SOCIOLOGY VIEWS

Sociology Views

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Sociology Views

Since the inception of the newspaper in the 19the century, people have been linked with media. However, during the past couple of decades mass media has grown tenfold, and mankind has entered into the information age due to this phenomenon. Everyday people spend hours interacting with mass media in one way or another, and youth is the one segment of society that is most connected with mass media, through different mediums. Media generates lots of information for its audience; however, media can be used as a weapon to play with the minds of its audience, as well. Media can generate certain perceptions in the minds of its audience that are not present within them, and could bend their attentions to things that they do not want to follow.

Media either discusses race or it avoids discussion over it. The media can manipulate the impression of race that we have in our society. It not only encourages minorities but also holds supremacy of the whites over the minorities. It can be misleading at times and create an impression about a race that are unclear by stereotyping for e.g. Arabs are stereotyped by media as rich, dumb and violent, moreover, blacks are stereotyped as crooks, and that indulge in illicit activities. This reveals racial prejudice among whites particularly against blacks as violent. Furthermore, media also stereotypes and influence people on the basis of gender. It stereotypes females as having the materialistic beauty through their depiction of beauty pageants and contests. This gives the wrong impression about gender to the public and creates insecurities among them. Moreover, media can use the same tactics against religion, it can stereotype and create an inaccurate picture altogether in the eyes of its audience. In this regard, the media's portrayal of Islam and Muslims has been no different. Coming towards sexual orientation, and its portrayal by media is no different from all the other issues that are covered so far.

Moving on, the media programming has changed entire dimension since the PBS “Sesame Street”. Now it contains much more violent and aggressive themes. The children are being victimized into much mature themes than they were a couple of decades ago. The children's programming has become much more glamorous, which can be seen throughout the children in our society. Children nowadays are much more aggressive and have become much more dependent upon media for entertainment. Rather than participating in physical activities, and taking out their aggression in a positive way, children are found sitting in front of their TV screens or computers. This has led to severe emotional and physical impacts on children. They have also become victims of the consumerism through media. This has made it harder for parents and elder siblings to manage the children's needs and wants.

Children develop superficial racial and gender distinctions, since their understanding of race and gender is incomplete. However, this starts to eliminate as they grow and develop their understandings about these topics. Racial and gender discrimination ...