Media Social Currency Index Points

Media Social Currency Index Points

([X]Encoders)([Y]Media) =[XY]Media Representation/[C] Decoder [A] Social Positionality [CD] Decoder Raced (and or) Gendered SES = ones individual social currency as it relates to the media text.

Here is a theory: The politics of media representation and social currency

-- the concept centers around education, media and race. My logic is that African American young boys view education not at the ticket out or the opportunity self liberation. That are a number of factors which contribute to this but what represents the paramount crux is how being intelligent is seen as being emasculating or being white. -- There is no power associated really with being formarlly educated-- the basic package of k-12 and quality secondary education. What is seen as powerful are the mantras "gangsterism." First you get the money-- then you get the power, then you get the respect. How is power personified or symbolized in the underclass communities. What gets one respect. Our culture (the American capitalistic culture that is) sees power as control. Control of money, control of other people, the control of self, the control of the materials. How does one achieve that power?

In many cases people are born into that structure however, if one is of the historically marginalized underclass, it's not meant to be unless they go through creative social capital mining. In some cases folk use their body as their ticket-- be it through athletics or entertainment-- which is ok however the odds are overwhealmingly not in one's favor. That said, others seek the underground economy as a means to an end.

That said, power and respect are media defined. Our society is media saturated and folks use media to a great extent -- so far as a means of informing one's self about the social world..

The media inundate the masses with a plethora of social messages which a non critical audience willingly accept--this plays into the hypodermeic needle theory. I want to extend that theory a bit further by saying as people look to the tube, be it traditional or virtual, that tube informs people's opinions, perceptions of realities et al. So if one is constantly surrounded by various messages saying X then the probality of that person buying into that message are extremely high. Hall counters this notion by suggesting that audience read texts on one of three ways, they accept it, they reject it or they negotiate it. The question I would raise to this notion is awareness. Does one have a choice in how they read the message? Further, does one have a choice as they encode the message? Now this is where the class dynamic comes into play. If one had a choice -- meaning if they were informed about the messages-- on the surface and below the surface would they choose to believe it? Its almost equivalent to knowing what is poison as to what is healthy. Who would knowingly drink battery acid? No one. So who would knowingly watch a program or consume a text that is toxic? (for that matter, how do you define a toxic text) No one. The problem is that the practice has continued, media toxicity, that audiences are desensitized to the linkage of the preformatative nature of media consumption. If you are within the dominant society this notion fits because most of the texts are encoded by the dominant society. So mathematically, positive plus positive equals positive. So messages produced by the dominant other which personify power are consumed by the dominant audience equate to a heightened sense self esteem. -- So if I see an image of a white man flying (self propelled) without strings, as a white boy, I begin to believe this and as a white adult male, the chances are I will create a some way to fly (self propelled). -- the reality is that there was a man who actually pulled this off. Black people watching the same message are more than likely not to accept this. This could possibly address the issue of why many older black people do not buy into the science of space flight. As for sports, people buy into to that because its more relative and obtainable-- it is their reality that they have been saturated into since the time before time. -- Again-- here is where the class aspect comes into it. If one has not had the opportunity for exposure to anything but an environment that is physically based, they encode it.

So in short, power is capital. The image of power represents social currency. Who controls that image of power is key.