Date of Graduation
2003
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
Committee Chair
Terry Wimmer
Abstract
The stereotyping of minorities on television and in films has been a prominent practice since the beginning of the media era. Although there has been an increase in the visibility of positive minority characters, the portrayal of some of these characters is still negatively stereotypical. The importance in this research lies in the fact that negative representation can cause viewer’s to make false assumptions about minority cultures, which in turn can negatively impact society. People from homogenous areas are introduced to these images and see them as real. The research in this paper shows that in the television drama world, there is much misrepresentation when it comes to minorities. Not only are they extremely underrepresented, but minority characters are often put into molds difficult to step away from. The quantitative portion of this study surveyed 200 West Virginia University students attending the Fall 2002 semester. The study shows that there is a correlation between how much someone likes television (affinity) and the acceptance of stereotypes in African Americans and Latinos. There is no correlation however, between affinity and the acceptance of stereotypes in Whites. It also shows that White television audiences tend to perceive Latino and African American stereotypes as true.
Recommended Citation
Massanet, Rachel, "A qualitative and quantitative analysis of stereotypical representations on television dramas." (2003). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10731.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10731