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Don\u27T Have A Cow (Wo)Man!
Get PDFSitcoms have been a part of the American experience since the dawn of the television. For generations, families have grown up identifying with characters they see every week, and can see themselves within the everyday life situations experienced by characters on their favorite shows. What happens then, when one of America’s favorite sitcoms isn’t really a sitcom? This study is a content analysis of 20 episodes of The Simpsons, from season two to season twenty. Using cultural studies and narrative paradigm, this study examined gender roles and representations in The Simpsons, how they evolved over the life of the program, and how they differ from traditional sitcom representations of gender. The study found that, contrary to the traditional sitcom, The Simpsons satirizes traditional gender stereotypes. Through the development of complex, often contradictory characters, The Simpsons encodes messages to the audience that challenges viewers to expand their view of what is “normal” and “typical” in terms of gender representation
What Communities Want: Recognizing the Needs of Hate Crime Targets
Get PDFThe theme of the Third International Conference on Hate Studies, “The Pursuit of Justice: Understanding Hatred, Confronting Intolerance, Eliminating Inequality,” took me immediately to the subject matter of this article: Who is meant to be served by the subthemes of this conference, if not the targets or potential targets of hate crime? An equally important set of questions would ask: What justice looks like from the perspectives of those individuals and groups? What do hate crime victims want, and what do they need? And, what do vulnerable communities want and need
African Americans\u27 Perceived Social Identities through Media Projection
No full textAfrican Americans are commonly defined by artificial characteristics which portray them in restrictive roles. This is a result of media’s influence and the way its messages shape society. As a result, African Americans’ self-identity is shaped by the negative images they see and hear in their environment. Based on the application of Feminist Standpoint Theory in concurrence with Semiotic Theory, this study examines the consequences and effect of bias media messages. Furthermore, it investigates these consequences on African Americans\u27 individual and collective identity due to media depictions. This thesis investigates how public opinion affects African Americans’ perception of themselves. The survey instrument consisted of a video clip and twenty-five questions, which was distributed over a period of five days and completed by twenty African American men and women. The survey was designed to identify and assess African Americans’ views on media representation and evaluate their feeling about being members of their racial/ethnic group. The results show that African Americans are conscious of the inaccuracy of media representation and recognize that it still shapes their self-image, individual identity and others perception. It also shows that respondents acknowledge African Americans are more visible in the public, however, they are presented in degrading and limited roles. Respondents viewed the continuation of negative representation as a result of media portrays and it effects the way African Americans view themselves. This study laid emphasis on the need for media and in turn society to change their perception and public representation of African Americans in order to protect African Americans self-esteem and social identity from the negative effects of media stereotypes and its messages
Advertising the Thin-Ideal to the Middle-Aged Woman: A Rhetorical Analysis
No full textThis study is an ideological rhetorical analysis of how women’s magazines encode the “thinideal” in advertisements to women over forty. Analysis of three women’s magazines, all of which are geared to older women, focused on the rhetorical strategies employed by advertisers when communicating the “thin-ideal” to these women. The theoretical basis of the work included semiotics, Festinger’s social comparison theory, and Hall’s cultural studies. The findings of the study: 1) the “thin-ideal” is connoted with youth, 2) depictions of women over forty are scarce in the advertisements of the magazines for which they are the purported audience, 3) aging is encoded as a disease, 4) depictions of “real women” are limited mainly to advertisements for goods and services to treat health conditions, and 5) the lack of numerous thin-ideal depictions still reinforce the values of what society deems socially valid. Such findings indicate that persuasion is complete. Magazine advertisements no longer have to persuade readers, who have spent a lifetime internalizing the thin-ideal to participate in conscious social comparison processes to buy into the predominant ideology. This ideology communicates to middle-aged women that if they want to remain valuable and visible within society, they will conform to the requirements of an unrealistic thin-ideal, despite the cost to their physical, emotional, and financial health
Celebrities in Popular Culture: How their Use of Social Media Contributes to their Success
No full textIt is amazing to see the potential impacts social media can have on an individual. If used effectively, social media can transform the way ordinary people live into instant celebrity status. If individuals with talent are not media literate and do not have the knowledge to use the Internet and use social media platforms to showcase their abilities for the world to see, their talent could be going to waste. Social media allows media literate individuals to connect with the world and satisfy any needs or desires that they may have
Understanding Bystander Behavior in Cyberbullying Encounters: An Application of Bystander Apathy Theory
No full textCyberbullying consequences are increasingly turning tragic with the victims committing suicide. Cyberbullying is carried out through computer mediated communication and due to public nature of social media platforms, it is natural to believe any number of individuals are witnessing any and all acts of communication. This becomes especially problematic during cyberbullying encounters because the victim is vulnerable to hurtful communication from anyone who views the attack. The victim is also subject to humiliation because of sharing capabilities that computer mediated communication provides. However, it has been proven that bullies will typically back down in face-to-face situations if a witness intervenes, so it could be hypothesized that the same would hold true in cyberbullying instances. This study takes the first step in researching personal action accounts of witnesses. The study examines bystander behavior and communication in cyberbullying encounters to help determine why bystanders behave the way they do when witnessing cyberbullying. To better understand bystander behavior, the study was analyzed through the steps detailed in the bystander apathy theory. The study was conducted through a convenience sample survey, focus groups, individual interviews, and email correspondence. Results of the study demonstrate that bystanders do go through a step-by-step process similar to the steps in the bystander apathy theory to determine whether they will or will not intervene. The study also produced three common themes of non-intervention: lack of responsibility, trivialization of the situation, and fear of embarrassment
