African American Male StereotypesThe presence of media is infused throughout society. Books, newspapers, radio, theater, film, television and most recently internet are all forms in which media mass communicates throughout the world. The influence of media shaping opinions and determining what is the social norm is often agreed upon, but how big of an influence is often debated. This influence often comes into question when discussing stereotypes. Stereotypes being defined as the process of distorting the portrayal of some social group in a media image (Grossberg et. al. 2006 ). Belligerent, abusive, sex-crazed, rapper, entertainer, athlete, rude, attitudinal, absentee father, lazy, welfare recipient, uneducated, inarticulate, criminal, drug addict, drug dealers, and violent these words were used or fit into categories used to describe African American men in an open-ended survey that asked educators and non-educators to “list all stereotypical beliefs, feelings, expectations, and fantasies that the average person has about black men” (Foster, 1995). The above characteristics are often assigned to African American men, and given we still live in a society with racial segregation resulting in limited interaction outside of work and school, how these opinions are formed come into question. “Just about everyone has two paths of social information: personal experience (including formal education, socialization, and conversation) and mediated communication: Most lack a theory or integrating perspective to harmonize the two streams.” (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). Schuman et al. (1998) from a perspective of culture state that mainstream culture is a set of schemas most widely stored in the public’s minds and the core thematic frames that pervade media messages. Lacking much opportunity for repeated close contact with a wide variety of Blacks, Whites depend heavily on cultural material, especially media images, for cataloging Blacks. The mediated communications help explain the tenacious survival of racial stereotypes despite a social norm that dampens public admission of prejudice.” This study’s goal is to understanding the link, if any, between the media and the perpetuation of African American male stereotypes.
In this study I plan to look at how media may play a role in sustaining and/or creating stereotypes of the African American Male. I will conduct a content analysis of the video series done by the Washington Post. In this series several questions where posed surrounding what is means to be a black man. I will analyze the response to two questions. The first video question will be “How does society view black men?” and the second video question will be “What does it mean to be a black man?” I will then categorize the content and compare and contrast the two videos themselves and then compare and contrast the common stereotypes found in media. To see if there is any link between how the individuals in the video described how society views black
The Results:
The second video was more of an interview in which you spoke with Black community organizer and journalist Jim Rizzo and a small group of audience members. You gave a simple explanation about your work which I agree with, but also offered me some details. I tried both questions to explain that I try to be fair and I want to make things as honest as possible in any interview so i am really glad I was able to respond. You asked about the history of African Americans, specifically how have there been certain types of racism during the history of society?
There were two very different groups of people with African Americans in the community as I discovered by watching the video. Some were white, others were African American, and some of these were either black or other African American. I did not personally know each group, but I did not want to give details as to what exactly they were like. I was not sure what to expect when answering a question. One person in the audience immediately was trying to make fun of me for asking a question, that person was trying to make fun of me for being black (obviously being white is also a very good trait at a young age) and that person used racist language in the video. But overall people seem to agree that there has been significant change in African American cultures over the last 15 to 20 years now.
For the first time since the 1950s, I have seen more and more blacks from the South assimilate into the US. Most people I know and talked to who told me that the US has been a safe and healthy place and we have better things to do in the future. Yet I don’t believe that to be the case. Black people from areas where there is no racial identity are more comfortable with the concept of being black, but that has not changed. Many black people come from areas where there is something different about their culture – where they are not as segregated as they will be at some future time. Also, for a group of people whose culture was never the same as when they were young they are often viewed as outsiders or outsiders within that culture.
The results were so similar to one from my previous report, that these people would be surprised by the extent to which they are living out the life of their black identity without any racial labels or stereotypes. The video clips on the white video also gave me the impression that I have “gotten” the majority of these people, but the reality was that I don’t know where the majority of these people came from, maybe they are working in low-wage industries, or maybe they just have gotten more experience than I give because they have made their living selling books and writing reviews. The fact that I did find the majority of African American people in these videos does not negate their status or status as the majority. The only thing they said in this video was how great it looks: There are