Audience Perception of the Stereotypical Black Image on Television Essa

Audience Perception of the Stereotypical Black Image on TelevisionIn the introduction to the section on understanding social consider in Race, Class, and Gender in the coupled States, Paula Rothenberg states The most effective forms of social control are al focussings ultraviolet(507). One of the most prevalent forms of invisible social control the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes. Studies have shown that stereotypes can become so ingrained in the minds of those exposed to them that the target of the stereotype might non only believe the mythological image, but also inadvertently act out the image they are expected to play (Snyder). In addition, those who subscribe to the stereotyped images of others will notice and remember the ways in which that person seems to fit the stereotype, while resisting evidence that contradicts the stereotype(Snyder 514). Stereotypes control by creating false images that work to swear the status quo and keep those who hold power in their po sitions of power.For stereotypes to be an effective method of social control, they must be created, dispersed and perpetuated. Though the process of using stereotypes as social control is invisible, as Rothenberg declares, the distribution of those images is anything but invisible. The average American watches between 30-31 hours of telly per hebdomad (World Book). That constitutes the number of hours for a full-time job. This statistic illustrates that video is an incredibly powerful medium for dispersing information, entertainment, and misinformation negative images of African-Americans propagandize misinformation about African-Americans(Cosby 137). Misinformation about disadvantaged groups in America has historically found plenty of airtime on television television brings to an otherwise heterogeneous audience a single set of values and social descriptions produced to the specifications of the owners of the broadcast industry and their advertising sponsors(Matabane 21). These images have been shown to affect the way these groups are perceived and acted towards by the white mainstream (Ford 1997). The combination of the prevalence of negative images of minorities and the scientific proof of the effect these images on the behavior of the majority group contribute to an invisible form of social control perpetuated through a most visible medium. Th... ...African-Americans on Person Perception. Social Psychology Quarterly. 60. 1997 (266-278).Frye, Marilyn. Oppression. Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. Ed. Paula Rothenberg. in the raw York Worth, 2001 (139-143).Gray, Herman. Watching Race. Minneapolis Univ. of Minnesota, 1995.Lewis, J. and S. Jhally. Enlightened Racism. Boulder Westview, 1992.Malik, Sarita. Representing Black Britain Black and Asian Images on Television. London Sage, 2002.Matabane, Paula. Television and the Black Audience Cultivating Moderate Perspectives on racial Integration. Journal of Communication 38(4). 1998 (21-31).Ross, Karen. In Whose Image? TV Criticism and Black Minority Viewers. Ethnic Minorities and the Media. Ed. Simon Cottle. Buckingham Open University, 2000 (133-147).Rothenberg, Paula. Ed. Race, Class and Gender in the United States. New York Worth, 2001.Snyder, Mark. Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes. Race, Class and Gender in the United States. Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York Worth, 2001, (511-517)World Almanac & Book of Facts 2003, p282, Statistics on the average number of hours Americans spend watching television per week as of October 2001.