Media representations of age | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 31
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 70 minutes
Age is one of the social characteristics that media organisations use when representing individuals and groups. These representations can communicate expectations about how people of different ages should behave, while news production can sometimes produce particularly negative images of young people. This Media representations of age A-Level Sociology revision page examines stereotypes, social construction, news values, professional control, new media and the social significance of age representations. It builds directly on news presentation [Presentation of news] and links closely to age identities [Age and disability identities]. AQA explicitly requires sociological explanations of media representations of age.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain what is meant by a media representation of age.
Describe and analyse ways in which age groups may be represented through stereotypes and role expectations.
Explain why young people may sometimes be represented negatively in the mass media.
Analyse the influence of media professionals, news values and commercial pressures on age representations.
Explain how media representations may contribute to socialisation, identity and ageism.
Evaluate the extent to which new media challenge established representations of age.
Revision Notes 📚
Media representations of age A-Level Sociology revision: what you need to know
The AQA specification requires students to understand sociological explanations of media representations of age, alongside representations of social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability. It also requires understanding of the relationship between media content, presentation and audiences.
You therefore need to consider three connected questions:
How are age groups represented?
Why are these representations produced?
Why might the representations matter socially?
AQA's assessment evidence is especially detailed on representations of young people, but the specification requirement is broader and concerns age generally.
What is a media representation?
A media representation is the way a person, group or aspect of society is portrayed through media content.
A representation is not simply the existence of a person from a particular age group in the media.
It involves the meanings attached to them.
Media producers may present age groups as having particular:
characteristics;
behaviours;
values;
lifestyles;
social roles.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme explicitly recognises that the media may present different age groups with stereotypical role expectations seen as appropriate to them.
This means media representations of age can communicate ideas about what people of different ages are expected to be like.
Age as socially significant
Age is not only a biological characteristic. Within AQA Sociology it is also studied as a source of:
identity;
social differentiation;
inequality;
status.
AQA's Stratification and Differentiation material recognises concepts including age, generation, cohort, discrimination, prejudice, ageism and the social construction of age.
This makes age inequality [Age] a useful connection.
Media representations may be socially significant because they form part of the wider cultural environment in which people make sense of age groups.
Age and social construction
Social construction refers to the idea that meanings attached to social categories are created through social interaction and cultural processes.
AQA's mark schemes recognise the social construction of age and the role of media in communicating age-related expectations.The media can contribute to this process because they provide:
information;
norms;
values;
representations of expected roles.
AQA's 2023 assessment material explicitly described the media as an agency of socialisation and accepted the argument that media representations provide stereotypical role expectations associated with age.
A useful chain is:
media representation → age-related role expectation → audiences encounter ideas about age-appropriate behaviour → possible influence on age identity
Media representations and age identity
An age identity concerns the way people understand themselves and others in relation to age.
Media representations can provide cultural material through which individuals learn what society associates with particular age categories.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises that:
media provide norms and values;
media may present stereotypical expectations for different age groups;
globalised media images of lifestyles may influence the values and behaviour of young people.
The relationship between age and identity is developed further in age identities [Age and disability identities].
Representation does not automatically determine identity
The media are only one influence.
AQA's 2023 material also identifies peer groups as important in socialising people into age identities.
This means:
media influence ≠ complete determination
Age identities may be influenced by multiple agencies and social experiences.
Stereotypes of age
A stereotype is a simplified representation that attributes particular characteristics to members of a group.
AQA explicitly recognises stereotypical age-related role expectations in media content.
Stereotyping can be significant because individuals within the same age group are diverse.
A stereotype may:
emphasise particular characteristics;
ignore differences within the group;
create expectations about behaviour;
influence how the group is perceived.
The examination focus should therefore be on the relationship between representation and age, not just a general definition of stereotyping.
Negative representations of young people
The clearest age-specific AQA assessment evidence concerns young people.
In 2022, AQA asked students to analyse why the mass media may sometimes represent young people negatively. The item identified two important influences:
media content is often produced and controlled by professionals who are middle-aged or older;
mass media may concentrate on exciting stories and sensational headlines to attract audiences.
AQA's mark scheme then developed two central explanations:
media professionals may stereotype young people because they have limited experience of youth cultures;
the media may exaggerate occasional deviant behaviour by a minority of young people.
