D1011_Tma4

TMA 4 Compare and contrast the approaches of Cohen and Hall et al. to the role of the media in relation to social disorder. How do we define social order' Philosopher Charles Taylor (2004, P58) ‘the human capacity to imagine order is at the foundation of society itself’. Social order is how we all live, work, and socially interact with one another in day to day live within society. We all live within our own patterns or routines (Goffman 1959, 1971 and 1972) If it’s our daily job or the routes we follow when commuting we all follow some kind of pattern in the way we live which gives all our own kind of social order. Then we have the stranger interaction, how we respond to a smile or gesture someone gives us or the opening of a door for someone there is always a socially acceptable response that’s expected to keep the social order within society. There are also the social authorities around us that great the broader social order in our lives. The government creates and passes the laws that we all live by, then we have the police who have to enforce the laws so we can live a socially ordered life, there is all so parents and teachers who give the younger generation the social values that we are all expected to live within. It’s the idea that social order is shaped by social determinations and how we live and interact is moulded by people other than ourselves (Faucoutt 1972,1977,1978). Having social order gives us definitions on how we live out our lives but then we need to give a definition to social disorders and the way it can be created and how we look at it as individually and as a whole. Social disorders created when we go against what is acceptable, what is created around us by collective groupes to make social order. An example relating to disorder was the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 (Lodge and Hood, 2002). The law was created after several incidents of severe dog attacks, and the media attention that was created by them causing mass public support which in turn triggered the government into creating a law that placed major restrictions of four breed being owned. This though has not come without argument with owners often claimed their dogs are ‘harmless pet’ and are mix breed which escape this law. This is a good example of how to create a socially excepted law protect people in society, but it also shows how there are those within society still trying to create social disorder by finding a ‘loophole’ in this case. We all need to think of social disorder or ‘anti-social behaviour’, ‘asbos’ the name the media labels it as in a wider sense to really understand it and look behind the label it is given. Young people underage drinking or smoking a cigarette, smoking cannabis, taking part in rallies/protests are all things we may have taken part in sometime in our lives does this make us all socially disordered. It is believed by some social scientist’s that ‘in our lives we may drift in and out of social acceptable behaviour’ (Matza, 1964). Mainly if we are not a caught doing something classed as socially disordered then to us as individuals it is acceptable. The government within the country is how the laws we live by are created and passed even having its own media outlet in the form of a web site which states anti-social behaviour as being ‘ selfish and unacceptable activity that can blight the quality of community life’ (Respect, 2008). The page even gives the legal definitions of Crime and Disorder Act 1998 ‘a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household’. But can there ever be a universal definition or what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ because of the varied opinions we all form especially when you can have strong media perceptions which can form our opinions for us. When looking at the media in relation to social disorder there is two contrasting views given when looking at the studies of Stanley Cohen and his media perception of ‘ moral panic’ and that of Stuart Hall and the ‘sense of crisis’ he see the media gives us. Stanley Cohen looked in to the media and their way of constructing things such as the ‘folk devil’ (Cohen 1973) (folk devil; people who are portrayed as deviant and that are to blame for crimes and social issues). Stanley Cohen would often argue that media headlines such as ‘thugs’, ‘Alco yobs’ gave the created ‘folk devils’ a cause for people with in society a reason to create a moral panic. The moral panic is caused by the representation of the ‘folk devils’ played out through the media with the use of descriptions of individuals without looking at circumstances surrounding an group, event or individual and finding the reason for the social behaviour being portrayed. This was shown when Stanley Cohen developed the idea of ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’ who fought in the seaside towns in the mid-60s and how the medias descriptive words created social panic without looking at the cause of behaviour. Cohen has a clear view of the media and there use of headlines and portrayal of stories causes the major fears of anti-social behaviour and so creating the ‘folk devils’ instead of looking into the cause and effects of social behaviour so creating Cohen’s ‘Moral Panic’. The other view on the role of the media in relation to social disorder is given by the cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall and his co-authors (Policing the Crisis (1978)). There studies relate to the rise in street robberies or ’muggings’ which occurred in the early 1970s, Hall et al. focus on the violent disorder occurring with in society at the time and how the media through there reporting constructed conflict among others. Hall et al. argued that the British governments role in society seem by them as being the main constant that brought stability was coming to an end in the early 11970s.This presented itself with social disorder occurring ranging from work forces staging strike action to the political unrest and military intervention within Northern Ireland, all emerging so people could express their own opinions and view point over the way the government was ruling. In reaction to the way the government of the time handled the social disorder and their ‘cracking down’ that occurred the media added ‘fuel to a fire’ by giving popular labels to the circumstances arising such as ‘muggers’,’rioters’,’yobs’. After this the political, moral and legal situations became defined by Hall et al. as ‘mindless violence’ and so creating there idea of a ‘Law and order society’. Cohan and Hall et al. both agree that street violence and the way it exists in society and how the medias portrayal can cause publics reactions and ‘sway’ opinions. The media gives society their perception of social unrest giving the public validation in their reactions. Cohan and Hall et al. both argue that in the media doing this in the early 1970s they gave the government justification on tougher crime polices and sentencing, showing that the media had the strongest power in relation to social disorder during that period of time. Word count. 1230. References Kelly,B and Toynbee,J. (2009) ‘Making disorder on the streets’ in Taylor,S. Hinchliffe,S.,Clarke,J. and Bromley, S. Making Social Lives, Open University, Milton Keynes. Silva,E B. (2009) ‘Making Social Order’ in Taylor S, Hinchliffe S, Clarke J and Bromley S Making Social Lives, Open University, Milton Keynes Charles Taylor, (2004, p58) Howard Becker (1963) Goffmans interactions order,P316/317, 2.1 Cited in Silva Faucault 1972,1977,1978 P320 Cited in Silva (Respect 2008) Cited in Kelly and Toynbee Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Stanley Cohen 1973 cited in Kelly and Toynbee Stuart Hall et al. policing the crisis (1978) cited in Kelly and Toynbee Self-Reflection I feel more confident with the way I write things down and am finding it easier to express my thoughts into words. I still need to improve the referencing as find it hard to see what is required at times.