Chapter 18: Precarious Diversity – Representation and Demography
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Conceiving of social inequality as a salient object of research for media industry studies is a tricky business. As a research matter, approaching inequality is mired in if not now displaced by a cluster of terms like
diversity
, multiculturalism, difference, lifestyle
, and
niche
. Media’s role in the production of inequalities based on class, race, gender, and sexual identification is displaced onto questions of access and representation, multiculturalism and diversity, branding and audience appeal.
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18.1: Introduction
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Introduction to the goals of this chapter: identifying the conditions that created the discursive alliance between media representation and demography in the U.S, and exploring the limitations of this alliance in modern media.
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18.2: Problem Space 1 – Employment, Content, and Demography
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Examining the assumptions underlying the commonly held equivalence between increased diversity in media and demographic parity between races and genders. Historical origins of this equivalence.
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18.3: The Current Conjecture
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The current conjecture with respect to media and diversity, and how it differs from the historical status of networks, studios, and the state as targets of political protest for which the alliance of representation and demography forms redress.
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18.4: Problem Space 2 – Difference and Power
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The need for media studies to analyze race as a practice of knowledge/power, rather than only through the lens of representation.
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18.5: Diversity as Quotidian Production Practices
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Suggestions for an approach to race and media studies that analyze the organizational structures, creative processes, and social relations underlying the production of inequality in media.
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18.6: Conclusion – From Inventory to Attachment
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The importance of transitioning the focus of media studies on race from inventorying representation to analyzing the affective work of media in galvanizing and organizing the public on issues of race and inequality.
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18.7: Notes
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