Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class

[soyeluru]

i cant undesrtand how a country with so many working class haven't got any big socialist or comunist party, so sad

[niriop]

Hope is an invention of the ruling classes.

[MrOpinion8ted]

9 people who watched this create the hidden curriculum..

[adrianmarie]

I have never read a slew of hate speech so vile on this website before. Most of you are sadly misguided about what liberals and conservatives actually believe. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

[xPinkStrifex]

@nVei06 You are a little bit crazy and closed minded. I can't believe people can hate such a large ground of people for no reason at all. I bet YOU don't work and lie around all day. And did you know making threats on the internet to "...they're about to be killed. i myself will kill them." is illegal? Keep talking and you WILL have the feds knocking on your door because threatening anyone's life is illegal.

Sadly people like you will live their whole lives with such hatred....that's terrible

[reflectionofthesoul]

If you are that influenced by television that what you watch becomes who you are I pity you. People need to start looking at the left and right and understanding both extreames are silly. If you want to be sucessful in life work hard and don't quit. Don't post youtube videos about how poorly the media is treating you. Also most of the working class doesn't give a shit what the TV says, they're too busy working hard for their families.

[UTAOUB]

YAY BAMBI HAGGINS! (2:49) Looking at her, she doesn't SEEM upper-middl class...but she teacher at a university! I hav a friend who livs N a trailer park -- she's a registered nurse, (& sci-fi fan!) COARSE PEOPL CAN B FOUND EVRYWHER! John Amos was t only sensible character N "Good Times"...but they killed him off! Note: Abraham Lincoln was not born rich! 'ALL PEOPL R CREATED EQUAL" -- arent' they? At least with = chances????

[ma23gh]

the problem is the Democrats and the Republicans are owned by the same Ruling Class. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!

[nVei06]

@ma23gh it's true, the democrats are all evil. the entire liberal people shoul dbe killed. but the repiblicans are being controled by the same people. The liberal platform IS ENDORSED BY THE PEOPLE WHOM ELECT THE DEMOCRATS. the republican platform IS NOT ENDORSED BY THE REPUBLICANS THAT THE PEOPLE PEOPLE ELECT.

[greenhell666]

bourgeois media in action

[thomasucc]

Most of society is working class by the simple fact that you have to work to pay bills

[nVei06]

@thomasucc Not exactly. the non working class is huge and they're all evil. They never work ever. they just have hobbies that they get paid exorbitant salaries to do. The democrats make sure skills and ability and production never effect social class. this is why the poor stay poor. otherwise the working class would get ahead. DEMOCRATS make sure they don't only get poorer.

[sonatadude]

Since Obama became puppet, the labor statistics have sure changed...for the worse; white collar or blue collar. Kill your television, it's a tool for the new world order.

[MarmaladeINFP]

That was a walk down memory lane. Is it a bad thing that I remember the stages of my life according to what I watched on tv?

[urbanorganic]

I'm so happy to have found this. I teach a course in Popular Culture and have used Richard Butsch's article "A Half Century of Class and Gender" in a lecture on social class and television -- and this video will make a great addition to the course. Props!

[zachbrooks]

Great video. I think the negative responses say how powerful it is that they instinctively react negatively without thinking about how they or others they know may be framed in a negative light.

[iglooworkshop]

Most important video on YouTube.

[SpectacleofDebord]

What do you mean Beavis and Butthead's class was never revealed? Did you actually watch the show or do you have no clue as to how to recognize general themes and class signifiers? Even at the most simplistic level, what kind of neighborhood did they live in? What did the inside of their house look like? The coach they sat on? Maybe the fact that a number of episodes revolved around their lack of $ to do cdertain activites (concerts, food, etc)?

[666pandemic]

You're right, but all you really need to see is their T.V to realize they're parents are working class citizens.

[Knoss]

Married with Children is about an entropnenur who lives in a big house; they can often not afford their high expectations but are able to live a comfortable life. Beavis and Butthead is about two teens who's social class is never revealed (the old couch and tv prove nothing as they may be in a basement, or bedroom).

"Gov't rules can't be broken." That seems to suggest it is the Obama's of the world who are causing trouble.

[splintercell99]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows that the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

Thats how it goes

Everybody knows

Leonard Cohen

[WhitneyGetz]

Fascism:

1often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

[dglekjofg]

Very interesting indeed.

[DirectQuestion]

Zionists did 9/11. Zionists are destroying you socially and physically.

[albfy2k]

way to blame Jews. that's original.

[DirectQuestion]

Zionists are not Jews they are Atheists.

