Independent Case Study - Bailey May

Media – Independent case study: How working class youths became chavs?

Introduction

In my chosen article which focuses on how working class youths became chavs it depicts a strong sense of class hatred and inaccurate representation of the youths in the working the class and comments on how the media portrays and exemplifies this problem. In this blog I will analyse the article while also de-constructing similar articles to come to a conclusion of why working class youths have become 'chavs' in the eyes of the media.

The magazine article

Throughout the article, a large focus of its argument looks at how the word ‘chav’ its self instantly creates a negative stigma against working class youth with the article stating ‘it is deeply offensive to a largely voiceless group… and betrays a deep and revealing level of class hatred’. 

This statement sums how unfair and unrepresentative the word is of the working class youth as the mainstream media use this word unconditionally to condemn an extremely small minority of the public which was monumentally effects of the publics opinions of the people depicted.

Following on from this the article goes on to talk about how mainstream media has portrayed the stereotype of the ‘chav’ through TV shows such as Shameless, Jeremy Kyle, Little Britain and Misfits. For example, Little Britain exploits and exemplifies the stereotype of the ‘Chav’ through the, now, iconic figure Vicky pollard who represents this dehumanising stereotype to a huge nationwide and international audience. 

This video of Vicky Pollard shows this stereotype 

As innocence as David Walliams intentions may have been when making this show, it has grown to be very harmful in the representation of the working class youth through mainstream media and in real life. This graph clearly portrays a completely different picture of the way the media portrays the working class as less than 3% of the people on benefits on are unemployed and those unemployed very few with fit the stereotype of the ‘chav’.

This graph is taken from news economics 

http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/benefits-street-a-toxic-caricature-of-britains-poor

As a result of this, through the theory of Marxism and Hegemony it can be seen that the mainstream media who is run by the bourgeoisie and influencing the wide mass audience into believing fully the stereotype of the ‘chav’ applies to every working class youth, which in fact only applies to an extremely minute part society.

Moreover, reflecting back to the magazines focus of how working class youths became chavs, we have to look at (through the theory Marxism and hegemony) we the people in power who run these mainstream media institutions are wanting the masses to denounce the working class youth. 

Some may say do to the recent financial difficulties the UK have been suffering since 2007-2008 that is still resonating in today’s economy, that with the masses of society frowning upon the working class youth with the stereotype of the ‘chav’ the bourgeoisie are using them as a scapegoat to keep the masses occupied with condemning them rather than the people in power who cause the environment for them to be in such a situation so the masses don’t up rise and challenge the people in power and their aims.

Music Industry

Additionally, the article moves on to talk about how the music industry and certain figures in the industry adhere to the ideal of the ‘chav’ created by the media. It talks specifically about N-Dubz with reference to a member of the group called Dappy who has had many ‘controversial brushes with the law, conforms to the typical idea of the aggressive, rude and almost comical image of the chav’. 

With him being a influential public figure whose image and look is very similar to that of the working class youth, it makes it extremely easy for the media and public to immediately come to the conclusion that all working class youth are ‘chavs’. 

This is a prime example of Hypodermic needle theory which suggests that the media is a dangerous means of influencing mass audiences to think what they are being told by the media as they are a ‘passive’ audience. 

The public have begun to think and believe what the media are telling them about the working class youth which is unjustified and unfair to them as they are powerless and voiceless to illustrate to the public they are not what the media depicts them as.

However, in a liberal pluralist society that we have in the UK everyone is meant to have freedom of speech and to have their views and beliefs accepted by everyone one else in the society that they live in. 

The article covers this theory with the mention on hip-hop rap artist Plan B who grew up as a working youth and whose music is heavily influenced by his life experiences and comments on the way the people in power condemn the working class. 

In his song Live Once the lyrics describe how unfair life is made for the working class by the people in power which in turn the media manipulates to convey the working class youths as ‘chavs’ while describing how and why they have been put in such a socio-economical position.

