Oprah Winfrey, Her Life and American Values Essay

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Brief Summary of the Article

The article “Oprah Winfrey” is from the Academy of Achievement Magazine. It talks about the life of Oprah Winfrey from her childhood to a successful woman in the American context. Born to an unwed mother, Oprah lived with her grandmother at a tender age while her mother was looking for work. At the age of six, she went to live with her mother at Milwaukee where she was molested for four years. She would later go to live with the father who helped her to achieve her higher education status. After winning the Miss Black Tennessee at the age of 17, Winfrey won a scholarship to learn Speech Communication and Performance Arts at the Tennessee State University. She worked at WVOL and WJZ-TV before moving to WLS-TV where she established the famous Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985 (“Oprah Winfrey” par. 4). The show became popular both nationally and internationally. Apart from her love for the show, Winfrey also loved acting and supporting children from poor families. She became a successful and renowned figure throughout the world.

Reflection of Dominant Values and their Reinforcement in the Article

The life history and success of Winfrey depends on some of the core values of America. For instance, individualism is firmly reinforced in the article. Because of her belief in a unique personality, Winfrey made individual efforts to study and become successful. With the concept of equality in America, Winfrey got a scholarship for education based on merits and not gender. After establishing the Oprah Winfrey Show, she used the equality as a value to relate with the society directly (Doran and Littrell 262). About materialism, the article describes the 42-acre home of Winfrey. All these personal attributes show her aggressiveness, strong work ethics, determination, and willingness to compete (Kohls par. 4).

How the Article Shapes and Diffuses Social Norms

The article depicts the life of the celebrity from a humble background to a successful woman. Its publication in the mainstream media will help to encourage the young generation who are hopeless to embrace hard work and determination. The article also shows the aspect of gender as an insignificant obstacle to a person’s success in American society (Doran and Littrell 267). In a capitalistic society like America, people should embrace competition to earn the opportunities available.

On the other hand, the article diffuses social norms such as parenting. It depicts women as people who are unable to take care of their children without male counterparts. Winfrey only becomes successful under the care and support of her father. It also makes the society believe that success is a product of hard work even if one does not have resources (Kohls par. 12).

How the Article Maintains Hegemonic Discourse

American society follows capitalistic ideologies. In this context, the ruling class owns the resources of production and controls both the working-class and the low-class societies (“Oprah Winfrey” par. 8). To maintain their status quo, the ruling class has set up values and norms for the ruled classes to believe in them. Through the article, the Americans are made to believe that anybody can be successful irrespective of their economic and social background (Doran and Littrell 268). They only need to be hardworking and determined people even if they do not have access to resources that the ruling class owns.

Other aspects to Consider from the Article

Oprah Winfrey is successful because of her hard work, education, and determination to follow her dreams and become successful (“Oprah Winfrey” par. 13). Through hard work, she held the Oprah Winfrey Show daily for many years to maintain and expand its publicity. Through the celebrity, we learn that living a good life depends on one’s resilience and hard work, which is based on skills and talents (Doran and Littrell 274). Even though everyone has a unique life, it is admirable to be famous like Oprah Winfrey.

Works Cited

Doran, Caroline Josephine, and Romie Littrell. “Measuring Mainstream US Cultural Values.” Journal of Business Ethics 117.2 (2012): 261-280. Print.

Kohls, Robert L. The Values Americans Live by. n.d. Web.

Oprah Winfrey 2015. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, August 6). Oprah Winfrey, Her Life and American Values. https://ivypanda.com/essays/oprah-winfrey-her-life-and-american-values/

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"Oprah Winfrey, Her Life and American Values." IvyPanda, 6 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/oprah-winfrey-her-life-and-american-values/.

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IvyPanda. (2020) 'Oprah Winfrey, Her Life and American Values'. 6 August.

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IvyPanda. 2020. "Oprah Winfrey, Her Life and American Values." August 6, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/oprah-winfrey-her-life-and-american-values/.

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