4.2.7.5 Media representations of social groups Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. What is meant by a 'media stereotype' of a social group?

   • A personal opinion expressed only by a single presenter, which the station is not responsible for and does not endorse
   • A simplified and often fixed image of a group that media repeat, reducing its members to a few characteristics
   • A precise statistical description of the population size, age structure and income of a group based on census data
   • A legal category used by broadcasters to decide which programmes must include subtitles or sign language interpretation

2. Which concept, associated with Laura Mulvey, describes films that present women as objects for the pleasure of a male viewer?

   • The panopticon: an architectural model of constant visibility that produces self-discipline in those who are watched by others
   • The double consciousness: a sense of being simultaneously an insider and outsider in a dominant culture and its institutions
   • The looking-glass self: a sense of identity formed through imagining how other people see and judge one's own appearance
   • The male gaze: the camera and narrative position the viewer, usually male, to look at women as objects of erotic pleasure

3. Which finding would best support the claim that the media underrepresent older people?

   • Older people are shown only in advertisements for financial products, which accurately reflects their share of total consumer spending
   • Older people appear most often as active and independent professionals, with stories centred on their careers and leisure
   • Older people appear in news and drama in exact proportion to their share of the population, with varied roles and characteristics
   • Older people appear far less often than their share of the population, and when they do appear they are often shown as frail or dependent

4. A study finds that ethnic minority characters in a television drama are most often shown in crime or unemployment storylines. Which sociological concern does this most directly raise?

   • Association of an ethnic group with crime is an accurate statistical reflection of offending rates and so presents no concern
   • Association of an ethnic group with unemployment shows that the broadcaster has complied with equal opportunities legislation
   • Association of an ethnic group with negative roles has no effect on audiences, who recognise drama as fiction and ignore its themes
   • Repeated association of an ethnic group with negative roles can reinforce stereotypes and shape how audiences view that group

5. Which of these best describes the 'symbolic annihilation' of a group in the media?

   • The group is rarely or never shown, which can suggest that its members are unimportant or do not belong in society
   • The group is shown only in documentaries about history, so that its members appear only in past rather than present contexts
   • The group is shown so frequently that audiences become bored with its presence and begin to switch channels to other programmes
   • The group is shown in exactly equal proportion to every other group, which removes all distinctive features from its portrayal

6. Which representation is most often linked to class stereotyping in British television?

   • Middle-class characters portrayed as criminals and benefit claimants who appear in most police and court drama series
   • Working-class characters portrayed as successful managers and professionals who take a leading role in every drama storyline
   • Upper-class characters portrayed as ordinary workers who face the same challenges as most people in the wider population
   • Working-class characters portrayed as comic, feckless or criminal, with little focus on their work, skills or family lives

7. How do media representations of disabled people often differ from disability as experienced by disabled people themselves?

   • Disabled people are represented chiefly as sports champions, which accurately reflects the range of their everyday activities
   • Disabled people are represented exclusively by actors without disabilities, which has no effect on how audiences view disability
   • Disabled people are often represented as tragic, heroic or dependent, rather than as ordinary people with varied social lives
   • Disabled people are represented in proportion to their share of the population, with equally varied roles and storylines in drama

8. Which concept describes the way women are depicted in advertising as passive, decorative or defined by appearance?

   • Objectification: women are presented as bodies or appearances rather than as active individuals with complex identities
   • Empowerment: women are presented as leaders of their communities who make decisions that affect the wider social group
   • Diversification: women are presented in a wide range of ages, body types, occupations and cultural backgrounds equally
   • Normalisation: women are presented as ordinary workers in technical roles, with no distinctive features of appearance

9. A content analysis finds that LGBT characters in a sample of television programmes appear mainly as minor or comic figures. What conclusion is best supported?

   • The representations confirm that LGBT people are always portrayed negatively, and no positive representation exists in any medium
   • The representations prove that audiences have no interest in LGBT characters, so producers should avoid including them entirely
   • The representations show that LGBT people are fully integrated into mainstream drama, with the same roles as heterosexual characters
   • The representations are limited and may reinforce marginalisation, though a single sample cannot show how audiences respond

10. Which statement best describes how ethnicity is represented in news coverage of crime, according to research in this area?

