Deck 7: Social Inequality and Media Representation

Question 1

While the growth in abundance likely facilitates growing diversity, ironically, it may undermine the impact of that diversity, this has lead television to be ______.

A) inclusive to all
B) segregated
C) more engaging
D) unimportant

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Racial and ethnic diversity has increased in the population as a whole and inclusive content is more likely to attract these diverse audiences to sell to advertisers. In this way, increased diversity is a ______.

A) path to hiring a more diverse crew
B) call-to-action for advertisers
C) problem that they should ignore
D) money-making proposition

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Historically, mainstream U.S. media have taken "Whites" to be the norm against which all other racial groups are measured. This has led to the study of race and ethnicity in the U.S. media to focus on the portrayal of minorities, because ______.

A) tradition has many variations associated more with the structuralism and semiology found in literary and film studies and linguistics
B) racial distinctions have powerful social meaning with profound real-world consequences
C) comedies reflect a high level of social concern for children
D) the idea that media producers are only "giving the people what they want" also implies that people want what they get

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What roles did African Americans get in early Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930s?

A) entertainer
B) servant
C) antagonist
D) both entertainer and servant

Question 5

In media, women are more likely to be focused on ______.

A) money
B) family
C) religion
D) both family and religion

Question 6

An issue with how unions are featured in media is that ______.

A) they are promoted to heavily and give unions in reality too much power
B) it's only ever used for comedic relief
C) they are not featured at all
D) it's usually in a negative light, claiming that they encourage unproductive, lazy, and insubordinate workers

Question 7

According to Derry, a worrying side to reality television in recent years is that it ______.

A) instills a sense of fear and loathing
B) corrupts the hearts and minds of young children and teens
C) has grown in popularity and may become the new standard for television
D) creates stereotypes and ever caricatures for easy comedy, mockery, or disgust

Question 8

One way minority journalists have worked for change in their field is by ______.

A) organizing a variety of associations to collaborate on efforts to promote diversity in the newsroom
B) covering stories only about minorities
C) pushing White men out of power
D) organizing boycotts to bring awareness to their struggles

Question 9

Which is an exception to the relative scarcity of working-class characters on sitcoms?

A) reality television
B) survival shows
C) animated comedies
D) cooking shows

Question 10

In a recent content analysis of prime-time television it was found that male characters ______.

A) are not being objectified
B) are more family oriented than female characters
C) are equally as dominant when compared to female characters
D) still appear more dominant through verbal and physical aggression

Question 11

What research investigates media content as a gauge of social norms?

A) content as reflection of audience preference
B) content as reflection of society in general
C) content as an influence on audiences
D) content as reflection of producers

Question 12

Which is NOT one of the five ways in which researchers can assess the significance of media content?

A) society in general
B) producers
C) audience Interests
D) hypothetical scenarios

Question 13

What profession will you most likely find an adult having in a home-based situation comedy?

A) schoolteacher
B) lawyer
C) nurse
D) accountant

Question 14

In the fashion field, one study of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue in the late 1980s found that approximately ______ of ads featured Black women

A) 5%
B) 3%
C) 2%
D) 10%

Question 15

A reason for the absence or stereotyping of different racial groups in the media is that ______.

A) those racial groups aren't putting themselves out there enough
B) there weren't very many minorities at the time
C) White men have historically controlled the mainstream mass media
D) minorities were only interested in counterculture.

Question 16

One well-documented area of class imagery is the ______.

A) romantic-comedy
B) family-based sitcom
C) relationship-based drama
D) action-adventure movie

Question 17

What did Entman and Rojecki contend after finding in their survey that crime stories tended to overrepresent both Black perpetrators and White victims?

A) Black crime is more exciting.
B) White victims make for better interviews.
C) Media just gives what the people want.
D) Blacks tend to be portrayed in ways that make them more threatening and less sympathetic than Whites.

Question 18

In what year did the trend in media turn toward more inclusiveness and growing sensitivity?

A) 2000s
B) 1920s
C) 1960s
D) 2010s

Question 19

Which is an example of "modern" racism?

