theories

• Dodd and Dodd (1992)

  Reviewed both continuity and change of media representations in EastEnders.

  They argue that the show has managed to introduce elements of realism that would not have seemed possible in the earlier working class.
• Newman (2006)


  Argues that there are very few films and television dramas that concentrate realistically on the everyday lives of working-class people. Points out that when working-class people are portrayed, they are often cast in an unflattering or pitying light.
• Devereux (2008)


  Argues that working-class people are seen as falling into two main categories. Either positive portrayals of 'happy' and 'deserving' poor contrast with the negative images of those on welfare benefits.
• Owen Jones (2012)


  Argues that the media use of the term 'chav' has come to represent a way of condemning working-class people and working-class culture. Criticizes a number of successful TV shows, such as Wife Swap and The Jeremy Kyle Show, which he sees as deliberately portraying working-class people in a negative way.
• Golding and Middleton (1982)


  Examined media-generated moral panics about alleged welfare abuse.

  During their six-month content-analysis based study, they found that welfare issues, as such, did not make the news. Welfare was only seen as newsworthy when it was connected with other issues such as crime, fraud or sex.

  Argued that the media demonises certain sections of the underclass and that this has contributed to legitimising welfare cutbacks by the state.
• Nairn (1988)

  The media's representations of the Queen and other members of her family constitute something of a 'soap opera' in the attention that is given to all their activities.

  
  

  Found that

  - The Royal Family as a concept equates to niceness, decency and ordinariness.

  - The Royal Family are deemed to be 'like us, but not like us'; the Queen is seen as an ordinary working mother doing extraordinary things. An example might include the difficulties she has experienced with her children which ordinary people can relate to, such as divorce.

  - An obsession with the Royal Family developed in British society following the Second World War.
• Reiner (2010)


  Contemporary representations people with wealth shop them as examples of success within a meritocratic society.
• Almy et al. (1984)


  Argue that media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant (hegemonic) ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate
• Tuchel (1978)


  Argued that the narrow range of roles for women amounted to their 'symbolic annihilation
• Ferguson (1983)


  Argued that women's magazines promoted traditional ideals of femininity.
• Bristol Fawcett Society (2008)

  Found that only 30% of the main characters in a day's output from the CBeebies were women. Also, prime-time dramas retained a 60/40 ratio of men to women in speaking parts
• Ferguson (1983)

  Portrayed through an image of ideal of the feminine, including traditional ideas of women with a focus of 'him, home and looking good (for him)
• Easthope (1990)

  a myth of men as possessing strength, competitive spirit and aggression and violence on the basis of some sort of biological predisposition. This is seen as evident in Hollywood films and in computer games
• Whannel (2002)

  analysed media images of David Beckham as an example of moth metrosexual and retributive masculinity.
• Glascock (2001)


  Describes portrayals of strong independent women such as the female lead in the TV dramas Prime Suspect of computer game character Laura Croft.
• Westwood (1999)


  Uses the concept of transgressive females to describe portrayals that have gone beyond gendered expectations. Programmes such as the X-Files (shown in the UK 1994-2003), which starred Gillian Anderson as agent Dana Scully, are seen as examples of media where a lead character takes a transgressive female role.
• Gill (2008)


  Argues that there has been a change from passive to active in media representations of women in advertising. She contends that recent media representations within advertising portray powerful women who are not passive recipients of the powerful 'male gaze'.
• Gauntlett (2008)

  notes evidence of a shift from the 1990s onwards away from more traditional gender roles across a range of media. His research into prime-time television in this period found that gender roles 'seemed to become increasingly equal and non-stereotyped. Using the example of the sitcom Friends. Argues that the characters are equal but different, with males and females adopting more modern characteristics that moved beyond traditional roles.
• Ralph Miliband

  Argued that the ruling class used the media to control society by creating a false picture of reality that presents capitalism in a positive way. He argued that the media presents the inequalities created by the capitalist system in such a way to make them appear inevitable, justifiable and effective for society. As a result, the proletariat accepts the values of the capitalist system even though these values are not in the interests of their class.
• Sutton Trust 2006

  Journalists and broadcasters tend to be white, middle class and male and more than 50% have attended independent schools, which only 7% of the population as a whole attend.
• Glasgow Media Group's (GMG)
• Williams (2010)

  argues that journalists provide an essential service in a democratic society in that they offer the information that people need to participate in political and cultural life. In terms of representations of social groups, this means that the media has an important role in ensuring representations are fair and accurate.
• Laura Mulvey (1975)

