The document summarizes several theorists' perspectives on media representations of youth and how those representations relate to societal power structures and cultural norms. Some of the key points made include that media representations of youth often reflect adult anxieties rather than reality, can be used to reinforce dominant social values, and may influence societal perceptions over time through repeated portrayals that become normalized.

1. Section B
Theorist revision

2. Giroux (1997)
• Giroux argues that in media representations youth
becomes an ‘empty category’. This is because media
representations of young people are constructed by
adults. Because of this they reflect adults concerns,
anxieties, and needs. As a result of this media
representations of young people do not necessarily
reflect the reality of youth identity. When applying Giroux
to media texts you need to think about who constructed
the representation, who it is aimed at, and does the
representation reflect adult anxieties or serve the
purposes of adult society (e.g. by reinforcing hegemonic
values).

3. Acland (1995)
• Acland argues that media representations of delinquent
youths actually reinforce hegemony. They do this by
constructing an idea of ‘normal’ adult and youth
behaviour, and contrasting it with deviant youth
behaviour which is shown to be unacceptable.

4. • Acland also claims that media representations of young
people out of control allows the state to have more
control of them (e.g. media reports about delinquent
youths led to ASBOs). This is something Acland calls
the ‘ideology of protection’ – the idea that young people
need constant surveillance and monitoring. This
happens because youth is the time when young people
learn about social roles and values, and allows the state
to make sure they conform to hegemonic values.

5. Hebdige (1979)
• Hebidge studied British youth subcultures in the late
1970s. His work is more focused on the reality of youth
culture, than Giroux or Acland who are concerned with
media representations of youth. Hebdige argues that
youth subcultures are a way for young people to express
their opposition to society, and to challenge hegemony.
This is primarily expressed through style. In this context
you may consider how the working class youths’
behaviour is a response to their position in society (e.g.
the class envy of the characters in ‘Eden Lake’ who steal
the signifiers of middle class wealth such as the 4x4 and
the Ray Bans).

6. • Hebidge also argues that representations of young
people are quite limited showing them as either fun or
trouble. Again this suggests media representations of
young people do not really relate to reality.
•

7. Gramsci
• Gramsci developed the concept of cultural hegemony.
This is the idea that one social class (usually the middle
class) is able to dominate a society by making their way
of life and values appear normal, natural, and common
sense. As a result other social classes accept these
values as the normal way of life. Gramsci does see
hegemony as a site of constant struggle – societies are
constantly debating what is and isn’t acceptable. You
could relate this to the more positive representations of
working class youth in ‘Fish Tank’ and ‘Misfits’ as
representations which challenge the perception of
working class as thugs.

8. Cohen (1972)
• Cohen studied the media response to the mods and rockers
riots in the 1960s. He argued that from time to time ‘folk
devils’ emerge in a society which reflect the anxieties of
society at that time (e.g. mods and rockers reflect social
anxiety about the emergence of youth culture, rock and roll,
etc.). A moral panic occurs when the media reports on these
‘folk devils’ in a sensationalised way which leads to
intervention by politicians, and the police. The effect of a
moral panic is to reassert hegemony by allowing a society to
make clear what values it does not accept. The
representation of working class youths suggest they have
become a contemporary ‘folk devil’, perhaps tapping into
economic anxieties, concern about a benefits culture, and
long term unemployment.

9. Althusser
• Althusser argues that one of the ways in which the state
maintains control is through ideological state apparatus.
This includes the media, education, religion, family.
Ideological state apparatus are a range of different
groups who transmit dominant ideology to the people,
again maintaining hegemony.

10. Gerbner (1986)
• Gerbner studied the effect of television on people’s
perception of crime. He found that people who watched
a lot of television tended to overestimate the levels of
crime. He called this ‘mean world syndrome’. Because
news reports, TV dramas, films, contain lots of
representations of crime over time this influenced
people’s perceptions of the world. This is called
‘cultivation theory’. You could apply this to media
representations of young people. The large numbers of
representations of young people as delinquents could,
over time, influence how they are perceived by society.

11. Greg Philo
• Argues that contemporary ‘hoodie cinema’ reflects
middle class anxiety about the threat to their dominance
posed by the working class.

12. Angela McRobbie
• Suggests that contemporary British TV often contains
‘symbolic violence’ against the working class, i.e.
representations which emphasise middle class
dominance and depict the working class in very negative
ways (e.g. ‘Eden Lake’, ‘Harry Brown’).

13. DAVID GAUNTLETT
• Thinks the idea that the media affects the way we behave is rubbish.
He studies the Frankfurt schools Media Effects theory and contradicts
all of its ideas. He thinks we:
•
• Shouldn’t blame the media for issues that already exist in society
• Shouldn’t assume the audiences is passive and naive
• Shouldn’t believe the Frankfurt School’s research as it was conducted
in an artificial way and there’s no real way we could ever find out the
real effect media has on society
• Shouldn’t assume that there will only be negative results from
consuming a media text. Sometimes a media text that contains
negative issues has a positive repercussion on the audience
• Believes that we use the “media as navigation points for developing our
own identities”.
• Believes that the media “disseminates a huge number of messages
about identity and acceptable forms of self-expression, gender,
sexuality and lifestyle.”

14. Others…
• Kathryn Woodward
• ‘Identities are produced, consumed and regulated within
culture – creating meanings through symbolic systems of
representation about the identity positions which we
might adopt’
• www.newinfluencer.com
• Mass media plays a significant role in the transmission
and maintenance of cultural identity, through a repetitive
display of cultural norms and values which eventually
become seen as simple ‘truths’

15. • Samantha Lay
• She thinks that “Film is by and large a commercial
medium rather than an educational tool”
• Marshall McLuhan
• “All media exists to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and
arbitrary values.”
• Walt Disney
• “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young
lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives
of normal adulthood.”

16. • JACQUES LACAN – MIRROR STAGE THEORY
• Lacan carried out research with children and animals
using mirrors and discovered that humans reach an age
where they are able to recognise their own reflection and
that people were able to develop a sense of their own
self by examining their reflections
• Gary Giddens
• Believes that “mediated experiences make us reflect
upon and rethink our own self-narrative in relation to
others.”