Media and Social Construction of Crime and Deviance Flashcards
media - crime as consumer spectacle
crime stories source of mass entertainment & main part of media
films centred on detection of offenders (CSI)
media - crime as consumer market
turned by advertisers video games (GTA) rap style fashion choice (hoodies symbolise deviance)
media - news
crime has become a part of contemporary media infotainment (crimewatch)
media - agenda-setting
media selective in incidents they report
have the ability to influence the importance placed on news stories
journalists decide topics of discussion for people
media - news values
journalists/editors have values & assumptions to help them choose whether or not a story is newsworthy
some crimes are exaggerated to generate audience interests
media - the backwards law
CSEW
media constructs images of crime that is an opposite version of reality
majority of people base their knowledge of crime on the media
- sex, drug, violent crimes over-represented, property crime under-represented
- police effectiveness in solving crimes over-exaggerated
- individual incidents of crime emphasised more than patterns/causes of crime
media - the backwards law; left realists
media disguises the fact offenders and victims are from working-class
media - the backwards law; marxists
white-collar crime and corporate crime concealed and rarely reported
media - hyperreality of crime
media socially constructs misleading view of crime
exaggerates risks of being a victim
increases public fear of crime unnecessarily
media creates reality
media - crime rate in england & wales
has been steady
2/3 of the population think it is rising
media - moral entrepreneurs
certain groups/activities labelled as deviant/not normal
seen as a threat to society (folk devils)
public desensitised to support action taken against them
media - moral panic
wave of public concern on an exaggerated threat to society
these deviants are folk devils
media - scapegoats
periods of social change or political/economical crisis, folk devils are blamed for social problems
media - deviancy amplification
agencies of social control respond with harsh measures against folk devils
this makes what was a minor situation worse and creates deviance
media - relevancy of moral panics today
citizen journalism & social media has made people more sceptical of mainstream media reports & less likely to believe them
news is reported 24/7, criminal events have a short shelf-life to become a moral panic
