By Taylor Greife Staff Writer
I can’t help but think about the High School Musical number, Stick to the Status Quo when talking about prejudices against minority groups. It’s an overly simplified way of explaining that we are separated into groups and don’t tend to venture outside of those groups. Growing up we are immediately consuming ideologies of stereotypes and prejudices. Whether it’s jocks and geeks, men and women, or white people and non-white people, we are constantly surrounded by these segregated groups. It’s been a norm for so long, most people don’t realize how segregated our country really is.
In “How Shows Like ‘Will and Grace’ and ‘Black-ish’ Can Change Your Brain” Maanvi Singh talks about how TV, and other forms of media, can affect how people feel about others. When we see individuals from other groups being displayed in our media consumption, our prejudices shift, and this is called the intergroup contact theory. The intergroup contact theory applies to more than just the media, it applies to real life as well. Interacting with people from minority groups helps people overcome their prejudices.
Although minority groups in media representation can help overcome prejudice, it can also create stereotypes. More often than not, minority groups are portrayed in a stereotypical way. In “The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis”, the authors explain how prejudices are created by “incomplete or mistaken information.” They discuss how we as humans have categorized ourselves based on our similarities and differences. The variation of attitudes we hold against people who aren’t in our same “category” led us to stereotyping based on a negative experience or socialization and the people we are around. Media representation plays a huge role in stereotyping minority groups and as previously mentioned, what we consume from the media changes the way we think and feel about others. When the media portrays Asians as the “model minority”, Arabs as terrorists, or disabled people as evil, it puts those ideologies in our heads that individuals within those groups are all that way.
In Chapter 3 of “The Nature of Prejudice,” Allport talks about group dynamics and how the way a group functions can either create a sense of belonging and identity or negative behaviors towards out-groups. Out-groups are social groups that an individual doesn’t identify with. An individual’s social identity can also determine their attitude towards an out-group as well as an in-group. An in-group is a social group that an individual does identify with. This chapter as a whole highlights the psychological and social processes involved in the development of an in-group.
Media representation can also help alleviate the stereotypes and prejudice against minorities by developing parasocial relationships between characters and viewers. These relationships are formed by making a character that is relatable, has admirable characteristics, can create an emotional connection with viewers, and overall having a character a viewer could be friends with. If these characters represent a minority group, it helps people from that group overcome prejudice and develops a sense of equality. In 2013, Srividya Ramasubramanian founded a nonprofit organization called Media Rise that connects teachers, activists, and social scientists to people in the media industry. The mission within Media Rise is to create powerful and meaningful content that expresses equality and compassion in the world of media.
The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis shows the positive portrayal of minority groups in the media and how those connections can reduce bias and prejudice. Viewers developing empathy and understanding towards characters is important to the future of our country because the media makes an impact. The hypothesis specifically emphasizes the role media can play in shaping society’s attitudes and closing the gap between social divides.
As a media consumer, I never realized the ridiculous amount of stereotyping or the constant division between groups. I never knew much about other groups other than what’s shown in the media so that’s all I based my ideals off of. Now learning about these representations and prejudices, I think about the movies and tv shows I’ve watched and the books that I’ve read that hold to these prejudices and I’ve never realized it. However, if the media industry follows the parasocial contact hypothesis, I think the media could make a big impact on segregation and discrimination in our country. We have come a long way, but we are still climbing the mountain of equality.
ECC Cornerstone 