Nowadays, media of the 21st century can heavily influence our perceptions, attitudes, and choices. People all around the world have access to numerous types of media and spend hours each day consuming it. Functionalists, Interactionists, and Conflict theorists analyze how influential mass media is on our daily lives. From a functionalist approach, one would examine media for how it enforces social norms, awards status, encourages spending, and to keep us informed. An interactionist examines how media effects peoples’ everyday lives, relationships, and connections and could also look at it how media shapes behavior. Lastly, a conflict theorist would be interested in how media is damaging our society and the negative effects it has. These
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Our society deems teenage pregnancy as a deviant act and the show, “Teen Mom” aims to keep that standard. Teen pregnancy is deviant because these girls are failing to engage in behavior that we perceive as normal for 16-year old girls. Many people think teen pregnancy is deviant just in behavior, however many people also see this as a deviant act against religion. Teen mothers who are walking around pregnant are basically wearing an invisible sign around their neck that says, “I had sex before marriage.” When viewing the subject of deviance and what makes something deviant, conflict theorists think deviance is a result of social inequalities and access of resources. An article written by Martha Kempner, shows the lack of resources and social inequalities that conflict theorists look for in deviance. Kempner discusses how teens who become pregnant tend to come from more disadvantaged families than other teenagers who don’t become pregnant and she concludes, “. . . growing up with few economic prospects can lead young women to choose teen parenting.” A few of the teenage mothers on the show “Teen Mom” could be thought of as impoverished. However, the show makes it a point to show that not all teens who become pregnant are poor. They have had several mothers on the show that had a “nuclear family” and a lot going for them become pregnant and have their lives turned upside down. “Teen Mom” labels teenage mothers as deviant and because of this, viewers have been affected. An article from The Washington Post called, “How MTV’s 16 and Pregnant led to Declining Teen Birth Rates,” gives the statistic that since the air of the show there has been a decline of teen births, 20000 fewer each year. The way the show portrays teen pregnancy as an act of deviant have affected its
Our society deems teenage pregnancy as a deviant act and the show, “Teen Mom” aims to keep that standard. Teen pregnancy is deviant because these girls are failing to engage in behavior that we perceive as normal for 16-year old girls. Many people think teen pregnancy is deviant just in behavior, however many people also see this as a deviant act against religion. Teen mothers who are walking around pregnant are basically wearing an invisible sign around their neck that says, “I had sex before marriage.” When viewing the subject of deviance and what makes something deviant, conflict theorists think deviance is a result of social inequalities and access of resources. An article written by Martha Kempner, shows the lack of resources and social inequalities that conflict theorists look for in deviance. Kempner discusses how teens who become pregnant tend to come from more disadvantaged families than other teenagers who don’t become pregnant and she concludes, “. . . growing up with few economic prospects can lead young women to choose teen parenting.” A few of the teenage mothers on the show “Teen Mom” could be thought of as impoverished. However, the show makes it a point to show that not all teens who become pregnant are poor. They have had several mothers on the show that had a “nuclear family” and a lot going for them become pregnant and have their lives turned upside down. “Teen Mom” labels teenage mothers as deviant and because of this, viewers have been affected. An article from The Washington Post called, “How MTV’s 16 and Pregnant led to Declining Teen Birth Rates,” gives the statistic that since the air of the show there has been a decline of teen births, 20000 fewer each year. The way the show portrays teen pregnancy as an act of deviant have affected its