These are particularly important for revision because they show exactly how AQA expects age representation to be explained, rather than merely described.
Professional control and age representation
One explanation focuses on who produces media content.
The 2022 AQA item states that much mass-media content is produced and controlled by professionals who are middle-aged or older.
AQA's mark scheme accepts the argument that professionals may have limited experience of youth cultures and therefore represent young people stereotypically.
The analytical chain is:
media producers belong mainly to a different age group → limited understanding of youth cultures → reliance on simplified assumptions → stereotypical representations of young people
This connects directly with news presentation [Presentation of news], where professional controllers also influence the way stories are constructed.
Why the age of media professionals may matter
The important point is not simply:
"Media workers are older."
You need to explain the relationship.
A difference between the age or experience of the producer and the group being represented may affect how accurately or sympathetically that group is understood.
AQA's examiner report specifically found that successful students recognised that controllers can hold stereotypical views.
However, examiners also identified a weakness: relatively few students explained why the negative representation might apply particularly to young people, rather than making an argument that could apply to any social group.
That distinction is vital in an age-representation question.
News values and negative representations
A second explanation concerns news values.
AQA's 2022 examiner report confirms that students successfully used news values to explain the selection and presentation of negative representations of young people.
News media may give particular attention to:
exciting stories;
unusual behaviour;
sensational material.
The AQA item directly connects sensational headlines with the attempt to attract audiences.
This can create a distorted impression of an age group.
Exaggerating minority behaviour
AQA's mark scheme specifically recognises the argument that mass media may exaggerate occasional deviant behaviour by a minority of young people.
The process is:
A minority of young people behave in a way regarded as deviant.
This behaviour has qualities that make it attractive as media content.
The behaviour receives disproportionate attention.
Audiences repeatedly encounter negative examples.
The behaviour may appear more typical of young people than it actually is.
This is a much stronger examination explanation than simply writing:
"The media show young people negatively."
Sensationalism
Sensationalism refers to presenting material in ways that emphasise its most dramatic or attention-grabbing features.
AQA explicitly links sensational headlines with negative representations of young people.
Sensationalism may matter because it can make unusual behaviour seem especially significant.
For an age question:
sensational presentation → unusual behaviour receives attention → ordinary behaviour becomes less visible → age-group stereotype may be reinforced
This demonstrates the close connection between age representation and news selection [Selection of news].
Commercial pressures
The 2022 item states that sensational material may be used to attract audiences.
This gives a commercial explanation for some age representations.
Media organisations may favour content that they believe audiences will find:
exciting;
interesting;
dramatic.
Negative portrayals do not therefore have to result from a deliberate desire to discriminate against young people.
They may emerge partly because dramatic stories are commercially attractive.
Evaluation
This can be interpreted in two ways.
A critical interpretation argues that commercial pressures produce distorted representations because dramatic minority behaviour receives too much attention.
A pluralist interpretation places greater emphasis on audience demand. If organisations select such stories because audiences consume them, media representations may partly reflect consumer preferences rather than simply being imposed by owners or professionals.
Young people as an audience
AQA's 2022 mark scheme also accepts the argument that media professionals may not see young people as an important audience.
This is useful because it connects representation with audience targeting.
If producers believe a group is not central to their audience, they may have less commercial incentive to represent that group in ways designed to appeal to its members.
This provides another possible explanation of age representation:
perceptions of target audience → production decisions → particular representations of age groups
Age representation and news production
The 2022 examiner report is especially useful here.
Students generally succeeded when they connected negative representations of young people to:
stereotypical views held by controllers;
news values affecting selection;
news values affecting presentation.
This means age representation should not be revised separately from the earlier lessons.
Your understanding of news selection [Selection of news] and presentation helps explain how age stereotypes are produced.
Representations of older age groups
The specification requires media representations of age, rather than only youth.
AQA's wider assessment material recognises that ageism can affect both young and old people, and that media may communicate stereotypical role expectations associated with different ages.However, the provided Media mark schemes do not give a detailed list of specific recurring representations of older people comparable with the detailed 2022 material on young people.
Therefore, for older age groups, the secure specification-level point is that media may construct stereotypical expectations about age, and these representations need to be examined sociologically rather than assumed to reflect all members of an age group.
Ageism
Ageism refers to prejudice or discrimination based on age.
AQA recognises ageism as relevant to both younger and older people when examining age as a dimension of inequality.
