Introduction
The media has grown gradually over the last few decades to become an integral part of life, almost indispensable. The media has also been a crucial tool of power and influences various aspects of modern-day life. One of the most important aspects influenced by modern media is class and how it is seen. The understanding of social realities is mainly formed by media and the content produced for the general audiences.
How various social classes are seen in various places is dependent on how the media portrays them (Deery and Press, 2017). Specifically, the impact of the mighty in society in presenting the other classes in media is essential to how these classes are viewed. This is because media, like all other tools of power, are owned by the mighty who ‘run’ the world. This essay demystifies the general understanding of various classes and why the media is responsible for these opinions. Popular depictions of several classes are investigated, alongside harsh realities that are exempted by the media.
Monarchs
The monarchs represent the royal families, with one of the most prominent royal families being the British monarch. The British royal family was the source of power and authority in the United Kingdom before the world wars occurred. After the wars, systems of governance changed with the adoption of democracy, amongst other ideologies, globally. The role of the monarch in the governance of the UK drastically reduced, with their role being meager. The monarch is represented by the media as an integral part of the nation with barely any negative reporting on the family.
The monarch is painted as a sign of patriotism and devotion to the service of the country. The role of the monarch is defended as being an integral part of the nation’s history whenever questions of its significance are brought up (North, Woodacre, and Alvestad, 2018). The media depicts the monarch as a piece of the nation that the country cannot survive without. Those who give negative views of the monarch are harshly reprimanded by a big section of the media with, wide coverage to discourage similar sentiments.
The lives of the monarch are mainly in public display, especially the positive aspects of their lives. Major events such as important government functions are graced with their presence and massive media coverage awarded these events. There is a section of the people in the UK who view the royal family the way the majority of media outlets represent it. Royal weddings make a fuss globally with massive coverage and viewing as people associate themselves with the monarch (North, Woodacre, and Alvestad, 2018).
Monarchs are part owners of major media houses, and their influence on how they are depicted is not a wonder. The position of the monarch as a role model on how people should behave, dress, and eat is carefully presented. The monarch is viewed to represent what it means to be a citizen of a particular state, almost as if they are custodians of the culture. This is how this group is popularly perceived as it is accorded immense respect and negative reports are criticized harshly.
Upper Class
The upper class is composed of wealthy individuals who mainly own the means of production in society. These individuals are close to the ruling class and essential in the general decision-making process. They are the models of what other lower classes should strive to achieve (Deery and Press, 2017). The upper class owns buildings, cars, and planes while living a flashy lifestyle. They dress, eat, and behave in a certain way that is portrayed as refined by the media (Rucks-Ahidiana, 2018).
The middle class cooperates with the monarchs and the ruling class in representing the class in a certain way in the media, for a certain societal order to be maintained. The emergence of reality TV shows is especially crucial to how the upper class depicts itself in the media. The upper class depicts itself as a pinnacle of hard work and a model of success for the middle class and other classes below them.
The middle class informs fashion, showing the rest that their way of dressing is the fashionable one. They display their food and their routines as the accurate ones which ought to be envied by the other classes. This is how society mainly views the upper class as demonstrated by the haze from the lower classes to acquire things marketed by that class as fashionable (O’neill and Wayne, 2018). The upper class encourages the lower classes to work hard because that is the only way they can become like them (Rucks-Ahidiana, 2018).
The harsh truth left out by the media’s depiction of the upper class is that the wealth being flashed is generational. This is wealth acquired over centuries by descendants in those families, and that their wealth is not merely a result of hard work. The influence of connected descendants who are associated with members of the ruling class is left out. The part where the ruling class may have shared perks with members of the upper class is not demonstrated in the media as this would not suit the agenda the media seeks to peddle. This occurs so that the capitalist system continues to thrive off the labor of hopeful middle and lower-class citizens.
Middle Class
The middle class represents as social class between the upper class and the working class. The middle class is represented as a group composed of individuals who have worked hard and made it out of the poor and working classes. The middle class aspires to be part of the upper class through hard work. The middle class is comfortable enough to afford the basic amenities in their lives and this represents what hard work can do for someone.
The small nuclear family is the model of a middle-class family (Halegoua, 2019). It is relatively stable and represents what a normal family should be like (O’Neill and Wayne, 2018). The representation of the middle class is one to be envied by members of the lower classes. The other classes are urged to desire stability like that demonstrated in the middle class. The middle class can afford to take their children to good schools to pursue respectable professions, including teaching, law, and medicine.
The middle class is represented as a politically aware group that has an impact on politics when their power is meager. The role of defending democracy is bestowed upon this group as they are the largest beneficiaries, seeking to preserve their comfortable position in society and life (Halegoua, 2019). The middle class is represented as people who hold enviable office jobs and which should be desired by the lower classes.