[CyberPickle31337]

@DirectQuestion no they arent, read a book or take a class on the subject. dont talk about it if you dont know

[DirectQuestion]

@CyberPickle31337 I have read quite a few books that call the Jews Satan worshipers that is why they killed Jesus... I don't see any evidence of that stuff. But I do see alot of evidence suggesting them to be an atheist crime network.

[kingkongpingpongdong]

I LOVE (literally) ED! ...wish he'd tell me bed time stories!!

[ElBadjah]

Of course, the irony is lost here--that at $275, the full DVD of this documentary is out of the financial reach of the very subject that it analyzes: blue collar Americans...

Way to go, folks!

[pwnageprata]

2:54 they seem to have interviewed a large hammerhead shark for this documentary.

[diffidatio]

pwnageprata, it seems that youtube still allows complete idiots to post on their vids.

[eretromicin]

hydrogen packs? whaa? are you a nut case? do you know that government has to subsidize that million of solutions? Mills was a socialistic dumb ass! in capitalism, we shit on little guy(iRobot), and the only way to do that is by going to school. why should i be subsidizing this uneducated scum when i get out of my university? which by the way i pay with the money i make at my low paying job.. 25 cents above the minimum wage. i was born in socialism, instead of reading about it, live in it..idiots

[WhitneyGetz]

"in capitalism, we shit on little guy(iRobot), and the only way to do that is by going to school. why should i be subsidizing this uneducated scum when i get out of my university? which by the way i pay with the money i make at my low paying job.. 25 cents above the minimum wage. i was born in socialism, instead of reading about it, live in it..idiots"

I was born into the ghetto (the lower ninth ward), instead of reading about it, live in it, idiot.

[eretromicin]

so just because someone is born in a situation worse than another guy/girl he/she has to be handed money by the ones who are better of?.. (who in many cases are people who emerge from the working class) or try to bring the society up to the same level? i don't even see where you're going with that comment... you, more than most, should see the bad side of socialism....

[WhitneyGetz]

All collectivism leaves me uneasy, including fascism. Because this is not capitalism or even a democracy. We have a lack of general fairness at the lower socioeconomic levels. Beginning with the educational facilities which are traditionally neglected and worthless in the "real world". They, in effect, gear our children towards a life of poverty and exploitation. It's very sad. Poverty is the result of a government that is not functioning properly and historically signifies the end of an empire.

[eretromicin]

I absolutely agree with you on the fact that there is a lack of fairness at lower socioeconomic levels, but personal responsibility is a great factor here. If a person wants to become someone and they truly pursue that - out of all, America is the place to do that. sadly human nature is not always to work hard, and while socialism is at its core a truly beautiful system - people will abuse it. Maybe not all can become lawyers, but anyone can be more than a HS graduate...personal responsibility

[WhitneyGetz]

You are wrong. And, there shouldn't be a few "lucky ones", that's not how it's supposed to work. Fairness is not socialism. There are free societies and classist societies and never the twain shall meet. You have no idea what the atmosphere of New Orleans is...compassion.

[WhitneyGetz]

Anyway, it's not your money we're after no matter how they've convinced you of it. You can not fathom the type of greed we are dealing with here.

[WhitneyGetz]

You don't care about the tiny child who will never be given the chance to learn, born into it. Like some are born to never work or know the worth of money and others starve tonight in America.

[WhitneyGetz]

I've been in the unfortunate position to learn too early the things that you might never know if you continue to turn a blind eye.

[kozak123456789101112]

Lucky? luck is what stupid people need... i moved five years ago from a third world country speaking no English, today i'm a year away from my BS in biochemistry and molecular biology. don't tell me about fairness here. i know what going to a shitty school is like as well as living in a craphole of California where people shoot people every week... and i've seen far to many people who have exceeded everyone's expectations simply because they tried and didn't want to fallow stupid masses..

[WhitneyGetz]

The worst part of California is more luxurious thatn the best parts of Louisiana.

[jackriter]

Anarcho Syndicalism for a better tommorow!

[narfer121]

rain water, grow gardens,use the saved water to water it. Turn your lights off when not needed, "hyper mile" your cars, proper air pressure, make a Hydrogen kit for your car.

There are millions of things you can do to combat the cost of money....

[subach]

I don't need TV to know that people who work as janitors and burger flippers are morons. These are the idiots I had to deal with when I was kid going to school. They deserve the lives they earned.

[g8eo3]

Read a sociology book. Start with the "Sociological Imagination" by C. Wright Mills.

[subach]

Ha, no thanks, I'll stick with hard science, like physics, besides sociology is next to useless to an individualist.

[rabrandom]

I agree with you, dude! Looks like the CULT have given someone a job to go around and defacing anyone on the internet who bad-mouths their FAKE religion!

[damienroman]

Wow. Sounds So true. But I don't watch tv...and I get payed too much.