Media representations can be socially significant if stereotypical portrayals contribute to wider assumptions about what people of particular ages are:
expected to do;
capable of doing;
entitled to do.
The media therefore provide a connection between culture and identity and social differentiation and inequality, two themes that run through AQA Sociology.
Representations and status
AQA's Stratification material recognises relationships between age and social status.
For example:
young people may lack some rights available to adults;
retirement may reduce the status previously associated with employment for some older people.
When evaluating the social significance of media representations, you can therefore consider whether cultural portrayals:
reflect existing age inequalities;
reproduce age-related expectations;
challenge those expectations.
Be careful not to claim that media representations alone cause all age inequalities.
They exist within wider social relationships.
Socialisation
Media are an agency of socialisation.
AQA's 2023 assessment material explicitly describes the media as sources of information, norms and values.
This gives age representations social significance.
If audiences repeatedly encounter particular age stereotypes, these provide messages about:
expected behaviour;
appropriate lifestyles;
social roles associated with age.
A possible chain is:
media representation → norms and values about age → socialisation → expectations about age identities
However, this process is not necessarily one-way.
Active audiences
AQA's recent Media assessments emphasise that audiences may actively interpret media rather than accepting messages automatically.
The 2024 mark scheme recognises that audiences may:
question media;
decode and filter messages;
adopt negotiated readings;
adopt oppositional readings.
This is crucial when evaluating the social significance of age stereotypes.
A negative media representation does not automatically mean that every audience member develops a negative view of that age group.
This prepares you for media content and audiences [Media content and audiences].
New media and age representations
New media create an important challenge to traditional age stereotypes.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme explicitly states that negative representations of young people may be countered through young people's use of new media.
This is one of the strongest evaluation points available for this lesson.
Through new media, audiences can increasingly:
produce content;
participate in media;
create competing representations;
challenge existing media portrayals.
AQA's 2023 new-media mark scheme confirms that audiences can produce content and become more active.
Self-representation
The significance of new media is that the people being represented may also become media producers.
The traditional relationship can be represented as:
professional media producers → representation of young people → young audience
New media allow a more interactive process:
young people → produce their own content → create or challenge representations → other audiences respond
This weakens the exclusive representational power of established media organisations.
It links directly back to the new media [The new media].
The generational divide
New media do not necessarily empower every age group equally.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises a generational divide as one aspect of digital exclusion.
This is important because the opportunities for self-representation created by new media may themselves vary according to age.
A balanced argument is therefore:
new media increase opportunities for age groups to challenge established portrayals, but those opportunities are not necessarily distributed equally.
Globalised media and age identities
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises that globalised media images of lifestyle may influence the values and behaviour of young people.
This connects representations of age to the media and globalisation [The media and globalisation].
Age-related representations no longer necessarily originate only within one national media environment.
Young audiences can encounter cultural images and expectations circulating through global media.
The sociological significance is therefore broader than national stereotypes alone.
Social-construction explanations
A social-construction approach emphasises that age-related meanings are created socially rather than being automatically determined by chronological age.
Media are relevant because they communicate cultural expectations.
AQA's assessment material supports this through:
the social construction of age;
media socialisation;
stereotypical age-role expectations.
Strength
This explanation helps account for why media representations matter.
Representations do not just depict age categories. They can participate in defining what those categories mean socially.
Evaluation
The media are only one influence.
Age identity is also affected by peer groups and wider social experiences, while audiences can actively interpret media messages.
Explanations based on professional control
A second explanation focuses on media producers and controllers.
AQA directly supports the argument that differences between the age and experience of media professionals and young people may contribute to stereotypical representations.
Professional news values can also result in disproportionate attention being given to negative minority behaviour.
This explanation therefore sees age representation as an outcome of the production process.
Strength
It explains why particular representations might repeatedly appear even without assuming that audiences themselves demand prejudice.
Evaluation
Professional media are no longer the only producers.
New media allow represented groups to create competing content.
Pluralist interpretations
Pluralist approaches emphasise competition, audience choice and diversity of media content.
Applied to age representations, pluralists can argue that media organisations need to attract audiences and therefore cannot simply ignore consumer demand.
The 2022 item itself links sensational content to the goal of attracting audiences.
The growth of new media further increases:
choice;
interactivity;
user-created content.
