Crime & The Mass Media - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Crime & The Mass MediaSlide2

Activity

Unscramble

the following. What do they have in common?

CALL HID SPY

SALMON ARMY INN

GODFATHER TAUNT

ERROR PANG SEWSlide3
Slide4
Slide5
Slide6
Slide7

1. MEDIA INFLUENCE ON BEHAVIOURSlide8

1a. TelevisionSlide9

individually

Calculate how many hours of television you have watched in the last seven days

.

(The total should include any television programmes you have watched online, on catch-up or on Netflix/DVD

etc

).Slide10

ofcom

According to

Ofcom

, the average Briton views

3.5hrs

of television each day.

Claims that television can be a factor in causing aggressive behaviour, particularly in young children, are almost as old as the medium itself.

Chief concerns are hours spent watching and, especially, violent content.

Studies into this area are among the most popular and controversial in

criminology.Slide11

Effects of TV Violence

(

Huesmann

et al; 2003)

Studied the viewing habits of 557 children and their aggression levels as

adults

Short Term Effect

People act out what they see on television. Can be explained as

imitation

,

excitation transfer

(increased/pent-up arousal) or

priming

(viewing leads to violent fantasies).Slide12

Effects of TV Violence (Huesmann et al; 2003)

Long Term Effect

Watching a lot of violent television can alter a child’s perception of violence. This can be linked to theories of

observational learning

and

cognitive scripts

that facilitate aggression.Slide13

Activity

Refer back to your own hours spent watching television.

Estimate how many of these hours were spent watching the following

:

Real Violence

(e.g. news/documentaries)

Sport Violence

(sporting aggression)

Fictional Violence

(e.g. dramas)

Sanitised Violence

(e.g. cartoons)Slide14

Activity: Pairs (5 mins)

Regarding the four types of violent television described: Which are more likely to…

Promote short-term increase in violence

Have a long-term effect, because it changes perceptions on violence.

Discuss with a partner and identify at least TWO reasons for each to justify your answers.Slide15

Huesmann’s Findings…

Of those who watched a lot of violent television…

Men

were more likely to be aggressive within relationships and to have been convicted of a crime.

Women

were more likely to have committed a criminal act, and to respond with aggressive actions

when made angry

(4 x more likely to have been violent against another adult).Slide16

Why?

Watching a lot of violent television may make children think…

The world is dangerous and full of ‘bad guys’ who need to be ‘sorted out’

(hostile attribution bias)

Violence can be a valid way of resolving a problem situation

(aggressive ‘scripts’)

Violence is normal, effective and – in some situations – the appropriate behaviour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxyTO-Q40u4Slide17

1B. Video gamesSlide18

Video Games & Violent Behaviour…

Normalisation of violence

Excitation Transfer

Aggressive Modelling (

Bandura

)

Catharsis

“Video games don’t influence behaviour; if they did, every

kid that grew up with Pac Man in the ’80s would have ended

up jumping around in darkened rooms, eating pills and

listening to loud techno music. Oh, wait a minute...”Slide19

Bensley & Van Eenwyk (2001)

Meta-analysis of 28 research studies.

Among 4-8yr old children, playing violent games was linked to brief aggressive play

(imitation/excitation transfer)

No effect seen on older age groups

The findings were thus

inconclusive

– no strong link can be demonstrated between violent video games and violent behaviour.

Bensley

& Van

Eenwyk

suggest that this could change as games become more realistic.Slide20

PAIRS

Rank the following in how effective you think they are in helping children deal with violent images in the media. You need to justify your ranking:

CENSORSHIP

BANNING MEDIA PRODUCTS

AGE-RATINGS

PARENTAL CONTROLS

MANDATORY SHOWING OF CONSEQUENCES (e.g. bad guys always get punished)Slide21

Models of Media Effect

Hypodermic Syringe Model

(aka ‘Magic Bullet Theory’)

Media images are ‘injected’

directly into the brain,

having an immediate

effect on behaviour.Slide22

Models of Media Effect

Cultural Effects Model

Repeated viewing of similar

content will have a gradual

effect on behaviour through

changing or slowly

reinforcing beliefs and

attitudes.Slide23

Models of Media Effect

Uses & Gratifications

Individuals choose media to

match their needs and take

an active role in

interpreting it.Slide24

Some Other

Studies on media & behaviourSlide25

Clemente & Kleinman

(1977)

Studied perceptions of crime – particularly sexual crime – by women. How at risk did women feel?

Noted that women’s fears of being the victim of sexual assault were exaggerated.

Theorised that this was because the extent of sexual crime was being distorted by media coverage.

