Social Stratification: Division Through The Eyes Of The Media

Social Stratification: Division Through the Eyes of the Media Makayla Green Jo Byrns High School Abstract Social Stratification has become a very large epidemic in society because of the way the media portrays the social ranking system since the beginning of time. As the stereotypes the media depicts of the social ranking placement are justified, the more defined our classes becomes. The inequality of women has become crucial in the work industry, resulting in the unemployment of many women. The media has defined the income of the elderly as being “fixed.” Fixed being defined as the minimum amount to be obtained. Crime rates due to poverty in the lower class have increased drastically as more and more children become exposed to the doings of

Social Stratification: Division Through the Eyes of the Media Introduction to Society Social stratification is commonly defined as society’s social ranking system by which contrasting groups of people are valued and placed within humanity. All society’s are stratified and categorized into a socioeconomic environment whether it is based upon wealth, income, social placement, or political capacity, social stratification has outspread into the media and not only implied an effect on the inequality of the U.S., but also the common acts of society. Examples of social stratification in society such as upper, middle and lower class are based on societies as a whole and not on individuals within society. People that are higher in a hierarchy generally have more access to opportunities, luxuries, and rewards than those below them. Social stratification takes wealth, location, and in some cases heritage into account to determine social

152). However in 1988, the first production of the television show Murphy Brown was released to the public, with a great amount of controversy. Murphy Brown was a character who exemplified an intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by raising a child alone and calling it “just another lifestyle choice”. Murphy Brown was one of the first television shows to explore the “non-traditional” family lifestyle, and the first to cause a stir when it came to presenting an issue that was a hot topic during the early and late 1980’s. Murphy Brown created an influential moment in watching the dispute and collision of television and politics (Semigran, 2014). Elderly of the Age According to opentextbc.ca, “Many media portrayals of the elderly reflect negative cultural attitudes toward aging. In North America, society tends to glorify youth, associating it with beauty and sexuality. In comedies, the elderly are often associated with grumpiness or hostility” (Little,