Impoverished and Invisible
The consciousness, beliefs and culture that individuals in society adhere to are largely influenced by the ever-growing mass media. As a matter of fact, Americans devote an average of twenty-eight hours to watching television per week (Mantsios, 2008). Furthermore, they put in an undetermined number of hours listening to the radio, going to the movies and reading periodicals (Mantsios, 2008). It is clear that the media has an overarching impact on society, yet American mass media have highly concentrated control and ownership compared to other social institutions (Mantsios, 2008). Over 20 corporations own a majority of all daily newspapers, magazines, radio, television and movie studios (Mantsios, 2008). What’s
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Thus, class distinctions practically affect many aspects of our daily lives like the quality of education, determining the nature of employment, and the health and safety of those dear to us (Mantsios, 2008). However, our society continues to abide by the idea that America is an egalitarian society (Mantsios, 2008). The acceptance of these impressions is largely due to the fact that the media obscures this inequities from the public eye (Mantsios, 2008). As mentioned earlier, the media provides the public with limited coverage of poor individuals and poverty. Most news media outlets ignore the plight of the poor. Often, a smaller proportion of the American population, such as flooding in the Midwest, would amass a bigger amount of coverage and media hype rather than the forty million individuals in poverty (Mantsios, 2008). Moreover, the poor are often only regarded as a statistic and given coverage through graphs or annual fluctuations on the news (Mantsios, 2008). The difficulties they face financially, mentally and emotionally are not featured in media productions. For instance, Beverly plot that featured Ramona Quimby and her family’s struggles through the economic shift was toned down for its movie adaptation “Ramona and Beezus” (Vanderkam, 2010). In the books, when Mr. Quimby lost his job, he …show more content…
The beliefs on wellness and self-help has been an on-going fixation for decades (Sanders & Barnes-Brown, 2010). These notions became more pronounced and popular, as the American economy took a nosedive that left many jobless (Sanders & Barnes-Brown, 2010). As its popularity rose, a new genre called “priv-lit”: “literature or media whose expressed goal is one of spiritual, existential, or philosophical enlightenment contingent upon women’s hard work, commitment, and patience, but whose actual barriers to entry are primarily financial” (Sanders & Barnes-Brown, 2010). Most of the priv-lit rhetoric revolves around the idea of spending to justify claimed healthy goals, self-acceptance, the opportunity to heal and break away from destructive patterns (Sanders & Barnes-Brown, 2010). Clearly, these priv-lit views promoted by the media only caters to those with money, as they advertise spending to attain some sort of satisfaction. Here, we see the media catering to those of higher class since they can afford it, while ignoring the poor who may actually want to better themselves, but may not have the means to. On top of that, the
Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth Living in Bootstrap America, tells her story of what it’s like to be working poor in America, as well as what poverty is truly like on many levels. With a thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses her journey from lower class, to sometimes middle class, to poor, and everything in between. Throughout the read, Tirado goes on to reveal why poor people make the decisions they do in a very powerful way.
In the excerpt Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption, Diana Kendall outlines the various media frames on social classes and analyzes how each frame contributes to the portrayal of each class. Kendall describes and explains eight different types of media frames and illustrates the impact on their cultural perceptions. She demonstrates America’s distorted view of inequality through the media frames’ construction of a “socially constructed reality” that is not an accurate reflection of America. She also argues that people still have the ability to develop other frames that better explain who we are and a more accurate reflection of our nation regarding class. Kendall is writing to an audience of high-educated, middle aged men and women, and it is assumed they want to read on social class injustice. This is made clear because of her academic profession, and the placement of the excerpt in a textbook.
The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader of a real problem, media misrepresentation, and to try to have the reader change the way the think, feel, and perceive the poor. She gives examples of encounters she has had that are a result of the damaging depiction and conveys to the reader why those thoughts are wrong by using her own personal experiences. She mentions that before entering college she never thought about social class. However, the comments from both other students and her professors about poverty were alarming to her. Other people viewed the poor as, “shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” indigents. Hook opposes that stereotypical image of the poor, referring back to being taught in a “culture of poverty,” the values to be intelligent, honest, and hard-working. She uses these personal experiences to her advantage by showing she has had an inside look at poverty.
Mass media has experienced many major developments over the past hundred years. As the manner in which media is communicated to the world evolves a definite shift to American culture has occurred in the process. Mass media has undergone numerous changes in the way it is distributed to the general public, going from newspapers, to radio, to television, and now to the World Wide Web. American culture is so ingrained in technology, that distributing mass media in this format seems like a natural step in the evolutionary process of distribution.
Author Bryan Stevenson (2014) writes, “The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned”(p.18). According to the non-profit, Feeding America (2016), in 2015, 43.1 million, or 13.5%, of people in the United States were impoverished. Poverty is a vicious cycle, trapping people and families for generations. The inability to escape poverty is due in part to difficult class mobility in the U.S. but also because certain factors reinforce the idea and state of poverty. Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller Just Mercy, Lindsey Cook’s article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal”, Michelle Alexander’s excerpt “The Lockdown”, and Sarah Smarsh’s “Poor Teeth” all explore the idea of poverty and the systems that sustain it. While all four readings focus on poverty differently and explore it using different techniques, they all share similar big picture ideas about how poverty is fortified through systematic, societal, and psychological efforts.
