RACE, GENDER AND MEDIA

Dr. Tracy Everbach

OVERVIEW Methods course We will be discussing ways to study the media

Patterns in the media Stereotypes Influence of media on audiences

MEDIA RESEARCH Study media content, processes, effects on audiences.

Both quantitative and qualitative

Measurement or rich description

Both can be employed to show a full picture

CREATING A STUDY Define what you are studying

Research question or hypothesis

Decide how it will be measured or described

Choose your method

MASS COMMUNICATION METHODS Content analysis: qualitative and quantitative

Surveys/questionnaires Textual analysis Historical analysis Ethnography (field research) In-depth Interviews Participant observation

STEREOTYPES AND SCHEMAS Schemas are “organized knowledge …

abstracted from prior experiences” used to process new info and to retrieve stored info (Graber, 1988)

Related is stereotyping” “An ordered, more or less consistent picture of the world, to which our habits, our tastes, our comforts and our hopes have adjusted themselves. They may not be a complete picture of the world, but they are a picture of a possible world to which we are adapted.” (Walter Lippmann in “Public Opinion.”)

GROUPS AND COMMUNICATION Norms People are dependent on others for guidance

Social identity, social affiliation

Opinion leaders, source credibility, and personal influence

AGENDA SETTING

Long-held theory which states that media don’t tell people what to think, but rather, tell people what to think about. (McCombs and Shaw, 1972)

MEDIA EFFECTS RESEARCH

Effects are limited (Klapper, 1960)

Media are part of influence, which includes selective processes, group processes/norms, opinion leadership

Cultivation theory (Gerbner, 1980)

“The television set has become a key member of the family, the one who tells most of the stories most of the time.”

CULTIVATION AND SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES George Gerbner and other

researchers postulated that heavy exposure to cultural products (media) affects a person’s concept of reality.

Social learning theory (Bandura) says that people model behavior that they see in others or from television/film.

SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION Absence in the media of certain

groups, which leads to their marginalization in society. Lack of coverage and representation in media symbolically dismisses these groups as important. Usually refers to minorities, women, disabled people, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, people of different religions and cultural groups. (Tuchman, 1978)

USES AND GRATIFCATIONS THEORY The latest and greatest in

communication theory Understands media from

viewpoint of audience, rather than from power of media or communicator

What do people do with media? Audience is active, and media

compete with other sources of need satisfaction