RACIST IDEOLOGIES AND THE MEDIA (STUART HALL)

The basic definition of Racism

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, racism has two meanings:

1.       Racism is ‘the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others’.

2.       Racism is ‘discrimination or prejudice based on race’.

Types of Racism

Internalized Racism – When a minority believes that the others are superior

Horizontal Racism – Minority groups adopt racist attitudes towards other minority groups

Reverse Racism – Anti-white discrimination minorities become more prominent in society.

Racism may be direct or indirect; individual or institutional

Mass Media and Racism

Media's main sphere of operation is the production and transformation of ideologies.
ideologies are collective processes and practice. These processes work unconsciously. e.g. boys - gifted toys of violence, girls - gifted dolls. Therefore, ideologies tend to get 'naturalized'.
Racism is one of the most 'naturalized' of existing ideologies.

In Modern societies, different media are especially important sites for production, reproduction and transformation of ideologies. What media 'produce' is representation of the social world, images, descriptions, explanations and frames for understanding how the world is and why it works as it is said and shown to work.

Thus, the media construct for us a definition of what 'race' is, what meaning the imagery of race carries and what the 'problem of race' is understood to be. (Stuart Hall)

The media are not only a powerful source of ideas about race, they are also one place where these ideas are articulated, worked on, transformed and elaborated.

In other words, the media classifies the world in terms of categories of race, setting people apart based on their appearance and preconceived notions that have been socially constructed overtime. The media articulates, works on, transforms and elaborates on these ideas of race and consequently shape viewers thoughts about race and perpetuates racism in today's so called 'multi-cultural' world.

There are two forms of racism perpetuated by Media today - Overt racism and Inferential racism.

Overt Racism is explained as the 'coverage granted to openly racist arguments, positions or spokespersons'.

Inferential Racism is the 'apparently naturalized representations of events and situations relating to race, whether 'factual' or 'fictional' which have racist premises and proportions inscribed in them as a set of unquestioned assumptions'.

According to Hall, inferential racism is more widespread and in many ways, more insidious, because it is largely invisible.



Ref: Hall Stuart, 'Racist Ideologies and the Media', Media Studies: A Reader, Eds. P. Marris & S. Thornham, 2nd Edition, New York: New York University Press, 2000. Ch.22, p.271-282