The middle class is depicted as ambitious people who make struggle to climb the ladder through genuine effort. The middle class is also enlightened in terms of fashion, popular culture, and entertainment. They follow the lives of upper-class people and are constantly racing to keep up with their trends and lifestyles as they aspire to become like them. The middle class is a massive obstacle in the fight against various injustices due to the fear that instability deprives them of their privileged positions in society.
Working Class
The working class is painted by the media as a problem with various undesirable phenomena emanating from them. They are painted as a group bombarded with crime, poverty, and unemployment (O’neill and Wayne, 2018). When focusing on their plight, the media deviates its focus from the main issues affecting them and instead portrays the meager aspects of their claims (Jones, 2020).
When members of the working class complain over the lack of jobs and hold demonstrations over the concern, the media focuses on the demonstrations. The media depicts these people as violent, unstable members of society out to destroy property belonging to the other higher classes. The media paints the working class as an enemy of the middle class who envies their position and may be vile enough to violently try and possess their belongings. When members of the working class complain over the inadequacy of jobs in their country due to preference for foreign labor, the media paints them as racist.
The media depicts the working class as selfish members of society who are unwilling to share their opportunities with other races. The focus of the media on the working class is strictly their job position. The media toys around with figures of their unemployment and how despicable their lives are without their jobs (Jones, 2020). The media neglects other aspects of the lives of the working class such as their dressing, eating, and family setup.
The media paints these aspects of their lives as undesirable and their position as a despicable one. Members of the working class are depicted as hardworking members of the community who are trying to break out of that class. The media insists on hard work, talent, and usefulness to the other classes as means of breaking into higher classes. Crime and illegal activities are discouraged in these depictions as they always lead to the culprits of the working class involved getting caught and punished.
Poverty
The poor members of the society, including the homeless, beggars, and jobless are portrayed as threats. The media shows these people getting involved in crime and warns the upper classes to be careful with these people. Statistics on poverty are always thrown around in the media as a warning for other classes to keep working to avoid adding to those numbers (Deery and Press, 2017). The media neglects the plight of poor people by ignoring the source of their problems.
The media portrays poverty as a personal responsibility by members of this group and implies that hard work would make their situation better (Kehya and Serdaroğlu, 2018). The media displays these people in their despicable neighborhoods and the various undesirable aspects of their lives. The media neglects the role of the ruling class and upper class in the tribulations of these people. Media deliberately ignores the role of capitalism in the poor status of these people and the fact that few members of society have amassed wealth.
Crime stories in television are associated with poor people, with their fate always oscillating between death and prison. The media has informed the public conduct around poor people. Being around poor people informs increased vigilance with people being more aware of their surroundings. Women from other classes clutch harder on their bags when in poor neighborhoods to avoid being robbed (Kehya and Serdaroğlu, 2018).
When a poor person is spotted in a wealthy neighborhood, they are reported to the authorities hastily. When a case involving a poor person and another from a higher social class is reported, prejudice is observed as the poor person is associated with guilt. Poor people demanding to be heard and their rights honored are treated as aggressive criminals and the media depicts armed authorities combating them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, media has been integral in the representation of various societal phenomena, and a major one is class. Understanding the crucial role of media in various depictions of class requires immense vigilance and acute observation as these depictions are often masked in other stories. The ruling class has a stake in media and controls most outlets. They display themselves as good and well-meaning members of society who are indispensable. Without them, society is seen to degrade to chaos and instability.
The upper class is influential in informing dressing, eating, and behaviors in general. This position is informed by their vast generational wealth and control over many sectors, including media. Members of the middle class are comfortable members of the society, satisfied with their ability to afford basic enviable amenities. The working class is depicted as a laboring group whose survival depends on their ability to feed the capitalist system. Poor members of society are the enemy as their demand for better services threatens the other classes. The association of poverty with crime and apparent laziness is massively portrayed by the media.
Reference list
Deery, J. and Press, A. (2017). Media and class: TV, film, and digital culture. Google Books. Routledge.
Halegoua, G.R. (2019). Book review: Privileged mobilities: Professional migration, geo-social media, and a new global middle class. Social Media + Society, 5(3).
Jones, O. (2020). Chavs: The demonization of the working class. Google Books. Verso Books.
Kehya, R.Özgün, and Serdaroğlu, C. (2018). Representation of poor people in television series: lost lives in extreme representations. Stratejik ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2(3), pp.103–123.
North, J., Woodacre, E., and Alvestad, K.C. (2018). Introduction—getting modern: depicting premodern power and sexuality in popular media. Premodern Rulers and Postmodern Viewers, pp.1–19.
O’neill, D. and Wayne, M. (2018). Considering class: theory, culture and the media in the 21st century. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books.
Rucks-Ahidiana, Z. (2018). Race and class in the news: how the media portrays gentrification.escholarship.org. [online] Web.