[mistaspot1]

I find it so damn sad and confusing that people could actively wage war on the poor.

[denstone111]

The working class: 99% of people who are in prison are working class, used in war as Cannon Fodder, fight over the crumbs of capitalism and only hurt each other, no wonder they turn to drugs and drink, what hope have they got! And the ones who do make it, it's like winning the lottery! Kill the phoney Middle Class. Class War!

[PimpDaddy000007]

We need a Lenin.

[NickInjecton]

Dumb ass! Leninism is collectivism by the government. How is that any different then the collectivism by corporations??? Commies are unbelievably stupid. Anarcho-syndicalism is the only way to remedy the tyranny of corporate and government oligarchy.

[PimpDaddy000007]

What's the difference between Communism and Corporatism and Capitalism? In Communism, the working class governs themselves. In Capitalism/Corporatism, people who have no idea what the working class is going through run the government for their own benefits.

[blazak]

START taxing the rich!

[mistaspot1]

Make it happen.

[efex2007]

they are right, beavis' mother belongs to the working class. according to butt-head, she works in the sex trade business.

[efex2007]

tv portrays the flaws of the working class, as much as it does with the upper classes, such as the simpsons' mr. burns, paris hilton, "desperate housewives", "dallas", etc.

moreover, there are many tv programs where minorities are not stigmatized, for example, "my wife and kids", "the fresh prince of bel-air", that nice plump black chick from disney channel, etc.

but for the one who wants to watch an idealized working class, he/she should see the old era communist videos.

[meansofproduction]

something is wrong with the video.. wont play....

[ngamer92]

Barbara is honestly basing all of her statements off of her faulty research. If you have ever watched any other of her speeches you would know how faulty her argument is. She suggests that people get jobs only based off of personality but then why is my computer outdated and i only bought it two months ago. Did the engineers get stupider?

[blackberryjuice1]

what middle class? we're all working class now.

[IntelligentHoodlum]

I can assure you, we're hardly all blue collar workers.

[Bassmaster86]

what are you talking about...the wotking class has been shrinking bewcause of globalization

[blackberryjuice1]

you mean the poverty class is growing? the poverty class IS the working class.

[Bassmaster86]

I consider it to be the "working poor" rather than the "working class" which has more of a modern connotation...but inasmuch as your definition points to this working poor you are absolutley correct.

[onecoldfox]

Goddamit, learn to spell Mr. Bassmaster86

[betomas]

in response to mgekelly and westphalianprinz:

Democrats HAVE taken themselves out of the debate because they are more moderate (and even right-wing) than ever. The battle truly is between true leftists and progressives and the Republican right.

[sansmerci2]

I agree, Bill Clinton, for example, embraced with a vengeance the right-wing neoliberal economic project started by Reagan and Bush I. He ratified NAFTA, a transnational rights treaty, and he deregulated the media, giving away 72-billion of the public spectrum for free, and ensuring massive media mergers and media monoploies we are stuck with now.

[betomas]

Right on, sansmerci2. Not to mention that Clinton and Gore destroyed the welfare system without providing a truly viable alternative (namely real job opportunities) for poor families who were vulnerable.

[ladetteblues]

Ah, the magic of triangulation

[BeatBuddy]

You seldom see spokespersons from the working class their cases on the airwaves; it's always some academian or some CEO.

[RevolutionarySon]

Unity Is the Key to setting us All Free, from Oppression and Tyranny.

[westphalianprinz]

Class analysis is the most empowering analysis you can find if you want to engage in political organizing. Everyone knows this--except most liberals--that's why the right wing is so obsessed with preventing any kind of class analysis. That's because it produces egalitarian politics that infringes upon the class privilege of the super rich.

[zezt]

hmmmm i am just sick of academia givin out their anlalysees of the 'working class'. same old fukin pattern.

the situation. the problem is much deeper, and THAT explored, instread of this game, would blow their implied fukin 'superiority' out of the window!

for example, the unexamined implication is that 'education' is benevolent?

[westphalianprinz]

That's all true, but class analysis is the most empowering analysis I've found in my experience as a political organizer.

[pennilesscripple]

ooooo

'when you make new people, you gotta make new television'

yes

[pennilesscripple]

great truths! thanks for posting

[nickreed11216]

I do want to pose a question though, do you think the media targets working calss since we are the majority? from a marketing standpoint, it makes sense. (i personally finding marketing to be immoral somes even amoral and most definitely deceitful).

although I did laugh at the Hot Pocket joke (at about 2 minutes)

better access to college... well this is why college costs so much, its to keep certain people out. A great example of class warfare...

[henname]

I'm not sure that the issue of the working class in the media is that they are being "targeted", as we do see many other class representations in the media.The issue is HOW they are portrayed. I would go father than this clip and say that not only does it effect middle class perceptions of the working class, but the working class themselves can also internalize those messages. I think that is equally detrimental.

