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The Fear Factor

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY. The Fear Factor. SOCI0067: Crime and the Media Lecture 5 Dr. L. Cho, PhD E-mail: Lifcho@gmail.com. Review of Earlier Lectures. Distinction. Causality. Correlation. Y comes after X and is possibly connected with it

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The Fear Factor

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  1. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY The Fear Factor SOCI0067: Crime and the Media Lecture 5 Dr. L. Cho, PhD E-mail: Lifcho@gmail.com

  2. Review of Earlier Lectures

  3. Distinction Causality Correlation Y comes after X and is possibly connected with it Viewing violence on TV can and probably does lead to violent behaviour • X causes Y • Exposure to TV violence actually causes violent behaviour Trouble Proving Strong Relationship

  4. Example from previous lecture:Children and Media Violence • 17 year study published in Science (March 29, 2002:2) • 707 children from adolescence to early adulthood • Young teenagers who watch more than an hour of TV each day are nearly 4 times as likely to commit aggressive acts in later years than those who watch less than an hour

  5. Youth and Media Violence (Note: Not Crime) 3 or more hours of TV 1 hour or less of TV 8.9% of males and 2.3% of females acted aggressively • Youths who watch 3 or more hours of TV at age 14 • Act in an aggressive manner at 16 or 20 years of age • 45.2% of males and 12.7% of females acted aggressively

  6. Many Studies, Many Conclusions Correlation No Correlation Jonathan Freeman, Univ of Toronto “The scientific evidence simply does not show that watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitized them to it.” • Professor L. Rowell Huesmann, Univ of Michigan • says 50 years of evidence show “that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults later.”

  7. Prior to 1970’s Most research focused on: • Connecting media to viewer aggression • Note that research is usually into aggression and violence, not into crime • Aggression isn’t necessarily criminal • Crime isn’t normally violent

  8. George Gerbner and associates Connecting media to viewer anxieties (i.e. viewers as potential victims as oppose to potential offender)

  9. What role do the popular media play in shaping people’s fears and anxieties about Crime?

  10. Fear of Crime Survey Walking in your area alone after dark is: • Very safe • Fairly safe • A bit unsafe • Very unsafe • Don’t know

  11. United Nations International Crime Victim Survey: Crime Victimization in Hong Kong http://www.hku.hk/socsc/news/press/2006/crime/Press%20Release_20061006.pdf

  12. What Kind of Crimes Do You Fear Most? • Personal Crime • Property Crime • Consumer Fraud

  13. United Nations International Crime Victim Survey: Crime Victimization in Hong Kong http://www.hku.hk/socsc/news/press/2006/crime/Press%20Release_20061006.pdf

  14. High Levels of Consumer Fraud

  15. Do You Fear Being a Victim of Crime By: • Juveniles Ages (ages 10-15) • Young People (ages 16-20) • Mainland Illegal Immigrants • Mainland Visitors

  16. Persons Arrested for Crime Source: http://www.police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/statistics/compare03.htm

  17. What Percentage of Police Arrests are Mainland Visitors? Illegal Immigrants

  18. % of Police Arrests are Mainland Visitor • 0-5% • 5-10% • 10-15% • 15-20% • 25% or more

  19. % of Police Arrests are Illegal Immigrants • 0-5% • 5-10% • 10-15% • 15-20% • 25% or more

  20. Police Arrests

  21. Name Calling • Name 7 Chinese phrases that is associated “illegal immigrants” in HK

  22. SCMP 1970’s • Freedom-swimmers • Refugee tide, flood of refugees • Human cargo • Intolerable strain • “Break the rice bowls” of many HK workers • Immigration fight to keep HK ‘clean’ • Invisible illegal immigrant puzzle • Soaring crime rates • Vital to take firm action against illegal immigration • Illegals planned career in vice • Pressure on HK prison service

  23. SCMP February 2, 1981 • Exhausted, cold, hungry • Depressed and weary • Beggar • Stiff penalties facing aider and abettors of illegal immigrants • Deportees

  24. SCMP Dec 13, 1992 • Nightmare on HK door step • Human cargo • Ill problem • A very serious problem

  25. SCMP June 1, 2004 • Mainland prostitutes • Sex workers • Disgusted • Grinding poverty in China • Isolated • Insecure • Pressure

  26. Where do our Fear of Crime come from? • Personal experience • Friends and family victims of crime • Politicians • Perception/confidence of Police • Victimization • Environment/social Disorder • Subcultural diversity • Social integration • Mass media

  27. Bowling for Columbine • Documentary • Filmmaker Michael Moore

  28. Where is Columbine? • Columbine High School • Located in Littleton, Colorado • A suburb of Denver • Population 40,340 (2000 census)

  29. Bowling for Columbine • April 20, 1999 • Two high school seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold • 15 minute shooting spree killed 13 people and wounded 21 others • They were two weeks away from graduation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ13CZ4Hekg&feature=related

