representation of youth

Perks of being a wallflower:

• like music
• fitting in with friends
• name calling (bullying)
• relationships easily forgiven 
• friendships
• hiding things from parents
• Parties (drinking, drugs)- hebdige
• mental illness-suicide

Bullet boy

• Partying
• Drugs
• Prison
• Sexual
• getting into fights
• use of gun 
• use of young black male 

Essay- Media representation of youth reflects societies perceptions and concerns

Collective identity refers to a shared sense of belonging, the idea that the surroundings that a person 

is situated in will determine their thoughts and behaviour. Within media, a collective identity can be 

misrepresented, within this essay I will talk about the misrepresentation of youth. 

Newspapers are infamous for just showing one side of a story, and this side is usually based on the 
opinions of the heads of said newspapers, thus, white conservative british males. In the 2012 London 
riots the Daily Mirror took to the front page to call the youth 'yobs', this label then becomes a blanket 
for every single youth within society. Is it fair that the actions of a small group of teens becomes the 

representative of a whole collective identity? Hebdige believed that the youth are portrayed as 
criminals, in order to create moral panic throughout the older generations. The idea of the hyper 
dermic needle theory shows just how much influence media has on its audience, its suggested that 
audiences are simply empty shells that absorb all that media is telling them and take that as the truth, 
without question or hesitation. If this is the case, should the newspapers be blasting sweeping 
statements of a collective identity across its front page?

Its not just newspapers that portray youth in a negative way, films and TV programmes also depict the 
youth in a troublesome light. In the 2012 film "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" the stereotypes 
seen involve, bullying, relationships, rebelling against parents, partying and drinking, drug use and 
references to mental illness'. This follows the view of Gould who believes that youths are portrayed 
as being rebellious, sexual, violent and self-destructive. If audiences are to watch films such as this 
and take everything as face value, a problem evolves in which the youth become something to be 
feared. As more media platforms produce the same type of portrayal of youths, audiences take on the 
opinions put across to them, this then leads to a shared concern in real society.  Another example of a 
film that negatively portrays youths is the 2004 film "Bullet Boy', in this film the main characters are 
seen with guns, getting into fights, being in prison and the theme of sexuality runs throughout. The 
act of portraying youths as criminals supports Hebdige's theory that young adults are portrayed as 
criminals to create a moral panic.  

Gerbner suggested that the primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people 
spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on 
television. This means that the repetitive nature of television will over time influence how people see 
the world. This links to Aclands theory which is that the medias representation of youth maintains 
social order, hegemony and the ideology of protection. As more and more media platforms use their 
power to portray the youth as criminals and hooligans it encourages the idea that they need to be 
controlled, this reinforces hegemony with in a two step flow process. The media feeds the ideology to 
parents who then enforce it onto their children: this is the same with local sanctions such as the police 
and education system. 



As we can see, the media hugely influences the thoughts and ideologies of audiences, this can lead to 
misrepresentation of a collective identity. As Giroux said "Youth becomes an empty category in 
representation which reflects adult concerns. The medias' representation of youth does not reflect the 
reality of youth identity." Giroux argues that in media representations youth becomes an ‘empty 
category’. This is because media representations of young people are constructed by adults. Because 
of this they reflect adults concerns, anxieties, and needs. As a result of this media representations of 
young people do not necessarily reflect the reality of youth identity. According to Gibbens there is a 
social structure which shapes our lives (traditions, institutions, moral codes, established ways of 
doing things), but it relies on individuals following these structures. When they act differently the 
social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure 
are in a constant relationship. In this case such structures would relate to the police and education 
system which have cracked down on punishment due to the moral panic which has been created by 
the misrepresentation of youth.

Contemporary Media Issues

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hoodies-louts-scum-how-media-demonises-teenagers-1643964.html

• We found some news coverage where teen boys were described in glowing terms – 'model student', 'angel', 'altar boy' or 'every mother's perfect son'," the research concluded, "but sadly these were reserved for teenage boys who met a violent and untimely death.
• Figures show more than half of the stories about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374 out of 8,629) were about crime. The word most commonly used to describe them was "yobs" (591 times), followed by "thugs" (254 times), "sick" (119 times) and "feral" (96 times).
• At the same time a survey of nearly 1,000 teenage boys found 85 per cent believed newspapers portray them in a bad light.

Areas of Theory

When applying theory you need to approach it from 3 perspectives:

Representations of youth (Giroux, Acland, Hebdige)

Effects of these representations (Gerbner, Gauntlett)

The role of media representations in society (Gramsci, Cohen, Althusser).

Key Points

In your essay you need to explain the effects of media representations of youth (maintains social order) and link this to the texts we have studied.

(you could consider the way contemporary British representations reinforce hegemony by portraying working class young people negatively).

You then need to consider the wider effects of these representations on how people perceive young people.

Gramsci 1920s/1930s
Developed the concept of hegemony 



Hebdige (1979)
I believe media representations of young people portray them as either fun or trouble. 

This represents young people as criminals and as though they have something to hide. In the media they are made out to be something to be scared of. 

Acland (1995)

Media representations of youth maintain social order/hegemony and ideology of protection. 

He sees media representations of anti-social youth reinforces hegemony.

Gerbner (1986)

The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the 

television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television.

He thinks that the repetitive nature of television means that over time television influences how 

people see the world. 

