Ethnicity (race)

Ethnicity in the u.k 

Main 

- Caucasian 

- Gypsy

- Asian or asian British: Indan 

- Asian or asian British: Pakistani 

- Asian or asian British: Bangladeshi 

- Asian or asian British: Chinese 

- Asian or asian British: other Asian 

Ethnicity in the U.S.A 

Main 

- Cauasian 

- Latino 

- Black 

- Mexican 

- Native American 

- Inuits 

THE FUNCTIONALIST Vs THE MARXIST VIEW

Broadly speaking, there are two key attitudes towards depictions of race in the media: 

1)    The functionalist view, argues that program makers ‘cater for what the public wants’ and simply reflects attitudes, tastes and opinions on ethnicity;

2)     The other (the Marxist view) is that those in control of media output shape how audiences view race.

The functionalist view, like the ‘reflectionist’ view, argues that the media are merely a window on the world, implying that the media are inert industries which simply mirror real life. It overlooks the social construction of images in the cultural field, and the fact that a medium, such as television, constructs a reality and world of its own (Malik, 1998).

The Marxist view relies on the assumption that the ruling elite deny space and access for competing ideologies and images. Their argument follows that the media merely reproduce the ‘dominant ideology’ as a means of enabling the ruling class to maintain dominant over less powerful groups in order to establish a common consensus in society. Thus certain images of Black people as deviant trouble-makers, for example, are perpetuated by the media in order to encourage the mass audience to view blacks in a certain way. This, in turn, ensures that Black people are categorized as such and reinforce a dominant ideology that suggests that Black people pose a threat to civilized status quo.

The FUNDAMENTAL difference between the functionalist and Marxist viewpoints is the DIFFERING opinion as to whether the media alter or merely reinforce behaviour and attitudes. Of course, there are many whose views on media portrayals of race rest somewhere between the two or that cannot be said to neatly ‘fit’ into either category. (Malik, 1998). 

Malik argues: “Many feel that Black and Asian audiences are still not sufficiently catered for and that insensitivity towards issues of race and ethnicity still exist. The reality of a lived multiculturalism is not represented on British Television and the media in general can by no means be seen as ethically neutral.