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• Socioeconomic Status Depiction in the Media and
  How it Affects Students
• Jessica Carr

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SES

• Socioeconomic Status, or SES, is defined as an
  individuals or groups position within a
  hierarchal social structure (dictionary online).
  SES includes education, income, residence, and
  other various elements
• SES is seen everywhere we go and affects peoples
  lives daily. Some people even like to only
  associate and marry people within the same class.
  SES can affect the way someone lives and can
  also help determine whether or not they will be
  pursuing a college degree or be in a gang and
  doing drugs.
• Also, SES can be falsely determined by social
  indicators. Flashy makeup, dirty fingernails,
  and torn clothes can be seen by certain people as
  low SES indicators, while BMWs and fancy designer
  clothing is seen as Upper Middle Class or High
  SES.
• The next three slides shows how the media
  portrays SES and gives examples of high SES and
  low SES

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MEAN GIRLS

• Regina George, a majority female, is example of
• High SES in the media. In the movie, Mean
  Girls, she is
• portrayed as a snobby, mean girl.
  However, she is
• popular due to her attractiveness (good body
  image,
• designer handbags / clothes). Her family
  owns a mansion size house,
• and she owns a silver Lexus. She owns two
  Fendi bags. Reginas friend,
• Gretchen, is also rich because her dad
  invented toaster strudel.

1580,00 (price of this Fendi handbag)
Regina, who has also gone up a size, has to now
shop at SEARS because she cant fit into smaller
size clothes at this expensive store. She gives a
look of disgust when the sales person tells her
to go to SEARS.
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Save the Last Dance
Sara, a majority upper middle class student,
recently had her mom die in a car accident. She
then moved to her fathers apartment in the urban
ghetto of Chicago. In the movie, Sara is often
portrayed by her classmates, who are mostly
African American students, as the rich, white
girl that knows nothing about the urban (ghetto)
life.
Derek, in the picture to the right, has lived in
the ghetto of Chicago all his life. He has a
low economic status who is trying to make his way
up and become a doctor. However, his friends
believe that he is acting white for wanting to
go to college and get away from the ghetto.
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My Super Sweet Sixteen MTV
This is a reality-based show where high SES
students try to pull off a 16th birthday party
that no one will every forget.
Dance contest to see who would get invited to the
party.
Even though Colin already gave out all his
personal invitations, he holds a contest for all
the other hopefuls. First 8 people to make him
laugh are getting invites.
Carlysia signs autographs (like a movie star) for
her friends and the people who want to go to her
party.
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How does Media influence students?

• Students see characters in movies that they can
  relate to. From observing these characters,
  students get this image of how they are
  supposed to act, talk, and dress. For example in
  Mean Girls, the attractive, high SES girls are
  seen as popular. The un-popular girls in the
  school strive to be like these girls, the
  plastics. They talk of the plastics as if
  they were queens of the school and how they
  have certain luxury items (such as the Fendi
  bag). Students also see in the movie how these
  girls group together and that there are certain
  cliques. In an actual school setting, you see
  high school cliques. Commonly, the popular
  students tend to be the attractive ones who wear
  the brand name clothes. Mean Girls is a perfect
  example of the cliques and how they are portrayed
  in actual high school.
• On the other hand, Save the Last dance portrays
  mostly a low-economic status area. In the movie,
  some of the minority students in the ghetto, are
  involved in crime and gangs. Some Low SES
  students see this portrayal and identify
  themselves with these students. Unfortunately,
  some (but not all) low SES students in America
  are living in the ghetto and have no motivation
  to move away from the ghetto and get a higher
  level education. If they do try to leave the
  ghetto, they are sometimes seen as an outsider,
  or acting white. As said earlier, on the
  previous slide, Derek is called out as acting
  white for wanting to become a doctor and move
  out of the ghetto. However, this movie does have
  a positive image for students because it shows
  that you can be in a low SES class and can
  eventually work your way up if you have
  motivation and determination.

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How does the Media Influence Students? (cont.)

• MTVs My Super Sweet Sixteen focuses on real
  life situations and how these adolescents (who
  usually come from wealthy families) try to have
  the coolest and best birthday that anyone has
  seen. Most of these teenagers are portrayed as
  mean, selfish, and self-consumed. Viewers, and a
  majority of other students, who watch this show
  see these teenagers as snobby brats who get what
  they want and when they want just because their
  families are high SES. In general, this show
  helps depicts high SES students as the image
  describe above. People begin to associate that
  image with a high SES status. Also, in this
  show, teenagers are shown to try anything to get
  to come to their parties because of their social
  status and popularity.

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Real Life Incident of SES and how it Affects
Students
This is a documentary that was made in 2002, that
focuses on teenagers and how they confess that
they are engaging in drug and alcohol abuse,
sexual activity, and violence. One clip from the
documentary focuses on violence and SES. Jessie,
an adolescent, has frequently been involved in
fighting at schools and has been asked to leave
the classroom many times. Students dont like
him because of his personality (they think hes a
racist) and because of the way he dresses
(Wal-Mart clothes). Other children say that in
order to be cool you need to wear clothes like
Abercrombie and Fitch and Aeropostale. Jessie
lashes out at these other students because they
make fun of him and he lacks a father figure in
his life.
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Other voices who speak out about SES

• We get so much pressure to wear the right brand
  name clothes. People who can't, they're isolated,
  criticized for not being like the cool
  trendies."
• ...Year 11 student
• "This is about companies affecting community
  values by manipulating a vulnerable age group's
  self-doubt and desire to belong. All kids are
  affected, but it's the students with fewer
  choices, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds
  who suffer the most. Our curriculum needs to
  engage with the issues."
• Teacher
• I do not will not buy brand name clothes for my
  kids. I'm not going to have them thinking that
  Ambercrombie, Hillfiger, Aeropostale or any of
  the other major labels are who they are. Whether
  my husband I make 50,000 or 250,000 a year
  isn't even the point. The point is that I DO NOT
  want them to be defined by a label. Clothes do
  not make a person I have raised my child to
  believe this. I will not allow them to make fun
  of or harass someone (child or adult) because the
  way the dress look talk walk etc... everyone is
  different in there own way we have to just
  except that. For those children even adults who
  make fun people because of how they are dress...
  Shame on them . . .

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In conclusion

• As said earlier, SES is a powerful factor in our
  way of life. Despite what the media portrays,
  students need to be aware of these roles in which
  it influences them. SES, can lead to many
  different problems in schools. It can often lead
  to bullying, gangs, and even drugs. SES is not
  always linked to race, but students need to be
  aware of some connections.
• Also, teachers can help students understand SES
  and they can promote a diverse classroom, so all
  different races and SES students will have a
  chance to interact with one another.

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Works Cited

• (2004). Bullying, No Way . Retrieved July 21,
  2007, from Socioeconomic Status Web site
  http//www.bullyingnoway.com.au/issues/socioeconom
  ic.shtml
• (2007). Yahoo Answers . Retrieved July 24, 2007,
  from Why are we Raising Our Children on Brand
  Name Clothes? Web site http//answers.yahoo.com/q
  uestion/index?qid20070711082415AAoSf2M
• All images taken from Google search engine.