The Praxis of Social Inequality in Media: A Global Perspective

by Jan Servaes (Editor), Toks Oyedemi (Editor), N. Nalini (Contribution by), Ladi Hamalai (Contribution by), Timothy P. Collins (Contribution by), Martin Caraher (Contribution by), Mike Gasher (Contribution by), James Gibbons (Contribution by), Tommaso Gravante (Contribution by), Steven Harkins (Contribution by), Grant Corwell (Contribution by), Pierluigi Simone (Contribution by), Roberto Cisotta (Contribution by), John & Trent (Contribution by), Robert A. Cord (Contribution by), M.R. Balks (Contribution by), Greg M. Nielsen (Contribution by), Louise North (Contribution by), James Cullis (Contribution by), Toks Oyedemi (Contribution by), Fay Patel (Contribution by), John Pollock (Contribution by), Alice Poma (Contribution by), Michelle H. Phillips (Contribution by), Jan Servaes (Contribution by), Ta (Contribution by), José Manuel Ruano (Contribution by), Rebecca Wells (Contribution by)

Overview

The Praxis of Social Inequality in Media: A Global Perspective provides a global analysis of the intersection of social inequalities, media, and communication. This volume contains chapters by an international array of scholars and provides case studies from various countries with critical empirical analysis of social inequalities and how they shape media narratives and experiences. The topics examined here include poverty in the media in Britain and Turkey, technology and inequality in Italy and Bangladesh, gender, inequality, and empowerment in India, Mexico, and Australia, and cross national analysis of rape culture, among others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498523479
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	08/03/2016
Series:	Communication, Globalization, and Cultural Identity
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	294
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Jan Servaes is chair professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong and UNESCO chair in communication for sustainable social change at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Toks Oyedemi received his PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Steven Harkins is a researcher working on an ESRC funded PhD at the University of Sheffield on print journalism representations of poverty. Steven is in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s expert communications group and has written for the British Medical Journal, Critical Studies on Terrorism, LSE Review of Books and Spinwatch. He is now a lecturer in Politics, Sociology and Research Methods at Fife College, UK.
Jairo Lugo-Ocando is a lecturer in Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. His is the author of The Media in Latin America (2008), ICTs, Democracy and Development (2007) and more recently Blaming the Victim: How Global Journalism Fails Those in Poverty (2015). Previously, he worked as a journalist in Latin America.

Table of Contents

Introduction: From Theory to Praxis: Social Inequality and Its Consequences, Toks Oyedemi and Jan Servaes
List of Abbreviations

Part I: Poverty and the Media
Chapter 1: All People Are Equal, but Some People Are More Equal than Others: How and Why Inequality Became Invisible in the British Press, Steven Harkins and Jairo Lugo-Ocando
Chapter 2: Dialogic Journalism: Bringing Marginalized Communities into the Implied Audience, Greg Nielsen, James Gibbons, Amanda Weightman, and Mike Gasher
Chapter 3: Britain's Hidden Hungry? The Portrayal of Food Bank Users in the U.K. National Press, Rebecca Wells and Martin Caraher
Chapter 4: The Invisible Hand Begs For "Sadaka": Does the Media Legitimize Poverty via Islamic Alms in Turkey?, Kaan Taşbaşı

Part II: Technology and Inequalities
Chapter 5: Social Inequalities in Digital Skills: The European Framework and the Italian Case, Roberta Bracciale and Isabella Mingo
Chapter 6: Breaching the Divide: "Hole in the Wall" Computer Kiosks for Education and Development in Urban Bangladesh, Guyuri Kepes

Part III: Women, Empowerment, and the Media
Chapter 7: Hill Women's Voices and Community Communication about Climate Change: The Case of Henvalvani Community Radio in India, Aparna Moitra and Archna Kumar
Chapter 8: Citizen Media and Empowerment: An Analysis of Three Experiences of Media Re-Appropriation Carried Out by Women during the Popular Insurrection in Oaxaca, Mexico, Francisco Sierra Caballero, Alice Poma, and Tommaso Gravante

Part IV: Representations of Race, Sexuality, and Gender in the Media
Chapter 9: Harassed, Marginalised, and Childless: Gender Inequality in the Australian News Media: A Feminist Analysis, Louise North
Chapter 10: Cross National Coverage of Rape and Rape Culture: A Community Structure Approach, John C. Pollock, Lucy Obozintsev, Hannah Salamone, Lauren Longo, and Stephanie Agresti
Chapter 11: Multiculturalism as a Disempowering Paradigm: The Canadian Case, Fay Patel

Conclusion: Studying Complex Inequalities, Jan Servaes

Editorial Reviews

This very timely collection argues that social inequality is the ordinary—but often invisible—product of the practice of global capitalism. The contributors critically analyze the news media and how it legitimizes and normalizes the praxis of inequality around the globe. They also identify possibilities for developing more equitable practices in news storytelling and in the distribution of media technologies to those most marginalized by capitalism.

Christopher R. Martin

Inequality affects us all. With insightful contributions from twenty-six prominent scholars, The Praxis of Social Inequality in Media: A Global Perspective presents country-specific studies that enunciate media depictions of poverty, technology-related inequalities, the media’s role in empowering women, and media representations of race, sexuality, and gender. This book should be essential reading for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in the media’s significant, but somewhat controversial, role in our global society.

Debashis Aikat

Empirically rich and drawing from a range of experiences of poverty from around the world, this collection fully delivers on its purpose: to open up theoretical frameworks and methodologies around the intersection of social inequality and media. Scholarly critiques of classical theories of economics and political science and rigorous examinations of neoliberalism and neocolonialism are strengthened through case studies that demonstrate the importance of contextually grounded analyses, and that of facilitating spaces for voice and active participation. The result is a dynamic collection of examples of the agency of underrepresented populations—not just in socioeconomic mappings, but in academic research as well.

Divya McMillin