  30. Bowling for Columbine • Examines the causes of the shooting and the American ethos that lead to it. • Moore suggests that the shootings are part of a larger American culture of fear that prompts us to act with violence • He interviews: • Survivors of the Columbine shooting • Members of the Michigan Militia • Famous and controversial rock star Marilyn Manson • Dick Clark • Officials at K-mart (which sold Harris and Klebold the bullets) • Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association

  31. Issues Address in Bowling for Columbine • Guns • Poverty • Unemployment • Lack of social safety net • Violent history • Racism • Violent movies • Video games • Rock and Roll • News media • Reality TV • Politicians • Corporations

  32. News Media Scaring the American People • Children carrying guns, knives, nail clippers • Young people wearing baggy clothes • Crime rate going down, crime reporting going up • Infotainment reality shows like COP - blurring of news media and entertainment

  33. Crime features prominently in the media Often it feels like more because it is more graphic/more prominent News value often judged by rarity Overwhelmingly on serious violent crimes against individual Proportion of different crimes represented is generally opposite or inverse of official stats Main Patterns of Crime News

  34. News Making Process • Unusualness: Man Bits Dog • Severity of Event • Emotional element • High Status or Celebrity • Timliness: how well it fits into news cycle • Consonance: ties in with prior news themes and established themes

  35. Routinization • News agencies have to plan, be aware of timing, distribute resources • Balancing against unpredictable environment • Reporter’s interest • Quality of information • Willingness of the source

  36. Individual victims Their sufferings Focus on the criminal incident rather than analysis of crime patterns or possible causes of criminal incidents Motivating Force of Crime Stories

  37. Few details or background material on social context Rarely put crime into larger perspective Few analytical comprehension of crime Lack of sustained coverage Example: Virginia Tech Coverage – only 10 homicides annually on college campus vs 1,000 suicides Focus on Criminal Incidents

  38. Virginia Tech Shooting • April 16, 2007 • Shooter Seung-Hui Cho took 33 lives, including his own • Most heavily covered single story of the year • 51% of total news coverage during week of April 15-20 • One week after, from April 22-27, the story nosedived down to 7%. • By April 29-May 4, the story had virtually disappeared from the news, generating less than 1% of the total coverage. • It never again reached more than 1% of the newshole in any week in the second quarter.

  39. Virginia Tech Students Write: “Media Stay Away” • Exhausted by both the trauma and the press attention • Some member of the student body posted this sign • “VT stay strong. Media stay away.” Source: http://www.journalism.org/node/7072

  40. Assessment of U.S. News Media Crime Coverage (2007) Over Covered Under-covered ID theft White collar crime Juvenile crime and punishment Expanding prsion populations Non-white crime victims • Tales of missing white women • Supposed increase of domestic violence around holiday periods • Sex offenders • Drugs, prostitution roundup, senior citizen crime victims Source: http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/cmcj/pdfs/CJJ_crimecoverage_2007.pdf

  41. Gap Between Media Representation and Reality (Official Crime Stats) Consequences and Problems

  42. Exposure to television, over time, subtly "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality Not direct effect but cumulative impact “Cultivate” Misleading View of the World (Gerbner, et al)

  43. Cultivation Analysis • Looked at how people responded to questions based on content of programmes • How much TV they watched

  44. Media found to exaggerate probability and severity of danger This is said to “cultivate” image of world that is scary and mean Leading to unnecessary anxiety about risk of violent crime Cultivation Theory

  45. Content analysis of US prime time TV violence compared to real world crime (official stats) Media images found to exaggerate the probability and severity of danger Cultivation Analysis (Gerbner)

  46. TV programmes convey certain messages by counting characteristics of crime on TV Example: Young people disproportionately represented as violent criminals on TV Young people are criminals Message: we should fear them Message System Analysis

  47. Greater difference between TV portrayal and real life Greater the cultivation potential of TV More TV watching means more like to absorb TV’s symbolic messages Least TV watching, least influenced Cultivation Theory

  48. Heavy (4+hrs) and light viewers (<2 hrs) differ in how much they accept TV’s message Heavy viewing is associated with fear of victimization Cultivation Differential (process of social learning)

  49. Distrust of other Difficult to form social relations Disproportionate reaction to actual risk (e.g. not venturing out at night, hiking in parks) Fear of Victimization & Excessive Anxiety

  50. Effects of Fear of Crime • Ruins the sense of community • Creates “no-go” areas. • Rich people protecting themselves or moving from the area • Lead to crime being displaced onto those already suffering. • Distrust of the criminal justice system, creating sense of helplessness • Creation of vigilante groups or even lynch mobs. • Change habits due to fear. Stay at home more. Avoid “dangerous” activities: like taking public transport, walking down a certain road, being near certain “types of people” etc.

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