From this perspective, age representations should become more varied where audiences can choose and produce alternatives.
Evaluation
Audience choice does not mean all representations receive equal visibility.
Established media organisations may still have greater resources than individual content creators.
Professional news values can also continue to favour sensational images.
Critical explanations of media power
AQA Media mark schemes more broadly accept Marxist and neo-Marxist explanations when students evaluate media representations.
These approaches direct attention to:
ownership;
control;
ideology;
the power of professional media institutions.
Applied carefully to age, they raise the question of whether representations are shaped more by those who control media production than by those being represented.
However, the supplied age-specific material gives stronger direct support to professional control and news values than to a specifically class-based explanation of age representation.
In an age essay, therefore, Marxism is most useful as part of a wider debate about who controls media content, rather than as a substitute for detailed age-specific explanation.
Postmodernist and new-media interpretations
AQA also accepts postmodernist perspectives in wider media-representation debates, while its age-specific mark scheme identifies new media as a way for young people to challenge negative portrayals.This perspective emphasises:
more diverse media;
audience participation;
self-representation;
challenges to traditional professional control.
New media can therefore make age representation less one-directional.
Evaluation
There are still limits.
Traditional media remain influential.
Not all audiences have equal digital access.
A generational divide may exclude some users.
New media therefore diversify representations without necessarily eliminating stereotypes.
Comparing explanations of media representations of age
Explanation | Why age representations occur | Strength | Limitation |
Social construction | Media communicate social meanings and expected age roles | Explains links between representation, socialisation and identity | Media are only one source of age identity |
Professional control | Producers may rely on stereotypes or have limited experience of other age groups | Directly supported by AQA's 2022 age question | New media reduce professionals' exclusive control |
News values / commercial pressures | Dramatic minority behaviour may receive disproportionate attention because it attracts audiences | Explains negative youth representations without assuming direct hostility | Does not explain all forms of age representation |
Pluralism | Media respond to diverse audience demands and competition | Recognises consumer choice and variation | May underestimate professional and organisational power |
New-media / postmodernist interpretation | Users increasingly create and challenge representations themselves | Explains growing opportunities for self-representation | Digital and generational divides mean opportunities remain unequal |
The social significance of age representations
The final learning objective asks not simply what representations exist, but why they matter.
There are several specification-supported possibilities.
1. Representations may contribute to socialisation
Media provide norms, values and age-related role expectations.
2. Representations may influence age identities
People encounter media images that contribute to the cultural material available when constructing their sense of self.
3. Representations may reinforce stereotypes
Repeated negative portrayals can associate particular behaviours with an age group.
4. Representations may connect with ageism
Ageism affects both young and old people within wider patterns of inequality.
5. Representations may be challenged
New media give audiences greater opportunities to create content and counter traditional stereotypes.
6. Effects depend on audience response
Audiences may accept, negotiate or oppose media messages rather than absorbing them automatically.
This final point leads naturally to audience responses [Presentation and audience response].
Representation is not the same as reality
One of the most important principles in this lesson is that a media representation should not automatically be treated as an accurate description of an entire age group.
AQA's age-specific assessment shows why.
Negative representations may arise because:
professionals rely on stereotypes;
minority deviant behaviour is exaggerated;
sensational material attracts audiences.
Therefore:
media visibility does not necessarily equal social typicality.
A behaviour appearing frequently in news content may simply mean that it fits media production processes particularly well.
A useful overall judgement
Media representations of age are socially produced rather than neutral reflections of every member of an age group.
AQA evidence provides particularly strong support for explaining negative representations of young people through:
stereotypical assumptions among media controllers;
limited professional knowledge of youth cultures;
news values;
sensationalism;
commercial pressures.
These representations can be socially significant because media contribute to socialisation and communicate expectations about age.
However, their influence should not be exaggerated.
Audiences can question media messages, identities have multiple influences, and new media give people greater opportunities to challenge stereotypes and construct alternative representations.
