Mass Media and Eating

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Mass Media and Eating Disorders
Team Ethnix: Myisha McCoy, Dai Tran, Logan Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Luke Beach, Tyler Makovicka, Sontara Barr-Poole
Effects of mass media
Mass Media acts as an extreme influential factor in the lives of all people within the American society. From the body’s physical appearance to the food intake, the role of mass media has a lasting impact on the American culture. Media is used to relay messages while also establishing and promoting growing trends and norms.
Effects of mass media, cont.
As a country that struggles to gradually obtain a healthy body image, members of society are incredibly demanding of results at an instantaneous rate. Individuals are willing to do whatever it takes to obtain their preferred look, even if that means taking drastic measures. Of which, the development of eating disorders is highly prevalent.
Is it focused mainly on primary or secondary socialization?
Mass media’s impact on the development, and continuation of eating disorders is considered to be a secondary socialization. The ideas stem from public opinion and influences outside of the primary group, which means family’s opinions are often ignored due to their degree of invalidity. The ideal body image that people want to portray themselves to the public’s eyes is highly important because the society tends to judge on physical appearance first before anything. Individuals that struggle with eating disorders, such as anorexia believe that he/she constantly need to be thin in order to have a presentable body for the society’s eyes.
Is there a specific population it is aimed at?
Although mass media is available to all participants of a society, some tools used for advertising are clearly aimed at people who ident...

... middle of paper ...

...cing this agent of socialization today?
Media’s effect on the personal perception of oneself is a debate that has been long discussed. Although there are some definite arguments as to whether the mass media is purely evil and deceiving, the question that should be posed is: Is media truly to blame for these ideologies?
Problems and Issues, cont.
Media is a product of human creation, therefore, it is also a compilation of human ideas. Ideas that come from the elite members of society in an attempt to persuade the non-elites to conform to what the top tier of the hierarchy deems as “normal” or more so, what is “preferred.” If this is true, media is then simply a reflection of what the dominant forces of society find ideal and/or attractive. Perhaps, instead of blaming media for the creation of these ideas, it is only responsible for the reinforcement of these ideas.

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