Gould (1999)

Gould identified 6 stereotypes in the medias representation of youth

Rebellious

Artificial tribe

Sexual

Nihilistic

Violent

Self-destructive

(2012)

The middle class corporation are threatened by the youth of today as they feel they are taking over. The use of the police in the title, as if it is a quote, will make readers believe that it is a big problem.

(2013)

The youth are referred to as feral witch makes them sound like animals or criminals running riot. This again shows that media corporations have anxiety towards the youth and feel they need to be controlled. This will then spread moral panic throughout society.  

Giroux(1997)

Youth becomes an empty category in representation – reflects adult concerns.

 Media representation of youth does not reflect reality of youth identity.

Giroux argues that in media representations youth becomes an ‘empty category’. This is because media representations of young people are constructed by adults. Because of this they reflect adults concerns, anxieties, and needs. As a result of this media representations of young people do not necessarily reflect the reality of youth identity.

When applying Giroux to media texts you need to think about who constructed the representation, who it is aimed at, and does the representation reflect adult anxieties or serve the purposes of adult society (e.g. by reinforcing hegemonic values).

Cohen(1972)

Cohen studied the media response to the mods and rockers riots in the 1960s. He argued that from time to time ‘folk devils’ emerge in a society which reflect the anxieties of society at that time (e.g. mods and rockers reflect social anxiety about the emergence of youth culture, rock and roll, etc.).

A moral panic occurs when the media reports on these ‘folk devils’ in a sensationalised way which leads to intervention by politicians, and the police. The effect of a moral panic is to reassert hegemony by allowing a society to make clear what values it does not accept. The representation of working class youths suggest they have become a contemporary ‘folk devil’, perhaps tapping into economic anxieties, concern about a benefits culture, and long term unemployment.

Stan Cohen wanted to dig deeper and researched the social reaction to the Mods versus Rockers disturbances in 1964.

 In his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) he noted the front page outrage in the national press e.g.

•“all-day clashes”  “Wild Ones”

•“ rival gangs”  “day of terror”

• “seaside mayhem” “battlefield”

However Cohen in his research could find little actual evidence that such clashes between rival groups of motorcycle-scooter gangs actually took place.

The only violence he found witness to involved regional rivalries not bike gangs.

He argued that the press reports were distorted, wildly exaggerated and portrayed a false picture of what actually went on.

Cohen argues identified 3 distinctive elements in the media reporting of events:

a)Exaggeration and distortion: numbers, damage caused, violence...

b)Prediction: that further conflict and violence was on the cards

c)Symbolisation: the symbols of the youth groups were all negatively labelled and associated with deviance

However the media outrage SPARKED a series of interrelated responses:

Wilkins

 Spiral Less tolerance…………………………………leads to………. more acts being defined as crimes…………leads to………. more action against criminals……………….leads to………. more alienation of deviants………………….leads to………. more crime by deviant groups……………….leads to………. less tolerance of deviant groups by conforming groups………

Althusser

Ideological state apparatus

Dominant ideology reinforced through different groups including the media.

Divides social institutions into two Althusser argues that one of the ways in which the state maintains control is through ideological state apparatus. This includes the media, education, religion, family. Ideological state apparatus are a range of different groups who transmit dominant ideology to the people, again maintaining hegemony. You could consider the extent to which the media representations we have looked at are reinforcing dominant values.

Gauntlett

Media has some influence on how people understand identities.

Generic Theory

Representation- the way ideas, objects, people, groups and life forms are depicted by mass media.


How are women represented in the media?

In the media women are sexualised as objects and placed as something to look at for the male gaze.

In my opinion women should be represented as strong, that come in all different shapes and sizes and that they shouldn't be pressured to look "perfect". I also think that they should be noted for their personality and intelligence not just their body image.

Mediation

The newspapers change information in order to make the audience have certain beliefs about muslims, even though the statistics are incorrect and exaggerated. 

Collective identity 

Identity can be argued to be something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent (and hence the same) over time... our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from others.

David Buckingham 2008 argues identity is complicated/ complex.

There is a danger that if media representation becomes the norm then collective identities will become the labels put on them. For example the representation of young teens in the London 2012 riots was that they are all trouble makers and criminals. 

"A focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups" David Buckingham

If you follow, for example, The Kardashians on social media you are more likely to believe what they tell you or buy into what they promote. 

David Gauntlett 

"Identity is now consciously constructed, and the media provides some of the tools to help us construct our identities. The media contains a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable lifestyles. 

At the same time the public have their own diverse set of feelings. The media and media consumers are engaged in a dialogue in which neither overpowers the other."

This theory means that the mass media acts as a hypodermic needle in which opinions of hegemony within media are placed upon the audience. The audience will encode what is being said to them, this may or may not be what the media were anticipating to put across. However the theory also suggests that as audiences we have our own thoughts and opinions and so media will not have a direct impact but will be a combination of both media and our own personal thoughts. 

Anthony Giddens

"There is a social structure which shapes our lives (traditions, institutions, moral codes, established ways of doing things), but it relies on individuals following these structures. 

When they act differently the social structure can change. Structuration is the process in which human agency and social structure are in a constant relationship . The social structure is reproduced by the repetition of acts by individual people (and can therefore change)."

This means that society and individuals work in cohesion, for example, gender stereotypes are put into place by society and as individuals we are expected to play by those rules. In some cases individuals will act differently to what their social structure will expect of them, in these cases the social structure can change as they are in a relationship with each other. This is called structuration.