'Chav' By Tyler: Article Analysis

According to Kellner, 1990 Identity can be forged out of products of media culture . While individuals or groups can be identified by certain clear cut features, they can also be given their identity by certain symbols. The use of racial stereotypes can help to identify an image or give the underlying message that an object conveys, in Barthes terms, what is its ‘’myth’’. (Hall 1997 p.228)

In the two stories “Rose-Johnny” and “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” examples of the use of stereotypes, labels and/or prejudices upon people can be seen throughout these stories. The main characters in these stories face labeling and stereotypes in seperate ways. In this essay, the causes and effects of stereotypes, labels, and prejudices will be analyzed and explained by comparing each story’s underlying ideas, by understanding the environment the main characters are living in and also understanding how stereotypes come to be in the first place.

To individuals who knew few blacks in the past, stereotypes in film and television reinforced negative views about black laziness, sexuality, and criminality, making comedy shows such as Amos ‘n’ Andy easier to carry out as there was minimal explaining that was needed. By providing African Americans with inferior roles on television, it reinforced the idea that African Americans were not as valuable as their white counterparts. In essence, “we are what we consume.” The more audiences watched African Americans playing roles such as servants and buffoons, the more society began to see these roles as a reflection of the kinds of characteristics they possessed in reality. Pop culture, as such, is an expression of a communities shared experiences. Pop culture influences how people follow the general view of society. Such is apparent even in today’s society as celebrities such as Kylie Jenner “can put out a tweet or an Instagram photo and it becomes all the rage, she drives pop culture like no other celebrity does” (White). Her infamous lips have resulted in teens demanding lip injections in order to mirror her looks by asking doctors for “The

Simon Davis’ study of traditional sex stereotypes shows that Davis used sociological imagination during his study. Davis shows this when he states that his study had some limitations, “It could be argued that people placing personal ads are not representative of the public in general” (1990, 33). This shows that even though the study was focused on personal ads in one newspaper, Davis was aware that it may not fully represent the public in general and therefore the change in sex stereotypes may or may not still be common. This ability to look beyond the area being studied when thinking about representing the public and trying to see if it changed (in this case if the sex stereotypes were still in operation) shows sociological imagination because according to C.W Mills, “to understand the changes of many personal milieu we are required to look beyond them” (1959, 6).

FAS of 1988 cemented the major shift in the characterization of poor women who were reliant on welfare from inept mothers to calculating parasites (Jordan-Zachery, 2009). Going from the unskillful mother who was viewed as incompetent to take care of her child and responsibilities to a calculating parasite that feeds off benefits and dependency of welfare. The imagery used was of the stereotype of the “Welfare Queen” attached to women requiring financial assistance levels out difficulties to deliver a stereotype, unavailing story of poverty. Similarly, the image of the teen mother welfare recipient straightforwardly endorses a great part of the language of welfare

“Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation.”

Low expectations are tied to social inequality, and the “Poverty and social exclusion in Britain” study taken at the time as the TPS reported that a third of British children and youth were facing poverty and deprivation (Gordon et al., 2000). Poverty has inexorable ties to these low expectations, as disenfranchisement with institutions of education and the labour market are part of the vicious cycle of deprivation, and pregnancy is sometimes seen as a way out of this cycle.

Since the 70’s the term Welfare Queen has been used to describe our nation’s poor single mothers that receive welfare benefits instead of being gainfully employed. Society’s misconception is that they can be found buying fake Gucci purses out of the trunks of late model BMWs in gas station parking lots and appear on Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. These undereducated young mothers seem like cunning, conniving, county con artists that celebrate their poverty and hide the fact that being a welfare recipient affords a lack luster lifestyle that leaves them broke and stressed out once they log off of their social media sites. These women are the unchallenged authority on how to buy anything on EBT and the fabulous food stamp life. They portray a lifestyle that welfare critics will never stop talking about. Royalty that isn’t so royal – America’s Welfare Queen. This term has led to prejudice, misunderstandings, and society’s misconception of welfare recipients.

Historically, one of the most economically vulnerable groups in New Zealand and other Western countries are sole-parent families (Family Commissions, 2010). When examining historical influences in New Zealand on sole-parenting, one must consider the influential changes the Second World War era had on families and family structures. Sole-parenthood was not particularly common during the this period, as most women married young and went on to have children while the men worked to provide for their families or went off to war. (Families Commission, 2008, June). Unmarried women who fell pregnant were scrutinized as being unfit mothers and shamed for getting pregnant outside of marriage. These women were heavily encouraged to give their babies up for adoption to allow their children to live a “normal” life and were seen as selfish if they chose to keep the baby (Else, A., 2012).

British society is split into hierarchical categories with “higher” “middle” and “lower working” class. The British class structure is shaped like a pyramid cut into three

It only takes a second to attach a strong feeling or idea to a character in a movie, advertisement, or video game. Many characterization used are based on the assumed stereotypes, and are usually one-dimensional characters. Typically, these characterizations usually come from inherited family values, education, and the media. While stereotypes existed long before mass media, the media machine certainly helped to accelerate the cultural growth of all kinds of stereotypes. It is beyond this paper to answer why magazines employ these gender stereotypes, instead this research is designed to analyze

This essay will explore three contemporary issues in relation to social policy, whilst supporting these issues with legislation and economic context for each issue.

This article examines the representation of Vicky Pollard in light of contemporary widespread abuse of the white working class. Highlighting the polysemic and ambivalent nature of Vicky Pollard's representation, the article argues that whilst Little Britain's characterisation of Vicky Pollard largely contributes to contemporary widespread demonisation of the working class, there are moments within Little Britain when a more sympathetic tone towards the poor working class may be read, and where chav identities are used to ridicule the pretensions, superficiality, and falsity of middle-class identities. The article concludes that television comedy has been, and continues to be, a significant vehicle through which serious concerns, anxieties,

Stereotypes have an overwhelming effect especially on the people they are directed towards. Studying stereotypes helps in understanding the factors leading to discrimination of certain people and not others. This is because stereotypes are depictive of opinions that are often passed from one generation to another within a particular culture. Mass media such as television and newspapers form a common source of opinions in the contemporary society (Kotter & Hess, 2012). The media presents messages in steady, repetitive, and compelling manner, making them believable to almost everybody. Stereotyping opinion and depictions from the media can thus have detrimental effects on the

The judgments we make about people, events or places are based on our own direct impressions. But for most of the knowledge, we rely on media. The media actually re-present the world to us. However, the media only shows us some aspects of the world, ignoring the rest. So basically, the media chooses what is to be shown and what is to be discarded (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). . In this essay, I will explain what stereotypes are and primarily give an example of a famous men’s magazine called ‘nuts’ and explain how these stereotypes are created by print and the digital media and what are their impacts on people.