Media, Culture, and Diversity: terms and people
Lecture 2 – Core concepts, approaches, and debates
Names to be known -> R. Jenkins – T. Burke – K. Crenshaw – S. Hall – W. Lippmann – R. Dyer
Examples to be known -> 2 Live Crew (intersectionality, Crenshaw) – Sex & the City 2 (stereotyping, Lippmann &
Dyer) – This is America (through the eye of representation, Hall)
About identity
Identity categories = categories based on physical traits (labeled before birth) and sociocultural features (nationality,
religion,…) -> comes with certain expectations
Identification (Jenkins) = the systematic establishment and signification between individuals, between collectivities,
and between individuals and collectivities, of relationships of similarity and difference
- Process of identification is shaped by and dependent on culture
Identity (Jenkins) = the ways in which individuals and collectivities are distinguished in their relations with other
individuals and collectivities – the outcome of the process of identification
- Identity is the product of an ‘external’ identification by others + an ‘internal’ self-identification
Cultural repertoires = a collection of ideas about something in a culture, can be seen and reproduced by popular
media culture
Social constructionist perspective on identity
Essentialist understanding of identity = certain embodied identities are assumed to be natural and biological existing
prior to the birth of a person (nature, NOT nurture) + assumes that you share certain feelings and experiences with
all people with whom you share the same identity (women) throughout history and across the globe
Sociocultural diversity, inequality, and identity politics
Difference and similarity (Jenkins) = the dynamic principles of identification + are at heart of the human world
“Diversity” = can be a problematic term since it implies a neutrality
Discursive constructions = create an image of identity through common discourse, they create certain identities as
binary, limit the diversity within identity categories, and normalize structural inequalities in everyday practices so we
don’t see them
Identity politics (Barker) = the creation of ‘new languages’ of identity combined with acting to change social
practices, usually through the formation of coalitions where at lease some values are shared
MeToo movement (Burke) = created by Tarana Burke to support survivors of sexual violence and other forms of
systematic about of power, mainly for women of color who did not have the means to voice this
Intersectionality
Intersectionality (Crenshaw) = created by Kimberle Crenshaw with the goal of helping (refugee) women who were
battered in their families, but who were unable to challenge that violence – looks at feminist identity politics and
anti-racist politics and how they help but are also limited
- Structural intersectionality = the intersection of race and gender makes actual experiences of non-white
women qualitatively different than the experience of white women
- Political intersectionality = an intersectional perspective needs to be the fundamental basis for politics and
policies (who aren’t normally reflected)
- Representational intersectionality = the cultural construction of women of color
,What about “woke” and cancel culture?
Woke (early 20th century) = a reminder to be vigilant and to stay alert to racism
Woke (throughout 20th century) = being aware of systematic and social injustices which persisted, main idea stays the
same
#StayWoke (2015) = a way to still stay vigilant, but now also a way of calling out police violence
Corporate wokeness = a consequence of the popularization of woke, companies started using identity politics for
social purposes or “an apparent championing of identity politics”
Woke washing = promotional or marketing discourses that rarely coincide with the true commitment to social
justice, also known as window dressing
Cancel culture = where high-profile people or organizations with high social capital should be held accountable for
engaging in their systemic wrongdoings, generally done from a social justice perspective (relating to different
discrimination forms)
Politics of representation
Representation (Hall) = the production of meaning through language, they are not neutral or value-free but rather
ideological
Politics of representation (Hall) = a source to maintain the social and cultural status quo but it also allows the
struggle against hegemonic ideas about society
Stereotyping
Stereotype (Lippmann) = a social categorization, something we do all day because it makes our life easier
Stereotype (Dyer) = by revisiting Lippmann, stereotypes also have an ideological function (in consolidating social
hierarchies)
- Part of an ordering process that constructs an absolute and fixed social order
- Like shortcuts that are based on partial truths, false impressions, and rigid concepts about groups of people
- A way to express the in-group’s or majority groups values and norms
Social type (Dyer) = those who live by the rules of society, who are open-ended or multi-dimensional and are flexible
in their characterization, goal is to feel identification – e.g. charming clichés about the in-group
Stereotype (Dyer) = those whom the rules are designed to exclude, they are one-dimensional, clear-cut, unalterable
and/or harmful – e.g. dangerous traits that are attributed to the out-group (enforcing stereotypes happen in two
ways)
- Stereotyping through iconography = the use of a certain set of visual and aural signs which immediately
indicate (minority) and connote the stereotypical qualities associated with it, a type of short cut (can be done
to save money as a motivation) – e.g. stereotype of a chav girl in Little Britain
o Hyper-stereotype = exaggerating a stereotyping so much it becomes a mockery and thus fighting
(showing the insanity of the stereotype)
- Stereotyping through structure = relates to the function of the character in the audiovisual’s text structure,
have to watch the entire film/show to notice it since it’s not just visual
o Static structures = the world it takes place in, the dominant ideologies, and the material conditions
of the imagined or represented model – e.g. when landing on a new planet, there is always a
patriarchal situation
o Dynamic structures = the plot in which the character moves, acts and/or develops
, Trans-coding strategies
Trans-coding strategies (Hall) = taking an existing meaning and re-appropriating it for a new meaning
- Reversing the stereotypes = reversing harsh stereotypes, but keeping it in there as a ‘spin’ off of the bad
- Positive image = the creation of positive images where there used to be negative or no images OR the
representation of difference or diversity as something positive
- ! Through the eye of representation = where the production realizes they are reproducing something
(awareness), uses established conventions, languages, or modes of representing to erode and change
meanings from within
Lecture 3 – On gender and popular media
Names to be known -> B. Friedan – G. Gerbner – G. Tuchman – R. Connell – M. Schippers – C. Mackinnon – A.
Dworkin – C. Royalle – G.S. Rubin – T. Billard
Examples to be known -> Miranda (gender representation) – Euphoria (legitimacy indicators, Billard)
Sex is not gender?
Sex = biochemical and genetic structures that differentiate the male species from the female species in terms of
one’s reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics
Gender = the social construction of categories of male (masculine) and female (feminine) and the socially imposed
attributes and behaviors which are assigned to these categories
Gender identity = the self-identification with a particular gender category
- Cisgender = the experience or self-identity with your gender is congruent with the sex and gender assigned
at birth
- Transgender = the gender you experience is different from the sex and gender assigned at birth
- Non-binary = moving beyond the labels of gender and not confining oneself exclusively to man or woman or
masculine or feminine gender binary categories
Gender expression = the presentation of the self that expresses a gender identity or role, is a discourse!
Masculinities or femininities = cultural repertoires that stipulate which expectations, roles, discourses, and
expressions are considered masculine or feminine
Feminism(s)
Feminism = provides lenses to better understand and tackle any form of political, sociological, cultural, legal, or
economic inequality between men and women
- First wave -> focuses on voting rights and the political representation of women
- Second wave -> plurality emerges (disagreement), but all agree that sex is a fundamental and irreducible axis
of social organization which has subordinated women to men to date
- Third wave -> roots in trans-feminism, gender should not be based on the one that is assigned at birth
Myth of the suburban housewife (Friedan) = the role of the wife is to support her husband and find true fulfillment
in motherhood
Realist approach to stereotypes and cultivation
Realism = the belief that media can and should be a reflection of the real world or a “mirror of society”, showing
accurate and realistic images