  'male gaze' - characterise cinema as an instrument of male spectatorship
• Lauzen (2014)


  Found that women accounted for only 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors. This data represents a decrease in numbers of two percentage points since 2012.
• Imelda Whelehan (2000)


  Study of men's magazines (FHM, Maxim and Loaded) argues 'that they are an attempt to override the message of feminism, promoting a laddish world where women are sex objects, and changes in gender roles can be dismissed with an ironic joke'.
• Angela McRobbie


  Conducted a number of studies of girls' and women's magazines. Over the year (her research spans four decades. Has come to different conclusions about the impact of these magazines of femininity and identity. She suggests that magazines had a significant influence on their female readers' identity.
• Vance Packard (1975)


  Argued that the media is like a syringe that is injected messages into the audience.
• Elizabeth Newson (1994)


  Argued that children's exposure to media violence has a desensitising effect and that they are more likely to commit acts of violence in reality if they have been exposed to violence in the media.
• Bandura (1961, 1963)


  Believed that his research demonstrated that children imitate violence shown on television.

  Argues that the effects of the media were seen as direct and immediate; the children saw the acts of violence toward the bobo doll and then behaved violently towards the bobo doll themselves.
• Anderson et al (2003)

  Conducted research into the direct effect of music on an audience. Their findings indicated a clear pattern of increased aggressive thoughts and feelings of hostility following listening to violent song lyrics. The researchers suggested that this was another form of entertainment media in which violent content appeared to be linked to violent effects.
• Hall et al. (2011)

  Conducted effects of sexualised song lyrics on young audiences. They argued that such lyrics 'can teach young men to be sexually aggressive and treat women as objects while often teaching young women that their value to society is to provide sexual pleasure for others'. The effects on young women can lead to poor body image, depression, and eating disorders.
• Gamson et al (1992)


  Concluded that 'people read messages in complicated and sometimes unpredictable ways. Direct effects theories do not tend to acknowledge much complexity in the process of media effects.
• Katz and Lazarsfeld (1995)

  Identified the role of opinion leaders in influencing the role of opinion leader is an individual who has more exposure to media views on a particular topic and he/she comes to be regarded as something of an expert on the topic. The influence of the media reaches the audience through two steps:

  1. The opinion leader takes in the media messages.

  2. The opinion leader transmits these within the context of social relationships.
• McQuail (1972)

  Argues individuals are active in their approach to the media and use it in a number of ways including a form of escape, as a means of gathering information, to form personal relationships and in constructing personal identity.
• McQuail (1972) - Uses and Gratifications

  Offers the following categories of common reasons for media use:

  Information

  Personal Identity

  Integration and social interaction

  Entertainment
• Neo-Marxist Hall (1973)

  Offers a more complex set of ideas that nevertheless suggest active involvement from the audience. Hall suggests that there are different possible ways of 'reading' a media message:

  - The dominant or hegemonic reading

  - The negotiated reading

  - The oppositional reading
• Klapper (1960) - Selective Filter Model

  Argued that audiences are not passive receptors of media propaganda but that the media simply reinforces previously held beliefs and attitudes. Variety of ways in which individuals filter such content

  - Selective exposure

  - Selective Perceptions

  - Selective Retention
• Wilkins (1967) - Deviancy Amplification

  Seeks to understand the role of the media in strengthening and magnifying deviance in society.
• Cohen - Folk Devils

  Argued that when the media reports on deviant behaviour they construct a narrative which features a clear villain: the folk devil. In his study, the folk devils were the violent youth subcultures, "mods and rockers". The creation of folk devils can kickstart a moral panic. Argues that the media labelled the mods and rockers in a negative and stereotyped way, and as a result they came to be seen as 'folk devils'. Highlighted the role of the media in defining the situation and argued that they had created a greatly exaggerated picture of the conflict between the mods and rockers.
• Van Dijk's (1991)

  Content analysis of news items across the world over several decades confirms that news representations of Black people can be categorised into several types of stereotypically negative news.

  - Ethnic minorities as criminals

  - Ethnic minorities as a threat

  - Ethnic minorities as dependent

  - Ethnic minorities as abnormal

  - Ethnic minorities as unimportant