Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T06:52:12.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How similar, how different? On Dutch media depictions of older and younger people

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2014

DOROTA LEPIANKA
DOROTA LEPIANKA*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
*
Address for correspondence: Dorota Lepianka, Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Postbus 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

By providing information on society at large, the media help to establish and maintain relations between various social groups, such as between younger and older people. They may also disturb the formation or maintenance of such relations, e.g. by stimulating the ‘othering’ of the out-group members. The aim of the present study was to trace how the different strategies of ‘othering’ are applied by Dutch news media in their portrayal of older and younger citizens. The analysis showed that the most notable discrepancies in the media coverage of the two age groups appear in (the nature of) their evaluation. While the negative descriptors of older characters relate more frequently to their (alleged) incompetence, the negative depictions of younger actors refer predominantly to their lack of benevolence. In the case of positive evaluations the reverse is true: older characters are more often presented as warm and younger people as competent. The results of the study are interpreted in the light of literature on social distance and (social) practices of ‘othering’.

Keywords

media portrayalsolder and younger adultsotheringdimensions of stereotypeswarmth and competencecontent analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 5 , May 2015 , pp. 1095 - 1113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bernier, A. 2011. Representations of youth in local media: implications for library service. Library and Information Science Research, 33, 2, 158–67.Google Scholar
Bogardus, E. 1925. Measuring social distance. Journal of Applied Sociology, 9, 299–308.Google Scholar
Bullock, H., Wyche, K. and Williams, W. 2001. Media images of the poor. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 2, 229–46.Google Scholar
Clawson, R. A. and Trice, R. 2000. Poverty as we know it. Media portrayals of the poor. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 1, 53–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornelissen, M. 2000. De’ jongere bestaat niet. Negatieve gevolgen van beeldvorming over jongeren [The Young Don't Exist. Negative Consequences of the Imaging of the Youth]. LBL, Utrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Cuddy, A., Fiske, S. and Glick, P. 2008. Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: the Stereotype Content Model and the BIAS Map. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 61–149.Google Scholar
Cuddy, A., Norton, M. and Fiske, S. 2005. This old stereotype: the pervasiveness and persistence of the elderly stereotype. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 2, 267–85.Google Scholar
Cushion, S., Moore, K. and Jewell, J. 2011. Media Representations of Black Men and Boys. Department for Communities and Local Government, London.Google Scholar
de Bruin, J. 2005. Multicultureel drama? Populair Nederlands televisiedrama, jeugd en etniciteit [Multicultural Drama? Popular Dutch TV Series, Youth and Ethnicity]. Otto Cramwinkel, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
d'Haenens, L. and Bink, S. 2006. Islam in de Nederlandse media: focus op het Algemeen Dagblad [Islam in the Dutch media: focus on the Algemeen Dagblad]. Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap, 34, 4, 351–67.Google Scholar
Delvin, M. 2005. ‘Teenage traumas’: the discursive construction of young people as a ‘problem’ in an Irish radio documentary. Young, 13, 2, 167–84.Google Scholar
Delvin, M. 2006. Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People. The Equality Authority, Dublin.Google Scholar
Entman, R. 1989. How the media affect what people think: an information processing approach. Journal of Politics, 51, 2, 347–70.Google Scholar
Faucher, C. 2009. Fear and loathing in the news: a qualitative analysis of Canadian print news coverage of youth offending in the twentieth century. Journal of Youth Studies, 12, 4, 439–56.Google Scholar
Fealy, G., McNamara, M., Treacy, M. and Lyons, I. 2012. Constructing ageing and age identities: a case study of newspaper discourses. Ageing & Society, 32, 1, 85–102.Google Scholar
Fine, M. 1994. Working with hyphens: reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In Denxin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage, London, 70–82.Google Scholar
Fiske, S., Cuddy, A. and Glick, P. 2006. Universal dimensions of social cognition: warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 2, 77–83.Google Scholar
Gilens, M. 1996. Race and poverty in America. Public misperceptions and the American news media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 60, 4, 515–41.Google Scholar
Gilens, M. 1999. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media and the Politics of Anti-poverty Policy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Golding, P. and Middleton, S. 1982. Images of Welfare: Press and Public Attitudes to Poverty. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hagestad, G. and Uhlenberg, P. 2005. The social separation of old and young. A root of ageism. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 2, 343–60.Google Scholar
Hagestad, G. and Uhlenberg, P. 2006. Should we be concerned about age segregation? Some theoretical and empirical explorations. Research on Ageing, 28, 6, 638–53.Google Scholar
Hall, S. 2002. The spectacle of the other. In Hall, S. (ed.), Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Sage, London, 223–92.Google Scholar
