Media Representations of Social Class

The upper class is clearly most well represented in most forms of media. Besides the many television shows and movies that center around people who are clearly affluent, media often give a misrepresentation of the average person’s economic standing. For example, it is common to see “average people” in movies and television being able to afford large apartments in cities like New York. In reality, a vast majority of the population would not be able to do that. This might be because the viewers of these media don’t want to look upon characters in difficult life situations. One may be comforted by the characters’ prosperous life situations.

When people of lower economic standing are portrayed in the media, they are disproportionally shown as being people of color. This makes people think that a greater percentage of the poor are people of color than actually is the case.

When one thinks of how the poor are portrayed in the media, one thinks of “minorities,” or “welfare,” or “dirtiness.” One thinks of people of color wearing worn-out clothes. This not only paints the lower class in a negative light, it leads to bigotry.

Real people are influenced by how society views them and their social class. People of color who are wealthy are often stereotyped as being poor based on their appearance (such as when they enter stores and look at expensive goods that employees tell them they can’t afford) because of media portrayals. The same portrayals of the same racial groups make people believe that social class and race are more inherently linked and that people of color are responsible for the fact that they are poor. This is demonstrated in people’s racism (both explicitly and implicitly).

The media’s normalization of being affluent also makes people believe that the poor are lazy and responsible for their financial problems. When poor people (or people stereotyped to be poor) attempt to interview for jobs (or otherwise advance their economic status), they may be stereotyped as lazy and turned down. This decreases class mobility and keeps these effects alive.

-Zach