Social groups
“A social group is a
collection of people who interact with each other and share similar
characteristics and a sense of unity. A social category is a
collection of people who do not interact but who share similar characteristics.”
Representations:
Teenagers – Always partying, drinking alcohol,
problematic, sleep all day, untidy etc.
Females – Do all the cooking, always cleaning, take
care of the children, have less dominance than men, don’t play sports, have
‘clean jobs’ e.g. Secretary, teacher, librarian.
Males - Love cars, lots of dominance, have “dirty
jobs”, play lots of sport, lazy, messy, don’t cook or clean, enjoy looking at
women.
A social group is an important aspect to consider when targeting
a specific target audience. Stereotypes of certain social groups can act as
signifiers on magazines, for example, if a car is featured on the cover of a
magazine, the assumption will be that it is target audience is men.
Music
Social groups within music concern those who unite over a
certain type of music e.g. rock, pop, rap etc. People within these groups are
able to relate to each other as they have similar interests.
Music magazines of a certain genre aim to target these groups by
including the features that would appeal to the group.
When targeting a certain audience, you aim to meet the uses and
gratifications theory in order to interest the audience.
Uses and gratifications theory:
Uses and gratifications theory:
1.
Social
interaction
2.
Inform
and Educate
3.
Escapism
4.
Relate
5.
Entertain