Objectification of Female Athletes in the Media
No full textIt is evident that there has been and continues to be a bias within the media when reporting on women’s sports and female athletes. Focusing primarily on print media, specifically the USA Today, this study examines that bias and other varying forms of objectification. Though popularity and potential revenue of a particular sport, team, or athlete may dictate what certain media outlets decide to report, or report more prominently, any sort of objectification should not be an acceptable form of journalism. Using agenda-setting theory, a content analysis of the sports section of the USA Today for the month of October was conducted. Results determined a high degree of underrepresentation, misrepresentation, and infantilization
Sexual Objectification of Women in the Mass Media and how it affects Adolescent Girls
No full textResearch suggests that the depiction of women in a sexualized manner through mass media may be linked to body image disturbance among adolescents. In today’s culture, the message is too often that to be liked, or to be perceived as pretty, you must be sexy (Lerum & Dworkin, 2009). Though this message is pervasive, it is important to understand the effects that these messages have on adolescents, according to Levin and Kilbourne (2008), boys and girls, from all cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, are affected by these trends. By focusing so narrowly on appearance, the media and popular culture have not only limited the notions of what is good and worthy, they have marginalized those who fall outside of the ideal. Via a meta-analysis of recent scholarship, this thesis attempts to uncover if the sexual objectification of women in the media is harmful to adolescents. Three communication frames will be employed to address the sexual objectification of adolescent girls in the mass media: critical theory, semiotics, and the sociocultural tradition. This thesis examines several different correlational and experimental studies testing the links between media exposure to adolescents’ body dissatisfaction
Social Media as a Relationship Building Tool for Non-Drit Organizations
No full textSocial media can serve as a powerful relationship builder when used by organizations to connect with their stakeholders. In the course of this study, the social media activity of six non-Drit organizations were analyzed and evaluated over one month. Three of the organizations were nationwide non-Drits and three were local non-Drits located in central North Carolina. Each of the organizations used more than two social media applications, however, Facebook and Twitter were the only applications used by all of the organizations. Other social media platforms that were used included Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Vimeo, blogs, and organization-specific applications. For each of the organizations, their social media accounts were evaluated for relational content versus transactional content and the engagement rate between the organization and their followers were calculated. All counts, totals, and analysis of content were collected manually by the researcher. To better understand the importance of social media use by organizations, the Excellence Theory, Social Information Processing Theory, and Social Penetration Theory served as communication frameworks and beacons. Humans inherently want to connect to others and according to Buber (1958), relationships are the building blocks to life. This study explores how social media aids in the development of relationships. Despite the application used, all six of the organizations attempted to establish relationships with their stakeholders through the posting of value-added content that appealed to the common interests of the stakeholders and the organization. As to be expected, the nationwide organizations had much larger followings on social media than the smaller non-Drits. Despite this size difference, all of the organizations had online engagement with their stakeholders. The data collection from this study indicates that there is a positive trend between relational content posts on social media and online engagement. The higher the number of relational posts, the higher the level of engagement on social media. Non-Drit organizations are able to capitalize on the benefits of social media and to use their online presence as a way to build relationships. Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly used social media applications utilized to reach an organization’s supporters. By developing and sharing relational content on social media, non-Drit organizations can maximize their ability to reach their supporters and build relationships through social media use
Fighting for the Right to Be White: A Case Study in White Racial Identity
Get PDFMembership in extremist groups, such as White Revolution and the Ku Klux Klan, embody specific behavioral attributes. These attributes include practicing endogamy and exhibiting racial pride. There is general consensus among members as to what it means to be part of a socially constructed extremist group. There are also strong motivational factors that support maintaining in-group solidarity and dominant status. By adhering to the rules dictated by group membership, both the self and the group are uplifted based on white racial identity. The process of self-categorization for white racial activists accentuates their own physical similarities along with perceived negative physical differences among racial and ethnic groups. The result is a reinforcement of norms that favor the in-group over the out-group. Subjective belief structures, such as the superiority of whiteness and heterosexuality, legitimize the existence of a universal higher status in-group (at least in the white supremacist worldview). This project is based on ongoing field research that began in July 2009, survey data collected in May 2010, and discussion topics posted on the hate site, Stormfront.org in 2013 and 2014. These findings, among others, contribute to literature about why some people join extremist groups, adhere to racialist ideology, and believe that whites are superior to all other groups