The Media & Crime (AQA A Level Sociology): Flashcards

Surette argues that fictional portrayals shape public perceptions and stereotypes but do not reflect actual crime statistics.

Reiner argues that media and advertising promote unrealistic ideals of material success, creating anomie among poorer groups.

Marxists argue that the media over-reports working-class street crime and under-reports white-collar crime, protecting ruling-class interests.

Left realists argue that media images of celebrity wealth reinforce relative deprivation among poorer groups.

True.

Right realists argue that media coverage reflects genuine concern and pushes for practical solutions, such as more visible policing.

Newson claimed that violent media, such as horror films, desensitise children to violence, making them more likely to imitate it.

The hypodermic syringe model suggests that the media directly injects values and norms into a passive audience.

False.

Most studies find that exposure to media violence has only a small and limited effect on audiences.

Gerbner et al. found that heavy TV viewers were more likely to believe they were at risk of crime, which they called 'mean world syndrome'.

Schlesinger and Tumber (1992) found that tabloid readers feared muggings and physical attacks most.

Media-driven fear of crime reinforces itself because fearful people stay in more, which leads to more TV viewing and so more fear.

Left realists argue that these images raise expectations, causing relative deprivation among excluded groups, so some turn to crime to obtain goods.

The commodification of crime is the use of crime and its thrills by the media and advertisers to sell products and lifestyles, e.g. 'thug life' clothing.

Hayward and Young argue that the boundaries between reality and representation are blurred, e.g. crimes 'performed for the camera'.

Cultural criminologists argue that crime becomes not only an offence but also a symbol of style.

Sparks argues that many media effects studies ignore the meanings audiences give to media content.

False.

Cumberbatch reviewed over 3,500 studies and found no conclusive evidence of a causal link.

Media effects studies are criticised as too simplistic because not everyone reacts in the same way, e.g. due to differences in age, class or gender.

Factors such as poor socialisation, bad parenting and peer pressure are often more powerful causes of violence than the media.

A moral panic (Cohen, 1972) is an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem, usually driven by the media, which enlarges the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness.

In a moral panic, symbolisation links a group to visible signs such as clothing, music or slang.

A moral panic creates a deviance amplification spiral because increased policing leads to more arrests, which reinforces negative labels so the problem escalates.

Folk devils are groups that the media labels as scapegoats for society's problems and portrays as a threat to social order.

True.

The media exaggerated the violence, and the tougher policing that followed drew more attention to the groups.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) followed the moral panic over illegal raves, restricting unlicensed gatherings and music with a 'repetitive beat'.

Hall et al. argued that the mugging panic served to distract attention from the economic crisis and unemployment.

A boundary crisis (Cohen) is a situation in which people are unsure of the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

Cohen argues that moral panics usually occur during times of social change, which create widespread uncertainty and anxiety.

Functionalists see moral panics as reasserting core values in response to anomie, which strengthens social solidarity.

Neo-Marxists argue that moral panics help the ruling class to divide and rule the working class.

True.

The Media Reform Coalition (2023) found that DMG Media, News UK and Reach dominate, giving them great power to set the news agenda.

Wall identifies cyber-trespass, cyber-deception/theft, cyber-pornography and cyber-violence.

Left realists argue that some problems, such as terrorism and knife crime, are genuine threats, so public fear is not always irrational.

False.

McRobbie and Thornton argue that repeated panics have less effect because audiences become desensitised.

Postmodernists argue that audiences are media-literate and diverse, and social media offers multiple perspectives that weaken media-led panics.