Young People, Class and the News : Distinction, socialization and moral sentiments

• Journalism studies almost exclusively rely on a “sociology of integration” perspective when theorizing the social function of journalism. Focus is put on if and how journalism facilitates democratic processes, encourages civic engagement and strengthens the sense of community. In providing an alternative view, this study mobilizes the cultural sociology of Pierre Bourdieu—a “sociologist of conflict”—in order to study how young people’s conditions of existence have given rise to vastly different orientations towards news and the normative order surrounding journalism. Based on focus group interviews with young people in Brazil and Sweden, the study shows that socialization into the world of news in the family and in school generates class-distinctive news orientations. The world of news is a site where social groups draw moral and cultural boundaries against each other. Since different social groups monopolize completely different news practices and preferences, they work to legitimate social differences. As such, the findings challenge common notions of news as creating the “healthy citizen”, and that news media provide spaces for the practice of civility and citizenship.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

audience fragmentation

Bourdieu

class

comparative study

focus groups

news consumption

young people

Other research area

Annat forskningsområde

Media and Communication Studies

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)