COMM 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Blue-Collar Worker

• School: U of M
• Department: Communication Studies
• Course: COMM 102
• Professor: Scott Campbell

Document Summary

Minorities: refers to non-white, non-straight, non-christian, and/or non-able-bodied person. Examining minorities in the media: head count. Head count: comparing the percentage of minorities in the media to the percentage of minorities in society. Asians and hispanics are underrepresented in the media. First head count studies in the 1970s. Underrepresentation (hispanics and asians: role comparison. Role comparison: assess the significance of each character. Type of role: leading role vs. supporting roles. Job types: blue collar vs. white collar, prestige. Minorities often given supporting roles, are portrayed as poorer and more violent: behavioral characteristics. Behaviors in mixed-race cast vs. single-race cast. Whites on black dominated shows more violent and more confrontational. Blacks on black dominated shows less intelligent with nmore social problems. Blacks on mixed-race shows have high social standing and intelligence. When blacks are repreatedly depicted as criminals, whites are repeatedly primed to think of them as criminals.