Ethnic Groups

Good Morning Blog, 

    Yesterday I researched general representation and the media. Today, I would like to explore this topic a bit deeper but focusing on a subject that holds dear to my heart: how are ethnic groups represented in the media?

 

 

    Ethnic groups are stereotyped and underrepresented in it. How individuals construct their social identities, how they come to understand what it means to be male, female, black, white, Asian, Latino, Native American—even rural or urban—is shaped by commodified texts produced by the media. Mass media has a huge reach in society and are a key filter through which people learn about each other, yet countless studies demonstrate that these media continue to reproduce ethnic and racial stereotypes, with often harmful effects.

     If we truthfully look at the media, the most common images and family structures and ideas we see tend to be white. The media can be used as an outlet to understand more about a culture’s values and norms, and long-term exposure may lead people to see the world or to behave in certain ways. Over time, if enough people are so influenced, then culture itself will change. Mass media produces and reproduces stereotypes of cultural groups within a country, as well as the view of people from other cultures. It is likely that the media representation of other cultures is one of the primary places we gain knowledge and meanings about others. This reinforcement of cultural stereotypes leads us to interpret our experiences with individuals of different backgrounds through what we “learn” in the media, thus shaping inter-group relations.  

 

Sources:

 

https://thehawkeye.org/19661/op-ed/the-importance-of-representation-in-media/ 

http://my.ilstu.edu/~jrbaldw/372/Representation.htm

https://www.canva.com/design/DAEPp5Yxc-s/YHzPhsgUklVU-X5I3pJ51Q/edit?layoutQuery=diverse+