Devin Stroink

Project Description:

The research will examine the stereotypical conceptions of poverty portrayed in the media and as an accepted part of popular culture. Persistent poverty is the systemic, structural forms of inequality and poverty that are not effectively depicted and frequently characterized by a 'shorthand' of stereotypes in society and the media. Employing a qualitative sample of key North American films, television, and music, this work will demonstrate the enduring power of media misrepresentations of the poor through critical discourse analysis and focus groups. North American society’s generalized lack of empathy for the poor, reinforced by the media is echoed in a lack of a stimulus for programs to eliminate persistent poverty. The lack of direct contact with the poor or experience of poverty by the majority of the population means that media frames and reinforces notions of poverty that are often based on a myths. The objectives of this project will be: to document depictions of North conceptions of the poor in the media and popular culture to determine stereotypes, lack of empathy, and other factors that act as a barrier to lasting change, to situate and define and differences in Canadian and American perceptions due the differences in the social safety net, and to conduct focus groups for self-reflective assessment of beliefs about poverty. This will involve reflection on the beliefs formed through reactions to media and media consumption.

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