Social construction of reality through popular culture

Lesson 5SOC 86 – Popular CultureRobert Wonser

Social construction of reality

Recall what social construction of reality means.

Bananas anyone?

What kind of a world does mass media and popular culture create for us?

One of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia and fear.

News alert!

I don’t mean to alarm you (or, actually I do) but …..

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Duh duh duh dummmm

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Killer Bee Attack!

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Look behind you!

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Ebola is coming to get you…

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Zombie Attack!

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The cdc has a zombie preparedness section

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Miami Zombie attack

The Miami cannibal attack occurred on May 26, 2012, when Rudy Eugene assaulted Ronald Poppo, a homeless man on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. During the 18-minute filmed encounter, Eugene (who was himself stripped nude) accused Poppo of stealing his Bible, beat him unconscious, removed Poppo's pants, and bit off most of Poppo's face above the beard, including his left eye, leaving him blind in both.

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Alll in 2012 alone…Zombie Apocalypse

in Illinois on May 21, 2012

A Bellwood man in La Grange, IL allegedly grabbed an 18-year old woman by the neck, twisted her right arm and bit her cheek while threatening to kill her if she called the police. The man, Lloyd Cortez, 18, was arrested.

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This was the day after the Miami ‘zombie’ attack.

The evening news

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‘news’

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The culture of fear

Beware!

Killer bees!

Swine Flu!

Ebola pandemic! Ahhhhhh!

Scary “inner city” “thugs” are plotting to get you by hiding in your back seat under your cars!!!!

Zombie outbreak!!!

Why do we live in a culture of fear?

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It’s a mean mean world

What kind of world does media create for us?

….. A very scary one.

Mean world syndrome is a term coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is.

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Cultivating a worldview

Mean world syndrome is one of the main conclusions of cultivation theory.

Gerbner argued that people who watched a large amount of television tended to think of the world as an intimidating and unforgiving place.

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A direct correlation between the amount of television one watches and the amount of fear one harbors about the world has been demonstrated

As always, the direction of causality remains debatable in that persons fearful of the world may be more likely to retreat from it and in turn to spend more time in indoor, solitary activity such as television watching.

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Gerbner once said: "You know, who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behaviour. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it's a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell."

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Reality construction

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