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Jillian DiBlasi English 0701 Professor Gayle 13 Sept 2013 How Media Shapes American Society Media impacts the American way of life. There are multiple ways that the media portrays American society. American has been shaped and molded for as long as social media has been around. Media used to be associated with books, journals, newspapers, magazines, and so on. Currently, most media is presented mostly through technology. Media sources offered are television, the radio, and the ever-so-popular Internet, the newest form of social media. Social media is not just confined in America, it is exposed universally. Social capital may influence the way we interpret the message of the media around us. Social capital is the idea that according to our social backgrounds, people can connect to some sort of beneficial value. Social Capital may target certain groups of people negatively and positively depending on how the viewer wants to perceive the information given. The way people comprehend social media is the way that the American society is shaped. The world relies on this mass media for their everyday routines, such as watching the daily news, getting the weather forecast for the week, watching a food commercial, or simply

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listening to the radio. The definition of media is the means of communication that reach large numbers of people, (dictionary.com) and the media does just that. The media has a purpose, whether it is to inform and educate, or for a leisurely purpose. The news and weather channels are types of media that would be categorized in informational media, but media such as Facebook are strictly for leisure. American is dependent on social media, especially because of the fact that it is constantly in our possession. The media is used in a persons everyday life, so it is difficult to avoid. Americans thrive off of media because it comes so natural to them. America often ignores the fact that media even impacts their way of life. Little things such as sitting down at the dinner table, conversing about current news to other employees, or telling a close friend the juicy news on the recent feed, all refer back to the way were Americans lives are impacted. The media can affect America positively, but can also shape America in a negatively. America assumes that what they see and hear in the media is the correct information, so they will go ahead and make assumptions based off of what the media said says is true. The media can throw subliminal messages to their audience. Occasionally, their audience might not always pick up on it. Everyone reacts to media differently, but there is always a general population that the media tries to draw in. The person who produces the media does it on purpose - to create more publicity for themselves or for their company. Sociologist Gregory Mantsios, the author of Class In America, claims that the media presents the upper and lower

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classes to satisfy some real or imagined voyeuristic need of the ordinary person He begins to convey how nobody talks about class, and how it is just assumed. He believes that Americans mistakenly hold a set of beliefs that obscure the reality of class differences and their impact on peoples lives (Mantsios, 658). Basically Mantsios means that people are shaped by what they see and hear from mass media. Because the media relays this information to us, America as a whole is impacted. They believe that they should treat other Americans how they are shown through media causing American to react the way we do. Media exposes social capital in multiple ways whether it is age, gender, race, religion, etc. An example of race is shown in a KFC commercial. An Australian, white male is at a sport match with a bunch of rowdy African Americans surrounding him that are banging bongos, dancing, and having a good time. The guy sits there rubbing his eyes and looking very agitated by the people around him. He then asks, Need a tip in an awkward situation? He pulls out a bucket of KFC chicken, and every one of the African American decent grabs the chicken from him as he states too easy (Racist KFC Ad in Australia). This commercial does not have a positive outlook on America, but yet that is what the media demonstrations. So when everyone sees this being aired on television, they think that it is correct and believe that every single black person loves fried chicken. It is an extremely common stereotype that deals with a specific type of social capital: race.

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Another example that permits social capital is a rape case that took place in August of 2013. In Stuebenville, West Virginia, a town well-known for football, a teenage girl was raped by two star football players named Malik Richmond and Trent Mays. Because these two were on the high school football team, they were basically excused from the crime that was committed, or at least until it was brought to attention by a blogger. She saw the crime scene unleashed on a famous media site: Twitter. Eventually, the two football players were excused and brought to court where they later received attention by numerous news stations. CNN News decided to give the crime a plot twist. CNN News gave their audience the message that they felt pity for the star football players who had promising futures, and wanted their viewers to have some kind of sympathy for them. They showed Malik crying and apologizing to the girls father. CNN also presented the fact that his father had problems with alcohol and drug consumption, forcing the viewers to believe that it was Maliks fathers fault. In general, this case skewed the reporting in more than one way, shaping America into thinking that crimes are okay as long as football players commit them. This rape case has social capital written all over it. It all came down to the status and value of the football players and not the actual victim. The way the media revealed this case impacts Americas overall understandings (Levy 1). The way Americans have been shaped is mainly because of the popularity of media. Social capital plays a major role when it comes to mass media. And as long as technology advances and the media advances, people receive insight of the American way. In todays

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world, media can be pulled up in an instant with the way technology works. Simple forms of mass media tell their own stories, which engross and sway the way ones mind thinks. It is frightening how America grasps messages and understandings, and then makes assumptions about the way of life all based on the media.

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Works Cited
Levy, Ariel. "Trial By Twitter." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_levy>. "Media." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/media>. Racist KFC Ad in Australia. N.d. YouTube. YouTube, 04 Jan. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaIhf41ctkM>.