The strongest conclusion is therefore:
Media can contribute to socially constructed ideas about age, but neither professional producers nor media representations completely determine how age groups understand themselves or how audiences understand them.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Media representation | The way a person, group or aspect of society is portrayed in media content. | Use when explaining how media construct images of different age groups. |
Stereotype | A simplified representation that attributes particular characteristics to members of a group. | Apply to age-role expectations and negative representations of young people. |
Social construction of age | The idea that meanings attached to age are socially created rather than determined simply by chronological age. | Use to explain why media representations of age can vary and influence identity. |
Ageism | Prejudice or discrimination based on age. | Use when evaluating the wider social significance of age representations. |
News values | Professional criteria and judgements influencing which material is selected and emphasised as news. | Use to explain why unusual or negative behaviour by young people may receive attention. |
Sensationalism | Presentation that emphasises dramatic or attention-grabbing aspects of events. | Apply to explanations of negative youth representations. |
Socialisation | The process through which people learn norms, values and social expectations. | Use when explaining how media representations may contribute to age identities. |
Age identity | An individual's sense of self in relation to socially meaningful age categories. | Use when explaining the possible significance of stereotypical role expectations. |
Generational divide | Differences between generations that may include unequal participation in new media. | Use when evaluating claims that all age groups can challenge representations equally. |
Active audience | An audience that interprets, questions or responds to media rather than simply accepting messages. | Use to evaluate claims about the effects of age stereotypes. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Do not write a generic answer about why the media stereotype social groups. In the 2022 age question, examiners found that relatively few students fully explained why young people specifically might receive negative representations. Every paragraph should maintain the age focus.
Examiner hint: The strongest responses connected stereotypes to who controls media production. AQA credited explanations in which middle-aged or older professionals had limited experience of youth cultures and therefore relied on stereotypical representations.
Examiner hint: Develop the news-values argument fully. Examiners reported that successful students explained how news values shape selection and presentation. For age, connect this to the disproportionate coverage of dramatic or deviant behaviour by a minority of young people.
Examiner hint: Do not stop after writing "the media sensationalise young people". Explain what this does to the representation. A complete chain shows how unusual behaviour receives attention and may then appear typical of the wider age group.
Examiner hint: New media provide useful evaluation. AQA's age-specific mark scheme explicitly recognises that young people's use of new media may counter negative representations.
Examiner hint: For a 10-mark analyse question, use both item hooks. AQA's reports repeatedly stress that application marks depend on using material from the item and developing two distinct points.
Examiner hint: In 20-mark questions, evaluation should weigh explanations rather than simply place one theory after another. Recent examiner reports state that reasoned evaluation of strengths and limitations gains more credit than learned criticisms or undeveloped comparisons.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Writing only about young people when the question asks about age generally
Why this is incorrect: AQA specifies media representations of age, not only youth.
How to improve: Use young people as the strongest source-supported example, but show that the broader issue is how media socially construct expectations surrounding different age groups.
Mistake: Listing negative stereotypes without explaining why they are produced
Why this is incorrect: Description alone does not meet the demand to explain sociological representations.
How to improve: Connect the representation to a production process:
different age of producer → limited understanding → stereotype
or
news values → dramatic minority behaviour selected → negative representation
Mistake: Saying all young people are represented negatively
Why this is incorrect: AQA's wording is careful: mass media sometimes represent young people negatively.
How to improve: Use qualified language such as "may", "sometimes" and "some media content". This also creates room for new-media counter-representations.
Mistake: Assuming deviant behaviour shown in the media is typical
Why this is incorrect: AQA specifically recognises that media may exaggerate the occasional deviant behaviour of a minority of young people.
How to improve: Distinguish between the frequency of a behaviour in society and its visibility in media content.
Mistake: Naming news values without connecting them to age
Why this is incorrect: This produces a general news-production answer rather than an age-representation answer.
How to improve: Always complete the chain:
news value → selection of particular youth behaviour → disproportionate visibility → age stereotype
Mistake: Assuming media representations automatically determine audience attitudes
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises that audiences may question, filter and oppose media messages.
How to improve: Distinguish between the representation offered by media and the interpretation made by audiences.
Mistake: Claiming new media have removed age stereotypes
Why this is incorrect: AQA supports the argument that new media can counter negative representations, not that stereotypes have disappeared.
How to improve: Explain that new media widen opportunities for self-representation while established media power and unequal digital participation remain.
Mistake: Writing everything you know about age inequality
Why this is incorrect: Ageism and status are useful only when linked directly to media representation.
How to improve: Use wider age inequality to explain the social significance of representations, not as a replacement for analysis of media content.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define the term ageism.[2 marks]
Answer:
Ageism refers to prejudice or discrimination against people on the basis of age.
