Acland (1995)
5/13/2015
Representation Theory: Normal vs Deviant Acland argues that media representations of delinquent youths actually reinforce hegemony. They do this by constructing an idea of ‘normal’ adult and youth behaviour, and contrasting it with deviant youth behaviour which is shown to be unacceptable.
Acland also claims that media representations of young people out of control allows the state to have more control of them (e.g. media reports about delinquent youths led to ASBOs). This is something Acland calls the ‘ideology of protection’ – the idea that young people need constant surveillance and monitoring. This happens because youth is the time when young people learn about social roles and values, and allows the state to make sure they conform to hegemonic values. When applying Acland think about the extent to which media representations show young people as in need of control. Do the representations show young people as behaving in an unacceptable way? If so does this identify what behaviour society thinks is acceptable (i.e. hegemonic)? You may want to focus particularly on how the representations we looked at show working class youths to be deviant, thus reinforcing middle class hegemony. Comments are closed.
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