Lecture 13: Gender Advertisements Flashcards
What major change did the invention of photography bring to people’s exposure to images?
People were exposed to very little amount of images before photography.
Who is considered one of the first models in the history of photography?
Italian Countess Virginia Oldoini di Castiglione.
What major shift happened in fashion magazines around 1913?
Conde Nast appointed Adolph de Meyer as Vogue’s first official photographer.
Who revolutionized Vogue’s covers in the 1940s?
Irving Penn and Erwin Blumenfeld, under artistic direction of Liberman.
Who is Erving Goffman?
A Canadian naturalized US sociologist interested in everyday social interactions.
What concept did Goffman use to describe social life?
The metaphor of the theatre (actor, stage, backstage, etc.).
What is Gender Advertisements by Goffman?
A monograph studying how advertising images reproduce gender stereotypes.
What was Goffman’s methodology in studying gender advertisements?
Empirical study of over 500 ads using frame analysis and coding non-verbal clues.
What did Goffman’s study hypothesize and confirm?
Advertisements convey an idea of subordination of women to men.
What is hyper-ritualization?
Exaggerated representations of gender differences widely understood by the public.
What is a display according to Goffman?
A behavior that communicates an understandable alignment in social interaction.
Do displays communicate specific messages?
No, they communicate social alignment or position.
How do humans use displays differently from animals?
Through culture, using specific appearances and behaviors to communicate information.
How does Goffman define gender?
A set of correlates that a culture associates with a sex.
What are gender displays?
Conventional representations of gender correlates.
What does advertising portray as natural, according to Goffman?
Socially constructed gender differences.
How are women generally portrayed in advertisements?
In situations of inferiority and subordination.
What five expressive codes does Goffman identify?
- Relative dimension, 2. Function ranking, 3. Ritualization of subordination, 4. Feminine touch, 5. Licensed withdrawal.
What is relative dimension in gender ads?
Social power is shown through height; women taller only with lower social class men.
What is function ranking?
Men portrayed in executive roles, women in passive roles during tasks.
What is ritualization of subordination?
Women adopt submissive postures, lying down or physically lowering themselves.
How are beds and floors significant in Goffman’s study?
Women and children pictured there more than men, symbolizing inferiority.
How does lying down portray women in ads?
As subordinate, dependent, and sexually suggestive.
What does elevation symbolize in ads?
High social place; men are located higher than women.