Karakayali, N. 2009. Social distance and affective orientations. Sociological Forum, 24, 3, 538–62.Google Scholar
Krumer-Nevo, M. and Orly, B. 2010. Critical poverty knowledge: contesting othering and social distancing. Current Sociology, 58, 5, 693–714.Google Scholar
Lee, T. and Fiske, S. 2006. Not an outgroup, not yet an ingroup: immigrants in the Stereotype Content Model. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 6, 751–68.Google Scholar
Lemert, J. 1994. Effective public opinion. In Kennamer, J. (ed.), Public Opinion, the Press and Public Policy. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 41–62.Google Scholar
Levinsen, K. and Wien, C. 2011. Changing media representations of youth in the news – a content analysis of Danish newspapers 1953–2003. Journal of Youth Studies, 14, 7, 837–51.Google Scholar
Martin, R., Williams, C. and O'Neill, D. 2009. Retrospective analysis of attitudes to ageing in the Economist: apocalyptic demography for opinion formers? British Medical Journal 339, 7735.Google Scholar
Mazzarella, S. 2003. Constructing youth. Media, youth, and the politics of representation. In Valdivia, A. N. (ed.), A Companion to Media Studies. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, Massachusetts, 227–46.Google Scholar
McCombs, M. and Reynolds, A. 2009. How the news shapes our civic agenda. In Bryant, J. and Oliver, M. (eds), Media Effects. Advances in Theory and Research. Routledge, New York, 1–16.Google Scholar
McQuail, D. 2010. McQuail's Mass Communication Theory. Sage, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Moutner, G. 2007. Mining large corpora for social information. The case of elderly. Language in Society, 36, 1, 51–72.Google Scholar
Neuendorf, K. 2002. The Content Analysis Guidebook. Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Peeters, A. L. and d'Haenens, L. 2005. Bridging or bonding? Relationship between integration and media use among ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. Communications, 30, 2, 201–31.Google Scholar
Phalet, K. and Poppe, E. 1997. Competence and morality dimensions of national and ethnic stereotypes. A study in six Eastern-European countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 6, 703–23.Google Scholar
Rozanova, J. 2006. Newspaper portrayals of health and illness among Canadian seniors. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 1, 2, 111–39.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. 1982. Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1, 1–39.Google Scholar
Tipton, L. 1994. Reporting on the public mind. In Kennamer, J. (ed.), Public Opinion, the Press and Public Policy. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 131–44.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. 1995. The Media and Modernity. A Social Theory of the Media. Polity Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Uhlenberg, P. and de Jong Gierveld, J. 2004. Age-segregation in later life: an examination of personal networks. Ageing & Society, 24, 1, 5–28.Google Scholar
van Ginneken, J. 2003. Collective Behaviour and Public Opinion: Rapid Shifts in Opinion and Communication. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London.Google Scholar
van Selm, M. and Westerhof, G. 2008. Evaluations of old age stereotypes in Dutch television commercials by young and old adults. Paper presented at Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap, February, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
van Selm, M., Westerhof, G. and de Vos, B. 2007. Competent en veelzijdig. Representatie van ouderen in de Ster-reclame 10 jaar later [Competent and diverse. Portrayal of older adults in Dutch television commercials 10 years later]. Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie, 38, 2, 57–64.Google Scholar
van Selm, M., Westerhof, G. and Wester, F. 2009. Cultural images of aging in Dutch television commercials. Paper presented at Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap, February, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Verhagen, S. 2000. Gabbers in de media [Gabbers in the media]. In ter Bogt, T. and Hibbel, B. (eds) Wilde Jaren. Een eeuw jeugdcultuur [Wild Years. A Century of Youth Culture]. Lemma, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 305–24.Google Scholar
Vermeij, L. 2010. Gescheiden werelden [Separated worlds]. In van den Broek, A., Bronneman-Helmers, R. and Veldheer, V. (eds), Wisseling van de wacht: generaties in Nederland [The Changing of the Guard: Generations in the Netherlands]. SCP, Den Haag, The Netherlands, 455–84.Google Scholar
Vliegenthart, R. and Roggeband, C. 2007. Framing Immigration and Integration: Relationships between Press and Parliament in the Netherlands. International Communication Gazette, 69, 3, 295–318.Google Scholar
Wayne, M., Henderson, L., Murray, C, and Petley, J. 2008. Television news and the symbolic criminalisation of young people. Journalism Studies, 9, 1, 75–90.Google Scholar
Wester, F., Pleijter, A. and Renckstroft, K. 2004. Exploring newspapers’ portrayals: a logic for interpretative content analysis. Communications, 29, 4, 495–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierstra, R. 2001. Goede Beelden, Slechte Beelden. Verbeelding van leeftijd in de media [Good Images, Bad Images. Presentation of Age in the Media]. LBL, Utrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Wojciszke, B. 1994. Multiple meanings of behaviour: construing actions in terms of competence or morality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 2, 222–32.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y., Harwood, J., Williams, A., Ylänne, V., Wadleigh, P. and Thimm, C. 2006. The portrayal of older adults in advertising: a cross-national review. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 25, 3, 264–82.Google Scholar