Question 2
Explain one way in which the media may contribute to the social construction of age.[4 marks]
Indicative answer:
Media may present particular age groups through stereotypical role expectations. These representations provide audiences with norms and values about behaviour considered appropriate for particular ages, contributing to socially constructed meanings of age.
Question 3
Outline and explain two reasons why young people may sometimes be represented negatively in the mass media.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One reason may be professional control:
media content may be produced by people from older age groups;
producers may have limited experience of youth cultures;
this may encourage reliance on stereotypes;
young people may therefore be represented in simplified or negative ways.
A second reason may be news values and sensationalism:
unusual or deviant behaviour can produce exciting stories;
media may give disproportionate attention to the behaviour of a minority of young people;
this can create the impression that negative behaviour is typical of the wider age group.
Other relevant material may include perceptions of young people as an audience.
Evaluation is not required.
Question 4
Outline and explain two ways in which media representations may affect age identities.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One way may be through socialisation:
media communicate norms and values;
stereotypical age roles show audiences what behaviour is regarded as age-appropriate;
individuals may use these expectations when developing an age identity.
A second way may involve globalised media images:
young people encounter lifestyles communicated through global media;
these representations may influence values and behaviour;
age identities may therefore draw on media influences extending beyond the local society.
Students should develop two clear relationships between media representation and identity.
Question 5
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
Much mass-media content is produced by professionals who belong to older age groups. These professionals may have less direct experience of contemporary youth cultures.
The media may represent young people in stereotypical ways.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which the characteristics of media producers may influence representations of young people.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "belong to older age groups":
social distance between producers and young people;
assumptions about another age group may influence production;
age-based stereotypes may therefore appear in media content.
A second route could use "less direct experience of contemporary youth cultures":
limited knowledge may lead producers to simplify youth behaviour;
diverse youth experiences may be reduced to a narrower representation;
negative behaviour may be interpreted without detailed understanding of youth culture.
For high marks, both points should focus specifically on young people, not stereotyping in general.
Question 6
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
News organisations often seek dramatic stories that attract audiences. Occasionally a small number of young people behave in ways that are regarded as deviant, while the everyday behaviour of most young people receives much less attention.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which news production may contribute to negative representations of young people.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "dramatic stories that attract audiences":
news values favour exciting material;
negative incidents involving young people may be selected;
sensational presentation can make such behaviour especially visible;
commercial pressures therefore influence the representation.
A second route could use "a small number":
minority behaviour receives disproportionate attention;
everyday behaviour is less newsworthy and less visible;
audiences may therefore encounter an exaggerated image of deviance among young people.
Question 7
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Traditional mass media may produce stereotypical images of age groups. However, new media allow users to create their own content, respond to existing representations and circulate alternative images.
Applying material from Item C, analyse two ways in which new media may affect representations of age.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "create their own content":
members of age groups can represent themselves;
professional media organisations lose some exclusive power over representation;
alternative age identities may become visible.
A second route could use "respond to existing representations":
audiences can challenge stereotypes directly;
negative representations can be contested;
media representation becomes more interactive.
Analysis may also recognise that a generational divide means participation in new media is not equal between all age groups.
Question 8
Read Item D and answer the question that follows.
Item D
Some sociologists argue that age representations are shaped mainly by professional media production. News values can lead to unusual behaviour receiving greater attention, while media controllers may rely on stereotypes about groups whose experiences differ from their own.
Other sociologists argue that media representations have become increasingly diverse. Audiences have greater choice, and new media allow individuals to produce and challenge representations themselves.
Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of media representations of age.[20 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Relevant arguments may include:
social construction of age;
socialisation;
stereotypical age-role expectations;
professional control;
age differences between producers and represented groups;
limited understanding of youth cultures;
news values;
sensationalism;
exaggeration of minority deviant behaviour;
audience attraction and commercial pressures;
pluralist explanations;
audience choice;
new media;
active audiences;
self-representation;
challenges to stereotypes;
generational divide;
wider debates about media ownership and control.
Higher-level answers should evaluate explanations rather than simply list different age representations.
A reasoned conclusion might argue that professional production and news values provide particularly strong explanations of negative youth representations because they identify clear mechanisms through which stereotypes enter media content. However, new media make representations less one-directional because age groups increasingly have opportunities to create and challenge media images themselves.
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