A) the stereotype of the idealized Indian in Dances With Wolves
B) the "Mammy" caricature
C) the themes in To Kill a Mockingbird
D) Tim Burtons Claymation style

Question 20

What type of racism includes subtle stereotypes and tends to remain below conscious awareness?

A) traditional racism
B) casual racism
C) modern racism
D) covert racism

Question 21

There are well-intentioned works that have racist stereotypes.

Question 22

Fejes and Petrich argued that, until the early 1930s, film portrayals of homosexuals were used as ______.

A) comic devices
B) a form of erotic titillation
C) to depict deviance, perversion, and decadence
D) all of these

Question 23

There were very few Hispanic or Native American primary characters in the 150 most popular games of 2005.

Question 24

In "class shaming," ______.

A) the working class is given positive representation
B) the working class are presented as losers and incompetents
C) the wealthy are targeted and shown as shallow
D) the working class are shown to be more important than they actually are

Question 25

Fejes and Petrich note that, during the 1960s, homosexuality was portrayed at best as ______.

A) completely reasonable
B) unhappiness and sickness
C) Witchcraft
D) a crime against humanity

Question 26

On television through the 1940s and 1950s, Blacks were given virtually no serious dramatic roles.

Question 27

Asian Americans, despite making up more than one third of San Francisco, are still underrepresented in media that takes place there.

Question 28

Even well-intentioned works that perpetuate a positive image of African Americans can do harm.

Question 29

Historically, mainstream U.S. media have taken "Whites" to be the norm against which all other racial groups are measured.

Question 30

As a result of media producers needing advertisers, media producers tend to ______.

A) improve the demographic profile (in terms of average household income)
B) avoid content that might offend advertisers
C) deliver solidly middle-class consumers
D) all of these

Question 31

Which is NOT a way news media content panders to middle- and upper-class readers and viewers?

A) the inclusion of stock market reports
B) lack of labor reports
C) the addressing of people as consumers and never as workers
D) the availability of the news media content being open to everyone

Question 32

Most mainstream media are commercial ventures that pay close attention to user trends.

Question 33

What milestone for the LGBTQ community happened in 1997?

A) David Fisher of the HBO series Six Feet Under is the first complex gay male character
B) Elton John became openly "gay"
C) Ellen DeGeneres "came out"
D) the L Word aired on showtime and focused on the lives of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people

Question 34

Modern racism includes blackface.

Question 35

The organizational structure of journalism favors coverage of ______.

A) the wealthy and powerful
B) the homeless
C) the working class
D) the middle class

Question 36

Early studies of advertising repeatedly found underrepresentation of people of color but more recent research show significantly increased diversity.

Question 37

Collectively, minorities are represented correctly based on population in the United States.

Question 38

With the need to avoid controversy and deal with severe time constraints, writers and other personnel often ______.

A) resort to tried and tested formulas
B) think outside of the box on projects
C) hire on more people to deal with the workload
D) come up short on their projects

Question 39

What is of big concern for advertisers?

A) the economic status of media consumers
B) the race of media consumers
C) the health and wellness of media consumers
D) the morality of media consumers

Question 40

Unrepresentative images of class are perhaps most obvious in ______.

A) entertainment television
B) news
C) advertising
D) movies

Question 41

What are some advantages and disadvantages to developing alternative media?

Question 42

Changing the mainstream media from within is not a viable strategy for taking back control of media images of race.

Question 43

What are some ways that activists from both inside and outside of the industry have tried to change media practices?

Question 44

Overwhelmingly, the American society portrayed in the media is wealthier than it is in the real world.

Question 45

Over the years, the dominant roles for women have been as mother, homemaker, or sexual object.

Question 46

Even now, the majority of recurring characters on television are men.

Question 47

What are some advantages and disadvantages to changing the mainstream media from within?

Question 48

The American Society of Newspaper Editor has reached their goal of creating newsrooms that reflect the nation's diversity.

Question 49

What are the common characteristics given to a working-class man on television?

Question 50

What are the three crucial issues that emerge when we consider how racial and ethnic differences have been portrayed in the media? Why?