What types of people are underrepresented in television drama?

What types of
people are over-represented? Who are the victims of symbolic violence on the
screen?
Gerbner’s cultivation theory says that television has become the dominant force in our society because
it tells most of the stories, most of the time. Because TV stories are filled with symbolic violence, the
world they create for heavy viewers is a mean and scary place. These stories cultivate fear by slowly
changing viewers’ perception of their social environment

Surveys. Whether using questionnaires or structured interviews, survey researchers rely on self-

reported data to discover people’s past behavior and what they now think, feel, or intend to do. For
example, media-effects researchers have used survey methodology to answer the research question, Do
people who watch a high amount of dramatic violence on television hold an exaggerated belief that the
world is a mean and scary place? They asked the number of hours a day the respondents watched TV
and then gave a series of forced-choice options that tapped into respondents’ perceived odds of
becoming a victim of violence. The researchers discovered a positive relationship between the amount
of viewing and the amount of fear.9 Although the presence of a correlation doesn’t necessarily imply a
causal relationship, it keeps that possibility alive. It’s also the case that if a survey shows two variables
aren’t correlated, that’s a powerful clue that one of the variables isn’t a cause of the other. A survey can
save valuable time that would otherwise be needed to establish cause-and-effect by conducting an
experiment. In addition to the clues they provide about causal relationships, surveys are often the most
convenient way to discover what people are thinking, feeling, and intending to do—the key components
of our attitudes.

For example, cultivation theory asks how television influences people, particularly when they view
violence. To answer that question, cultivation theorists have used the socio-psychological tradition to
search for cause-and-effect associations between TV viewing and beliefs about the world. They’ve also
drawn from the socio-cultural tradition to understand why the culture of Hollywood glorifies violence.
Using both traditions provides a rich answer to the theory’s practical question.

The role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression. Critical theorists see the “culture industries”
of television, film, music, and print media as reproducing the dominant ideology of a culture and
distracting people from recognizing the unjust distribution of power within society. For example,
Southwestern University communication professor Davi Johnson Thornton began her investigation of
interracial friendship by watching the TV show Psych. The USA Network detective comedy focuses on
the interracial friendship between a white cop (Shawn) and a black cop (Gus) in the Santa Barbara police
department. At first glance, TV portrayals of close interracial friendships might seem like a good thing.
Thornton isn’t so sure. Her critical analysis of the show argues that its particular portrayal of black–white
friendship might actually reinforce racism rather than work against it.

Roles are created in direct relation to usefulness in the world of television. The most numerous are
those for whom the world of television has

more use--more jobs, adventure, sex, power, and other opportunities and life chances. These values are
distributed as most resources are distributed: according to status and power. Dominant social groups
tend to be overrepresented and over-endowed not only absolutely but even in relation to their numbers
in the real population. Minorities are defined by having less than their proportionate share of values and
resources. In the world of television drama this means less usefulness and fewer opportunities.
Underrepresentation means restricted scope of action, stereotyped roles, diminished life chances, and
undervaluation ranging from relative neglect to symbolic annihilation.