    • Ethnic minority suspects are rarely mentioned in news, since editors avoid referring to ethnicity in any crime report at all
    • Ethnic minority suspects are shown in exact proportion to recorded offending figures, so coverage is always statistically accurate
    • Ethnic minority suspects are shown only as victims of crime, which has created no concern among media researchers or regulators
    • Ethnic minority suspects may be shown more often than their share of the population, which can shape public perceptions of crime

11. What is the 'cultivation theory' associated with George Gerbner?

    • The view that television content is controlled by viewers, who decide which programmes to watch and how to interpret them
    • The view that heavy television viewing gradually shapes viewers' beliefs about social reality, such as how dangerous the world is
    • The view that television has no long-term effect on beliefs, because viewers quickly forget the content they have watched
    • The view that television immediately causes viewers to imitate every violent act they see, through direct and instant copying

12. A student argues that media representation of a group is unimportant because 'people know it is fiction'. Which sociological response is most appropriate?

    • Representations are important only for the group being shown, and have no implications for how other social groups are regarded
    • Representations can shape attitudes over time even when audiences recognise fiction, so their cumulative effects remain a valid concern
    • Representations are important only in news content, because fiction is always entirely separate from social attitudes and beliefs
    • Representations are unimportant because the mass media have no effect on attitudes, as shown by most studies of audience behaviour

13. Which feature of the 'Bechdel test' is used to assess the representation of women in films?

    • Whether a film's box-office takings exceed a set figure in the first weekend after release in the UK and United States
    • Whether a film has at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man
    • Whether a film has a female director, a female lead actor and a female composer working on its score at the same time
    • Whether a film has been reviewed positively by at least three national newspapers with female critics on their staff

14. Which sociological approach would be most suitable for studying how class is represented in a newspaper over a decade?

    • Structured interviews with the newspaper's owners about their personal political beliefs and family background only
    • Content analysis of the newspaper's stories, coded for how class groups are portrayed and how often they appear
    • A laboratory experiment in which participants are shown one story and asked how they would react to it
    • Participant observation of a single news desk for one week, recording the informal conversations of the journalists

15. Evaluate the view that media representations simply mirror the social world. Which point best challenges this view?

    • Representations mirror the social world accurately because producers aim to show all groups in proportion to their population share
    • Representations mirror the social world closely because they are regulated by independent bodies that check each portrayal
    • Representations mirror the social world because audiences demand accurate portrayals and reject any programme that distorts reality
    • Representations are constructed through choices about who appears, how they are shown and what meanings are attached to them

16. Which term describes the stigmatising use of an ethnic group's name or characteristics in a media context to imply criminality or deviance?

    • Multiculturalism, in which public institutions recognise and support the cultural diversity of groups in a society
    • Assimilation, in which minority groups gradually adopt the dominant culture and lose their distinctive language and customs
    • Racialised framing, in which an ethnic group is linked with crime or threat, sometimes without evidence in the story itself
    • Ethnic pluralism, in which several groups coexist within a society while retaining their own institutions and cultural practices

17. A broadcaster is criticised for a drama in which almost all the central characters are men of the same ethnic background. Which concept does this criticism most directly concern?

    • Underrepresentation: some groups are rarely shown as central characters, which limits the range of identities visible in media
    • Overrepresentation: some groups appear so frequently that they dominate the screen, leaving little space for other people in society
    • Objectivity: the drama presents events in a neutral way, with no attempt to influence audience views about any social group
    • Censorship: the broadcaster has removed characters from other backgrounds, in response to pressure from regulators and critics

18. Which concept refers to the process by which audiences learn and internalise social norms through repeated media images?

    • Hegemony: the ruling class's leadership through consent, which makes subordinate groups accept their own position as natural
    • Social learning and cultivation: repeated images can shape expectations about how people in different groups behave
    • Secularisation: the decline of religious authority, which reduces the influence of religious norms on everyday behaviour
    • Anomie: the breakdown of social norms in periods of rapid social change, leaving individuals without clear guidance on behaviour

19. What does a 'positive representation' in media research usually refer to?

    • A portrayal that always shows members of a group as happy, successful and wealthy, with no problems or challenges in life
    • A portrayal that shows members of a group as varied, competent and complex, rather than limited to stereotyped roles
    • A portrayal that shows a group only in comedy programmes, since humour is the most appealing type of representation
    • A portrayal that presents a group in a flattering way through lighting and camera angles, without regard to the storyline

20. What is 'tokenism' in the representation of social groups?

    • Including one or two members of a minority group to suggest diversity, without giving them developed or substantial roles
    • Giving minority groups a fixed share of every advertising budget, which is set by regulators to guarantee their visibility
    • Requiring broadcasters to publish annual statistics on the proportion of staff from each ethnic group in their workforce
    • Dubbing foreign-language programmes into English so that domestic audiences can follow the plot without reading subtitles

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