Social Inequality In The Media - 1700 Words

The media carries a significant role in the distribution of information in American society. The American populace rely on entertainment and news networks to properly feed them updates on science, politics, celebrities and so much more. The media has this kind of power due to the fast pace way of life Americans live as well as their inability, or lack of want, to read pure and unadulterated academic articles on any given subject. While the media never seems to stop covering vast topics of interest to great length it is fundamentally failing at properly commenting on one of the most important social issues of the century, class and its relation to social inequality. The media is downright disrespectful and negligent in the way it goes†¦show more content†¦The media especially enjoys reducing the severity of the class disparity by pushing the idea that the majority falls within the middle class. Not only does entertainment follow a typical middle-class protagonists format but the news also allots middle class politics the most screen time. However, the middle class is actually shrinking indefinitely but this rising development continues to be ignored. Another way this idea of reducing the discussion of class in America is pushed by stripping away the humanity behind the class that needs the most help, the lower class. This is typically done by using numbers to represent large groups of people without giving details on the actual quality of life. The news also makes the lower classes plights to be temporary telling success stories instead of average ones while the entertainment industry shows an episodic view of the poor where there is always a happy ending which of course is far from the truth. An example of this can be seen in how they dehumanize and flat out demonize the worst off in the lower class, the homeless. As Mariah Barajas expressed, in her article â€Å"How Homelessness Is Distorted in the Media.†, â€Å"Entertainment media has also given us unrealistic ideas of what to expect from individuals struggling with homelessness. If we don’t see a success story like Will Smith in the movie, â€Å"The Pursuit of Happiness,† then oftenShow MoreRelatedMedia and Social Inequality906 Words   |  4 PagesMedia and Social Inequality The Media promotes and reproduces societal values and norms, establishing common meanings and understandings among groups and individuals. These common meanings are portrayed in the media and put forward by the dominant culture; and for this reason the patterns of inequality that benefit the dominant culture are produced and reproduced. The media today are not only entertaining the people but also favor the spreading of certain information. 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