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Working hard or working class? : = Neoliberalism and working-class representation in contemporary television.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Working hard or working class? :/
Reminder of title:	Neoliberalism and working-class representation in contemporary television.
Author:	Holladay, Holly Willson.
Description:	1 online resource (306 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 78-04(E), Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International78-04A(E).
Subject:	Mass communication. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9781369309775

Working hard or working class? : = Neoliberalism and working-class representation in contemporary television.
Holladay, Holly Willson.

Working hard or working class? :Neoliberalism and working-class representation in contemporary television. - 1 online resource (306 pages)

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 78-04(E), Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)

Includes bibliographical references

Class identification in contemporary America is undergoing a shift; while a vast majority of the population at one time identified as middle-class, more individuals in the post-2008 recession economic climate are self-labeling as lower- or lower-middle class (cite). At the same time, the domestic sitcom, a genre once populated by a number of working-class families, is now essentially void of working-class representation. Working-class portrayals on reality television, however, have experienced a surge in recent years, leading to the development of the "redneck" reality subgenre. Given that class belonging is often misunderstood, if it is even addressed, in political rhetoric and mediated representation, this project examined texts and audiences of these two genres to understand how the working-class is ideologically encoded on contemporary television.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2018

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9781369309775Subjects--Topical Terms:

1179310
Mass communication.
Index Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Working hard or working class? : = Neoliberalism and working-class representation in contemporary television.
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504 $a Includes bibliographical references
520 $a Class identification in contemporary America is undergoing a shift; while a vast majority of the population at one time identified as middle-class, more individuals in the post-2008 recession economic climate are self-labeling as lower- or lower-middle class (cite). At the same time, the domestic sitcom, a genre once populated by a number of working-class families, is now essentially void of working-class representation. Working-class portrayals on reality television, however, have experienced a surge in recent years, leading to the development of the "redneck" reality subgenre. Given that class belonging is often misunderstood, if it is even addressed, in political rhetoric and mediated representation, this project examined texts and audiences of these two genres to understand how the working-class is ideologically encoded on contemporary television.
520 $a I used neoliberalism as a theoretical frame to investigate television's ideological construction of the working-class. Neoliberalism, which forwards ideas about individualism, "hard work," and free-market capitalism, is an economic and culturally pervasive philosophy that structures virtually every aspect of modern American life (Duggan, 2003). My research was divided into two phases. First, I explored how neoliberalism structures the representation of working-class belonging in two domestic sitcoms (The Middle and Raising Hope) and two "redneck" reality programs (Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty). In the second phase, I spoke with audiences of these shows to discover how they used the television they watched to make sense of working-class identity, as well as class in their own lives and broader culture.
520 $a The textual analysis of my study revealed, first, that working-class identity is a complex construct that takes into account not only socioeconomic variables (e.g., income, occupation, and education), but also the cultural capital accrued by individuals. Each text's representation of the tenets of neoliberal capitalism influences the portrayal of the families' working-class identities. The series deem public service as ineffectual, frame the characters' success in terms of self-empowerment and individual achievement, address how the characters fail to manage risk, and valorize competition and profit in the labor market. In doing so, the particular working-class programs legitimate the neoliberal philosophy that prevents many working-class citizens, including these characters, from achieving upward mobility. Moreover, neoliberal philosophy ties into the identity categories of gender, Whiteness, and regional belonging in differing ways. In particular, women are tasked with self-surveillance and discipline through their bodies and choices, and they continue to be burdened by low-paying service work and an uneven distribution of domestic labor. A traditional masculinist conception underscores men's role in neoliberal culture, as they are required to be financial providers for their families. White individuals are expected to perform Whiteness "right," and those who fail to do so are seen has having had simply made poor choices. When situated in the "heartland," which is always already imagined as White, an adherence to family and community values suggests that neoliberal tenets are applied not by individual members of a family, but that all members of the family work together to embrace or reject their success within neoliberal culture. "Rednecks," who are de facto working-class, have often come to be associated with "White trash," but this label may be transcended through appropriate work ethic and upward mobility.
520 $a The audience portion of my study investigated how audiences employed these representations to understand working-class identity in their own lives and in broader culture. Participants applied many of the same neoliberal tenets represented in the textual analysis to characters in a broad spectrum of domestic sitcoms and reality programs. In the programs about which they spoke, they valued hard work, individual achievement, and suggested that engaging in risky decision-making often justified the negative consequences that followed. However, they did articulate a deviation from the profit-driven success emphasized by neoliberalism, suggesting that personal connections with one's family and community were just as important when labeling someone as "successful." However, discussions about television's gender depictions were relatively limited. Many of their comments reflected traditional gender norms: a male breadwinner and a household division of labor that unevenly burdened working-class women.) Working-class Whiteness was made visible through both the "White trash" and "redneck" labels, though to differing ends; while both terms have pejorative roots, "redneck" certainly carries more positive valence for participants than "White trash."
520 $a Participants used the representations of working-class characters as comparisons to individuals they knew in their lives, and often times, they drew comparisons to their own lives. Participants derided working-class characters on television for their failure to appropriately apply the rules of neoliberal self-governance, while simultaneously drawing comparisons between themselves and the characters in terms of class belonging (e.g., cultural and economic capital).
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