Media and gender representation (1).pdf - MEDIA CONTENT,...

MEDIA CONTENT,
REPRESENTATION AND
IDEOLOGY

MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
• Media representations are the ways in which the media
portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a
particular ideological or value perspective.
• Rather than examining media representations as simply reflecting or
mirroring "reality," we examine how media representations serve to "re-
present" or to actually create a new reality.
• Sociologists are interested in ways the media represent people based on:
• Gender
• Race
• Class
• Sexual orientation

Media and ideology
• Ideology is the system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes a
value judgment about that world. Other words: worldview, beliefs, values
• Reality/things essentially have no permanent meaning in themselves and they can mean
different things to different people. Ideology guides individuals or societies in their attempt
to give meaning to reality.
How to think about ideology
• A set of underlying principles that could make Americans look at reality different from the
Russians, Japanese Chinese or North Koreans?