Cultural Constraints on Conflict Transformation: The Social Construction of Conflict as Represented in the News Media

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Katz Jameson ◽  
Robert Entman
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Conflict Transformation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Constraints

Poor Kids versus Bad Teachers: Vergara v. California and the Social Construction of Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jeanne M. Powers ◽  
Kathryn P. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Spectacle ◽  
The Public ◽  
Print News ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Social

Background In the past decade, the laws governing teachers’ employment have been at the center of legal and political conflicts across the United States. Vergara v. California challenged five California state statutes that provide employment protections for teachers. In June 2014, a California lower court declared the statutes unconstitutional because they exposed students to “grossly ineffective teachers.” Purpose The purpose of the article is to document and analyze how Vergara was presented in the print news media. It is important to understand how the print news media presents education policy debates to the public, because the print news media shapes the general public's understanding of education and other public policy debates by providing frames and themes for interpreting the issues in question and people associated with them. Research Design Using the social construction of target populations and political spectacle as conceptual lenses, we conducted a content analysis of print news media articles on the Vergara case published between June 2012 and November 2014. We provide a descriptive overview of the full corpus of articles published during this period and a thematic analysis of the 65 unique news articles published in the aftermath of the decision. The latter focuses on news articles because they are intended to provide more objective coverage of the case than opinions or editorials. Findings In the print news media coverage, the word “teacher” was often paired with a negative qualifier, which suggests that Vergara was an effort to change the relatively advantaged social construction of teachers. Similarly, metaphors and the illusion of rationality associated with political spectacle were used in ways that bolstered the plaintiffs’ claims. While Vergara consumed a substantial amount of philanthropic and public dollars, ultimately it did not change the policies that govern teachers’ employment in California. Vergara may have been more successful in shaping the general public's perceptions of teachers and the conditions of teachers’ employment in the period following the trial.

scholarly journals Social construction of drug policies and target populations: U.S. Policy and media discourse

2017 ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
Jonathan Langner ◽  
Anna Zajicek
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Target Populations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meaning Production ◽  
Drug Policies

In this review, we discuss the historical changes in U.S. drug policy discourse, institutional racism, and the social construction of target populations in media discourse. We do not intend to show a cause-effect relationship; instead, we use a social constructionist approach that focuses on meaning production and “truth-claims” to explore the relationship between news media and drug policy. We begin by discussing mass incarceration, war on drugs, and institutional racism. Next, we review a sample of the current research from the fields of sociology and criminology on drug policy, race, and media discourse. We then focus on the most recent articulation of drugrelated policy and media discourse – the discourse surrounding marijuana use, including most recent trends in marijuana discourse. We conclude by noting the possible direction for drug policies and discussing the need for research addressing gaps in current understanding of drug-related discourse and the social construction of target populations.

The Social Construction of Sleep and Work in the British Print News Media

Sociology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Boden ◽  
Simon J. Williams ◽  
Clive Seale ◽  
Pam Lowe ◽  
Deborah Lynn Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
News Media ◽  
Print News ◽  
The Social

The Social Construction of Our Bodies

1992 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1186-1186
Author(s):  
Garth J. O. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
The Social

The Social Construction of a Perfect Market: The Strawberry Auction at Fontaines-en-Sologne

2010 ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
M.-F. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Per Se

The article examines social conditions and mechanisms of the emergence in 1982 of a «Dutch» strawberry auction in Fontaines-en-Sologne, France. Empirical study of this case shows that perfect market does not arise per se due to an «invisible hand». It is a social construction, which could only be put into effect by a hard struggle between stakeholders and large investments of different forms of capital. Ordinary practices of the market dont differ from the predictions of economic theory, which is explained by the fact that economic theory served as a frame of reference for the designers of the auction. Technological and spatial organization as well as principal rules of trade was elaborated in line with economic views of perfect market resulting in the correspondence between theory and reality.

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