These such lyrics include:

“Educated people still see it as a mockery, That’s why they use our slang against us to be derogatory”

“But we aint no different from, honestly, lucks the only reason they weren’t born into poverty”

“Life is like a game of monopoly, The ones that get a head start up all the properties, Start acting like their aristocracy and make the late comers pay the price for not rolling the dice properly”

As we can see with these lyrics from the song Plan B declaratively portrays how the upper class, ‘educated’ people in society discriminate against working class peoples unique self-expression through the act of having created their own dialect that doesn't conform to what society classes as ‘proper’ English. 

Comparatively, when compared to how mainstream media portray working class people’s dialect, the media demonises it and frowns upon the people who use it as well.  Moreover, the second set of lyrics I've chosen from the song register home with on a deeper meaning with it stating ‘Lucks the only reason they weren't born into poverty’. 

This, for me, is completely true as we, as planet, as humanity are all here due to luck and Plan B rightly points out how we have no choice in the matter when it comes to which socio-economical state our family is in; and therefore for the media to demonise and label as a ‘chav’ for coincidently being brought up in a poor is morally wrong.

Additionally, the set section of lyrics toy more with the idea that life is all luck as Plan B writes “Life is like a game of monopoly” and then goes onto to talk about the people who are fortunate enough to land in with a family of wealth abuse it “The ones that get a head start buy up all the properties”. 

Plan B is touching on a huge issue that wealthy people in London are buying huge amounts of property in London and as a result are driving up house prices and forcing people out of their homes and having to live in government housing.

But this is all happening under our current system/theory of Capitalism which works on a free market of private owners that drive their innovations to be sold for capital but Adam Smith states that a person’s wealth earns can’t be increased without the expense of other people. 

In words of John Kenneth Galbralth, “Under Capitalism man exploits man” which is a perfect man to sum the system that we live in today up and links with the way working class people how been turned into ‘chavs’ as due to capitalism the power lies with the wealthy 1% of society and due to that they exploit the most vulnerable in society for economic gain. 

This has resulted in a deeper wealth equality gap, thus causing more working class youths to committing crimes just to survive and the media that is run by the people with wealth and power use them as a scapegoat so the passive public masses focus on demonising the ‘chavs’ rather than the people who are creating the variables for people to become ‘chavs’. 

Moreover, with the government now being a full Tory government they are planning a £12billion cut to welfare which is going to exasperate this problem even more and give the main stream media leverage.

TV portrayal 

This is already being seen with TV shows such as Channel 4’s Benefits Street that many including Paul Valley a writer for the independent described the show as “classic demonisation because it took the exceptional and invited viewers to see it as normal.”

 Showing how the mainstream media creates and exaggerates the stereotype of the ‘chav’ that only appeals to 2.3% of the people on welfare that has serious repercussions to the other working class people who aren't anything like the stereotype that is created and demonised by the public. 

Additionally an ex liberal democrat MP Sarah Teather says that 'parts of government and the press of a deliberate campaign to "demonise" those on benefits and of failing to understand that those in need of state help are just as human as they are.' showing , in conjunction with a Marxist perspective, how the people in power are abusing it to keep the people below in their proper place.

Conclusion

From the TV article, its clear that the mainstream media have really cemented the stereotype of the ‘chav’ into the public masses and using this as a tool to maintain control over them so they can push their own agenda for economic gain. 

However, from a Pluralist view it would seem that the media is just responding to public demand but this is not the case as youth crime has been occurring for decades and it’s just recently that it’s being publicised and therefore creating a moral panic and stigma behind people who are appearing to ‘drain the economy’ when bankers lost billions to put the whole country in such an unstable finical state that has only being possible through Capitalism. 

So with these points in mind, I believe the media and the bourgeoisie are using a extremely small stereotype of the public and using it to label a huge, but voiceless section of society as a scapegoat for bourgeoisies financial mistakes to ensure the passive public masses to adhere to the fact the people in power are the ones we should be demonising.