How Might Issues of Taste and Class be Evident in Television Consumption Practices?
How might issues of taste and class be evident in television consumption practices?
Choose 1-2 examples of specific genres or programmes to discuss in your essay.
The television, one of the greatest and important inventions of the 20th century, transformed the way people in society consume news and other entertainment motion pictures. Researchers, scholars and media analysts have in the past engaged in numerous debates on whether the television as a commodity is worth consuming (Miller 13). Whereas some of the arguments from these researchers, scholars and media analysis promote the fact that the television as a mass medium is an important invention, other arguments have dismissed it with arguments that the television is simply a toaster-like appliance with pictures (Miller 13). Whereas this is the case, there is a need to observe that the television is one of the inventions that has transformed different consumption elements in society. This essay thesis explores how the issues of taste and class can be evident in television consumption practices.
To begin with, different people have different cultural and personal preferences and choice, which influence their preferences and choice when consuming the media and in this case television. In his analysis of tastes, Bourdieu argues that tastes are as a result of social conditioning that a person is exposed to in life (Stringfellow, MacLaren, Maclean and O’Gorman 80). Speaking from this point of view, there is a need to observe that different people in society have different consumption patterns of the television. An analysis of different viewers indicates that certain viewers in society are likely to prefer certain television programs or genres over others. For instance, the television consumption tastes as far as film and movies are concerned between men and women vary significantly, with men likely to watch action genre while women have a high likelihood of watching romance genre. Research and study findings reveal that men in society, due to social conditioning that emphasise on manly strength have a likelihood of watching action movies as a way to satisfy their tastes (Holt and Thompson 425). In this case, most societies condition their male children to exhibit strength and the ability to defend as key male characteristic. Therefore, when it comes to mass media consumption, men are likely to choose television programming that are affiliated with their character and nature as individuals in society. On the other hand, most societies teach women to be gentle, loving and caring. As a result of this, most women are likely to avoid action movies since this genre of movies portray features that are contrary to their nature. With this in mind, one can observe that taste is evident in television consumption practices mainly because of the societal differences that exist between people. This is affirmed in past research and study findings that reveal that “â€tastes (i.e., manifested preferences) are the practical affirmation of an inevitable difference†(Bourdieu 56). This implies that due to the gender differences that exist because of the socialisation process in most societies, which establishes a foundation for differences between men and women in society, there is likely to emerge differences in preferences as far as television consumption is concerned.
One of the issues that are evident as far as taste and television consumption is concerned is the...