[bluethinggg]

Education is how to level the playing field. Better high school and better access to college. The Republicans should view it as an investment into it's people, that pays back by having a strong nation. Why do you think America is having trouble competing and jobs are being exported. Skilled labour is your only chance of prosperity!

[henname]

yes, but I think it is necessary to any program encouraging higher education for the working class that they also emphasize WHERE you go to school, not just going to school in general. To really transcend a generational class barrier, we have to prevent the funneling of the working class into less reputable or weakly networked universities.

Totally agree that education is the way, though.

[westphalianprinz]

The problem is Republicans see education as making obedient workers, and the left sees it as creating a critically thinking population. Those are two separate definitions of education, and they are mutually opposed to each other.

[Truthiness231]

Quite well stated westphalianprinz, considering the limit YouTube allows on text. I concur completely.

[zezt]

Well I agree with that too. But I dont get that sense from the academics in video. Not radical enough. because to be REALL critical thinking means to go right to roots of the problem we face. You've heard of Left gate keepers right?

[mgekelly]

This seems to imply that the Democrats are in the 'left' camp; they ain't.

[westphalianprinz]

The rank and file are. It's exactly like the Labour Party in Britain. The leadership are right-wingers.

[westphalianprinz]

The Democrats aren't even in the this debate, anyway. It's really between the Republicans and the actual left.

[visitor4400]

The actual problem is that the federal government is even involved in education. Government education is dumbing down the population of the US.

[westphalianprinz]

Well, I would argue it's ruling class education that's dumbing down the people. I wouldn't mind the government getting involved. I'd just rather it do so in a way that uplifts our consciousness and unleashes our talents as people.

[visitor4400]

"ruling class education"? Your class warfare mentality hinders your ability to see reality I think. It IS government education. They run the show - democrats and republicans equally.

The ONLY person responsible to "uplift ... consciousness and unleash" your talents is yourself.

I would not recommend depending on the government for personal development or too much else besides the basics of their constitutional responsibilities.

[SlavaVB]

Smart people know this and they study outside of school, which gives them an edge.

[reflectionofthesoul]

@westphalianprinz Yes group all Republicans as Nazis who are heartless. That’s very mature of you. People like you need to realize that both extremes of politics (the far left and far right) are silly radicals who support hate more than they do compromise.

[nVei06]

@reflectionofthesoul the heartless republicans ARE THE LIBERALS WHO WANT TO WIN ELECTION ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET. they're not republicans at all. They're democrats who pretend. what's sick is the liberals who are just as evil, point to those evil wanna bes and tell people that is representive of republicans. When it's actually representaive of liberal democrats.

[nVei06]

@westphalianprinz you shou dbe found and killed. the left are not critical thinkers. they 're shit of shit. They should be burned up. The working class with a brain is a republican and they can never have anything if the democrats get their way. The reason why only the rich can have anything is GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. the reason why poor people can have things is call, inonvation, The deomcrat makes innovation obsolete.

[nVei06]

@westphalianprinz liberals are not Objective thinker, EVER. so stfu about what you claim repiblicans think. There is not a republican who thinks educatiion should be anything but critical thinking. The democrats believe in slavery and do not want to educate people. They want success based on engineered soceity. The republcan wants it based on ability. Eduation to democrat = pay 1 million dollars to buy good job. Republican see it, as become wise and do good work.

[nVei06]

@westphalianprinz you should be killed.

[boybuddha]

@westphalianprinz nice one, very true, its exactly the same here in Scotland, the whole of the uk actually. how do we change it all.

[boybuddha]

@westphalianprinz nice one, very true, its exactly the same here in Scotland, the whole of the uk actually. how do we change it all.

[MerlinaAddams1]

@westphalianprinz So the problem is not that they have differing views, the problem is that Republicans exist!

[jamesmcrews]

@westphalianprinz I am actually working on an essay on this very topic called "Too Smart to Work?", and I came to this video to cull a few quotes from Robin D.G. Kelley

[thejobloshow]

Okay, I don't think anyone who appears on Jerry Springer is really "working" class.

[nickreed11216]

this is excellent. it really is about time someone addressed the working class phlight. the working class is surely disenfranchised by television esp shows and the news (moreso by shows as this doc points out). where do i pick the DVD and the book? haha

[IheartLatinoMen]

this is great.

[peacelf]

As one who rose up from working poor roots and got a college education (social theory), I find this video perfectly aliogned with the reality of working people and the disproportionate distribution of wealth in this country. Until we have an honest dialogue about class in this country, the myth of classlessness will be perpetuated and democracy further weakened.