Social Class

• Middle class or non-manual occupations

  Include

  Typical white-collar jobs include company management, lawyers, accountants, financial and insurance jobs, consultants, and computer programmers, 
• Working-class or manual occupations include skilled workers such as plumbers, semi-skilled workers such as lorry drivers, and unskilled or routine workers such as cleaners
• Social class representations in media

  Based on the perspective of rich, powerful upper-class media owners and professionals who produce the media content
• More positive stereotypes of middle class than working class or the poor
• Over-representation of the upper and middle classes and an under-representation of the working class
• The working class tend to appear in a restricted range of roles than the middle class
• These media representations may affect the way that people perceive social class, wealth and poverty
• Jones (2011): 'The middle class gives the impression that 'we're all middle class now'. The values and lifestyles of the middle class are portrayed as something we should all aspire to. The working class are presented as abnormal and deviant or as figures of fun.'
• Class presentation in media

  • Presented as a lifestyle choice instead of an economic category
  • Taste is used as a symbol of class identity
  • People's lives are shaped by their individual choices and the goods they buy to form part of their lifestyle
  • The media encourages people to focus on the individual instead of their social class and patterns of structural inequality in the distribution of wealth and income
• Media news values mean that news about the rich and famous such as crimes by or against them are more likely to be reported than stories about working class people
• In 2007, only a small proportion of media output in the UK included stories about poverty
• Journalists who were interested in poverty acknowledged that they would only be likely to cover it if they could find an angle to make it newsworthy
• Across a range of media entertainment, (Reality TV, Dramas and sitcoms), working class people are devalued
• Marxists and Neo-Marxists such as the Glasgow Media group emphasize that the media representations reflect the interests of the powerful
• There is very little media content that directly discusses class privilege, class inequality and power differences
• The tensions between classes are concealed or seen as irrelevant
• Working Class - media representation

  As dumb and stupid buffoons’.As living in idealized/romanticized working class communities. As a source of trouble and conflict.They are demonized and treated as ‘white trash, scum and chavs’.
• Middle Class

  Overrepresented: - The middle class is overrepresented. What does this mean?

  There is more coverage of middle class lifestyles in proportion to the percentage of the population they make up.
• Rep Of Middle Class

  Positive portrayals

  The middle class is generally presented in a positive light as educated and successful and middle class lifestyle is presented as the norm to which everyone should aspire. Jones suggests the media give the impression, “we’re all middle class now”, with the values and lifestyles of the middle class as the norm, to which everyone should aspire.
• Upper Class

  Representations of the monarchy
• Representations of the monarchy

  • The most obvious and extensive representation of the upper class in the media
  • Generally presented in a positive light, though some exceptions
  • Aimed at reinforcing a sense of national identity
  • Royal events, e.g. weddings, are national events to be celebrated
• Positive representations of the upper class

  • Presented as being cultured and superior
  • May be presented as being a bit eccentric but overall mainly decent
  • Increased focus on celebrity lifestyles and those of the nouveau riche
  • Media focus heavily on consumer items such as luxury cars, that only the wealthy can afford
• Romanticised portrayals of the upper class

  • Represented in a romanticized way in costume/period dramas, such as 'Downton Abbey'
  • Suggest that somehow life was once better, even for the poor who worked for the upper class