As a minority gets older they realize the hard truths of society. These truths involve many different types of stereotypes that contribute to racism and overall surround the idea of inequality and framing in social economics. In Diana Kendall’s piece “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption” social inequality is viewed as a heavy topic, that the media abuses. In fact, Kendall uses the Census Bureau to point out that “the net worth of the average white household in 2000 was more than ten times that of the average African American household and more than eight times the average Latino/Latina household” (338). Based on the facts from this source minorities are financially at a disadvantage and are presumed to be unhappy due to lack of wealth. However, money does not control or even affect happiness rather Kendall makes a point that framing does, which can be seen through James McBride life story “The Boy in the Mirror”, where the world McBride’s mother framed for him, one without inequality, begins to crumble . McBride paints a picture of the dramatic change that happened when arriving at adulthood when he writes, “We did not consider ourselves poor or deprived, or depressed, for the rules of the outside world seemed meaningless to us as children. But as we grew up and fanned out into the world as teenagers and college students we brought the outside home with us, and the world that Mommy had so painstakingly created began to fall apart” (415). The simple
Imagine you’re driving down a road and arrive at a red light. As you glance to your right, you see a woman standing there with a sign that reads, “Without work, anything will help”. Do you stop and give the spare change in your purse? Do you look the other way? Poverty is a difficulty that affects numerous families not only in the United States, but around the world. Jeannette Walls shows in her memoir, The Glass Castle, which describes her hardships as a child, that some poverty-stricken families chose to remain silent, afraid of the embarrassment they feel they’d face, or in denial of their situation. Despite the various drawbacks that weighed down the families hopes of survival, it only lit a fire in Jeannette to become a strong woman who appreciates what she has, knowing it could all disappear in an instant.
Mass media is communication that reaches a large audience. This includes television, advertisement, the Internet, newspapers, and so on. Mass media is a significant effect in modern culture in America. It creates ideas and sustained within society not only send ideological messages out to the public but to advertise this ideas which are tend to manipulate our mantalities.
Whether it be at the Hearthside or Walmart, it is important “not to ‘know too much’” or do what is not necessary (pg. 195, Ehrenreich). There is a negative connotation on over exertion at these establishments, as is understood, given the amount they are payed at both of these locations, which is hardly enough for one person to survive off of, let alone a whole family. Some of the co-worker’s she meets along the way are examples of poverty in the United States, many of whom share apartments with others, and one coworker, Joan, lives behind the hearthside in her car and showers in a coworkers motel room. The article “Poverty in the United States: An Overview” by Cliff Brown, is a great example of poverty in America and its characteristics. Those living in poverty have more health and educational issues, and individuals who fall below the poverty level are among the most vulnerable and distressed in the United States. Factors such as: race, ethnicity, family structure, sex, age, and geography are linked to poverty.(p. 89) In regards to the hearthside, or Jerrys, or the Maid Service, there is no one significant race or sex, there are many different representations of poverty, from the nineteen year old George who lives with other Czech immigrants in hope of garnering the American dream, to Caroline, the aunt of a friend who lived through what Ehrenreich is
Raymund Mendez Phil 106 Mendoza 11/30/14 The Rich and the Rest of Us Chapter 3: Poverty of Affirmation In chapter three of the book The Rich and the Rest of Us deals with the affirmation of poverty. A woman who lives in Columbus Mississippi is not attentive with the fact that cornel west and tavis smiley are coming to her town with their bus tour. “She was working out on a treadmill at the local YMCA when… ” (pg 71) when she saw the tour bus coming she was already feeling the emotion of anger run through her body, ready to give them a “riot act”.
In modern day United States, the media is a huge pool of information that is always apparent. Almost every household in America has a television; hundreds of channels on the television are mainly news, local or national such as Good morning Colorado, Good morning America, and World News Tonight, even talk shows such as Late Night w/Jimmy Fallon are fueled by the media.
Luke Scott once stated, ¨Crime is actually less in places where people own guns. Washington, D.C., is a case in point. It has the strictest gun laws, but who has the highest crime rate in the country? Washington, D.C.¨ Many people in the United States of America own firearms and use them in a proper, safe manner. Yet, gun control advocates pursue in trying to ban and put limits on the purchase and ownership of guns because of rare mass shootings that the media portrays to the general public. The media never shows the public the good that firearms do, the way firearms saves lives and keeps people safe. Gun control advocates believe that minimizing the availability of purchasing guns will decrease gun violence. This is ignorant and not a
Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and
Back in the 1920s people had receive news and entertainment through the radio, which then in turn out-shined newspapers and magazines. Now day’s social media sites have become the most popular form to get the news and information. The biggest tool in the media that generates revenue by the millions every day, is advertising. The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions.
The pinpoint cause of poverty is challenging to find. People who live well off and are above the poverty line may be quick to assume that laziness, addiction, and the typical stereotypes are the causes of poverty. Barbara Ehrenreich, a well known writer on social issues, brings attention to the stereotypical ideology at her time, that “poverty was caused, not by low wages or a lack of jobs, but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles” (17). Ehrenreich is emphasizing the fact that statements like the one listed, often influence readers to paint inaccurate mental pictures of poverty that continue to shine light on the ideology of stereotypes being the pinpoint cause to poverty. However, there are many other causes that are often overshadowed, leaving some individuals to believe that poverty was wrongfully placed upon them. Examples would include: high rates of unemployment, low paying jobs, race, and health complications. Which are all out of one’s ability to control. There is no control over a lack of jobs and high rates of unemployment, nor the amount of inadequate wages the working poor receive. Greg Kaufmann, an advisor for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Half in Ten campaign, complicates matters further when he writes, “Jobs in the U.S. [were] paying less than $34,000 a year: 50 percent. Jobs in the U.S. [were] paying below the poverty line for a family of four, less than $23,000 annually: 25 percent” (33). Acknowledging Kaufmann’s fact, the amount received for a family of four is fairly close to the yearly salary of a high school graduate, which means, receiving that kind of pay for one man may seem challenging, now imagine caring for the needs of four individuals. To make matters worse, certain families receive that amount of money and carry the burden of paying for