The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America (Studies In Communication, Media, And Pub Ser.)

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Synopsis
“This book has the potential to be the most important book on race in the past three decades.” —David O. Sears, coauthor of Obama’s RaceWinner of the Goldsmith Book Prize from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard UniversityUsing the media, and especially television, as barometers of race relations, Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki explore but then go beyond the treatment of African Americans on network and local news to incisively uncover the messages sent about race by the entertainment industry—from prime-time dramas and sitcoms to commercials and Hollywood movies. While the authors find very little in the media that intentionally promotes racism, they find even less that advances racial harmony. They reveal instead a subtle pattern of images that, while making room for Blacks, implies a racial hierarchy with Whites on top and promotes a sense of difference and conflict. Commercials, for example, feature plenty of Black characters. But unlike Whites, they rarely speak to or touch one another. In prime time, the few Blacks who escape sitcom buffoonery rarely enjoy informal, friendly contact with White colleagues—perhaps reinforcing social distance in real life.Entman and Rojecki interweave such astute observations with candid interviews of White Americans that make clear how these images of racial difference insinuate themselves into Whites’ thinking.Despite its disturbing readings of television and film, the book’s cogent analyses and proposed policy guidelines offer hope that America’s powerful mediated racial separation can be successfully bridged.“An important book . . . prompts us to see portrayals of race—including allegedly positive ones—with new insight and concern.” —The Progressive
Copyright:
2001

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
340 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780226210773
Related ISBNs:
9780226210759
Publisher:
The University of Chicago Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Social Studies
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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