Social Justice and the Media

Abstract

While every individual person is different and there are many people of mixed ethnicities, this chapter deals with both quantity and quality of representation for each of a number of major groups that have been marginalized in the United States. When evaluating the impact of either stereotypical depictions of minorities or simply the invisibility of minorities, consider cultivation theory where authors learned that what is depicted on television and through other media is often the world view of “the way things are” that is accepted by viewers. Early television research showed that exposure to positive portrayals of various ethnic and racial groups increased children’s acceptance of those other groups. Early television in the United States in the 1950s was almost exclusively the portrayal of White people.