass proaction can quickly create products to sell to 'niche' tastes. When we all acquire the same tastes or clothes they are no longer a niche. There is therefore a greater turnover of subcultures.

Answer 67

- Some sociologist complain about globalisation and 'disneyfication', where we call are consuming the same films, programmes, magazines and news from the big six media companies. We are therefore becoming more like (convergence and homogenisation) and opposed to celebrating our diversity and heterogeneity (awareness and acceptance of our differences).

Answer 68

Status and power can also be achieved within subcultures in two ways: - Groups give members aa sense of identity and belonging. They may feel part of something bigger and feel fully accepted within their group. This gives them a sense of status when they may feel they have very little status in larger society. - Gang leaders have higher status than gang members. Within groups there are different pecking orders of most-to-least powerful in terms of social honour, decision making, access to resources and/or people. Different types of culture have more power, status, ad influenced than others. For example, high arts such as ballet, opera and classical music might attract more funding and recognition from the government than popular culture. Individuals or groups who are part of established mainstream culture are more likely to have power, status and influence than those who are members of subcultures. Individuals or groups with high levels of power usually have higher status and an ability to influence people or situations they are in; these with lower levels of power usually do not.

Answer 69

Feral children are those who have been neglected or abused by their family and so have little interactions or communication with humans, and may even have been raised with animals and so learn their behaviours. Such children often fail to develop crucial social skills necessary for life as they have had little to no experience of human care, loving or social behaviour, and crucially the human language.

Answer 70

1. Primary socialisation 2. Secondary socialisation 3. Social Control 4. Roles 5. Feral Children

Answer 71

1. High Culture 2. Popular Culture 3. Mass Culture 4. Folk Culture 5. Global Culture 6. Subculture

Answer 72

1. Synergy 2. Product Placement 3. The Lobby System 4. The Decline of Investigative Journalism 5. Advertisers Shaping Media Content

Answer 73

1. Hypodermic Syringe Model 2. Two Step Flow Model 3. Cultural Effects Model

Culture & Identity Unit Flashcards

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