The results of these exaggerated fears were...Slide26

Clemente & Kleinmann

(1977)

Fewer women went out at night.

The streets became emptier at night, meaning assaults more likely to go unseen.

Minority of women that did go out were therefore statistically less safe than they had been before.

The fear of crime, therefore, actually made the situation more dangerous for some people.Slide27

Belson’s Study

His hypothesis:

“High exposure to violence on television increases the degree to which boys commit acts of violence”.

His method:

Studying the history of violence and television viewing habits of nearly 1,600 boys aged 12 – 17.

His findings:

"Children who tend to watch violent TV programmes do become more violent themselves to some extent, largely because violence comes to be seen as a legitimate problem solving device for them."Slide28

Bandura

:

Bobo

DollsSlide29

Using your own examples and research, alongside the concepts and studies we have covered, prepare a 5 min presentation to the class that addresses the argument:

Does exposure to violent media make people violent?

20

mins

to prepare

SMALL GROUPSSlide30

2. Mass media & the social construction of crimeSlide31

What do these images suggest about the role of the media in shaping our ideas about crime and deviance?Slide32

What studies/theories have we already discussed regarding the role of the media in the social construction of crime?

RECAPSlide33

Moral Panics create ‘folk devils’ – stereotypes of deviance.

They promote the idea that these folk devils are evil or wicked and that their behaviour needs to be controlled and/or neutralised so that society can return to normal.

They encourage the public to put pressure on the law-makers and law-enforcers to deal with the folk devils.

Moral panics tend to erupt suddenly and disappear just as suddenly – but often leave a lasting effect (e.g. a change in the law).

Moral panics:

goode

& ben-

yehuda

(1994)Slide34

Fawbert

(2008) – Hoodies

Fawbert

studied newspaper reports between 2004-2008. In 2004word ‘hoodie’ became commonly used by the media in referring to young ‘thugs’. Over the following years, bans on hooded tops were introduced in many public/private buildings and the Prime Minister promised to clamp down on the behaviour of ‘hoodies’.

Fawbert

noted that most media stories depicting criminal ‘hoodies’ never actually mentioned whether the criminal was actually wearing a hooded top. As the ‘moral panic’ increased, sales of hooded tops increased massively…

Jewkes

(2006) – Pampered Prisoners

Jewkes

conducted a content analysis of the way British newspapers reported on prisoners. She found five different key themes, four of which suggested that prisoners led easy lives in relatively pleasant environments. The view that prisoners are ‘pampered’ rather than punished is promoted by the media and therefore commonly held by the public, despite little actual evidence to support it (the papers themselves tend to offer only anecdotal evidence).

Jewkes

suggested the papers intentionally sought to outrage the public, offering confirmation of existing views.

Borsay

(2007) – Binge Drinking

Borsay

studied the ‘binge drinking’ moral panic in 2007/8 and identified that an almost identical moral panic had gripped the country in the early 1700s (centred around gin-drinking). He noted that both these moral panics, like many others, were symbolic of wider anxieties about social breakdown.Slide35

Sociological Perspectives

on Crime & MediaSlide36

Marxist Theory on Media and Crime

Marxists would argue it is not surprising that moral panics centre around groups viewed as deviant or

threatening to the rich and powerful

in society

They highlight the way the media portrays criminals as working-class,

ignoring white-collar or corporate crime.

The Frankfurt

School point to the ideological control the media exerts in perpetuating false consciousness.

Louis

Althusser

would describe the media as an

ideological state apparatus.

Recap: Hall ‘Policing The Crisis’Slide37

Functionalist and Pluralist Theory on Media and Crime

Functionalists and Pluralists argue the media is simply a ‘window on the world’ reflecting life as it is.

Therefore, the media simply reflects a true or real picture of crime.

However, critics argue that this is rather naïve given the fact that the real figure of crime is way above the official figure.Slide38

Feminist Theory on Media and Crime

Feminists argue that the media plays down the extent of women as victims of crime.

Feminists argue that the sexually explicit representation of women in all forms of pornography

(including tabloid newspapers and ‘lads

mags’

)

renders all women potentially unsafe since they encourage

predatory attitudes

amongst men.Slide39

Postmodernist Theory on Media and Crime

Postmodernists see the media as a crucial player in our perception of crime

(regardless of whether this perception is accurate or not).

They highlight how the media present crime with a mixture of entertainment and sensationalism

('infotainment').

The ultimate expression of this is crime expressed as a

spectacle.Slide40

Written Activity

Outline and evaluate the role of the media in creating or reinforcing the problem of crime [50]