Implications of Young Peoples Popular Culture on Education

Implications of Young People’s Popular Culture on Education Outline: - Description of websites - Deconstruction of websites - Construction of identity and power relations - Implications for education - Conclusion By: Rabia Ayasli (15911546) and Zina Al-Nakeeb (13724870)

Deconstruction of Game Objectifying women: the importance of beauty; slender body Promotion of violence by the use of guns Ironic? Religious Icons How masculinity is represented: Black Male Powerful

Identity Construction & Power Relations l Race and gender - masculinity is represented through a violent black heterosexual male - criminal black man Vs. white police man l white supremacy Powerful & influential representation of women - objectifying women - promoting abuse of women

Description of On-Line Dolly TEEN BIBLE? Magazine Website What guys think of: small boobs, pimples & cellulite

Deconstruction of Magazine Website l l l Girls and boys select Web sites that sustain the gender beliefs underpinning “successful” social behaviours in peer groups (Lenhart et al. , 2001) g. URLs “poisoning culture” (Pipher, 1994) Objectifying women (Merskin & Silva, 2000) Stereotypical (e. g. habitual colours) Role of language (Warschauer, 2001) (as cited in Mazzarella, 2005)

Identity Construction & Power Relations l Postmodern Theory - Identity is actively shaped and changed (Beck, 1992) l Construction of Social Meaning through Subjectivity - Websites present subjectivities and their associated expression of power and agency (Currie, 1999) l Hegemony - The ideological construct that links femininity to attractiveness and consumerism (Gramsci, 1971) (as cited in Mazzarella, 2005)

Implications for Education Technology Narratives (narrative therapy, stories for learning) (constructionist tools for learning, virtual communities) Objects (play therapy, Manipulatives) Identity construction environments (Bers, Gonzalez. Heydrich & De. Maso, 2001)

Implications for Education l School must provide students with a safe and supportive environment (Sheehan, et al. 2000) l Incorporate social justice issues within the curriculum e. g. the use of particular texts (Pallotta-Chiarolli, 1999) l Teachers must educate students to clear out misconceptions through the promotion of a socially just and equitable classroom (Griffiths, 2003)

Conclusion l Media (in all its forms) has power over audience/consumers l Popular culture has a significant influence on the construction of identity especially teenagers l Creating a socially just school environment, and hence influencing our future society, requires an integrated approach

References l l l Griffiths, M. (2003). Action for Social Justice in Education. UK & USA: Open University Press. Mazzarella, S. R. (2005). Girl Wide Web: the internet, and the negotiation of identity. New York, USA: Peter Lang. Palotta-Chiarolli, M. (1999). Multicultural Does Not Mean Multisexual: Social Justice and the Interweaving of Ethnicity and Sexuality in Australian Schooling. In Epstein, D. & Sears, J. T. Sexuality, Pedagogy and Popular Culture. New York: Cassell. pp. 283 -302. Sheehan, M. , Marshall, B. , Cahill, H. , Rowling, L. & Holdsworth, R. (2000). School Matters: mapping and managing mental health in schools. Carlton South, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation. Strahan, E. J. , Lafrance, A. , Wilson, A. E. , Ethier, N. , Spencer, S. J. & Zanna, M. P. (2008). Victoria's Dirty Secret: How Sociocultural Norms Influence Adolescent Girls and Women [Electronic version]. Personality & Social Psychology Bulliten, 34, 288 -302.

References l l Gonzalo Frasca (2003) Game Studies-Sim Sin City Some thoughts about Grand theft auto retrieved from website http: //www. gamestudies. org/0302/frasca/ Internationalteenlife wiki/group 8 Effects of new technology and video games on teenages (2008) retrieved from website http: //internationalteenlife. pbwiki. com/group 8 (America in the late 1990 s had an increase in the number of school shootings. Many teenagers often claimed that Grand Theft Auto influenced them to their crime ) Matt Kiefaber (2002) Video Game Implications of Online Gaming retrieved from website http: //www. units. muohio. edu/psybersite/cyberspace/onlinegames/index. shtml (This is because for many people, what is being pursued in the video game is not just a score, but an altered state ) Eddy Cheung (2006) retrieved from website http: //www. cse. ohiostate. edu/~cheunge/CSE 601 Slide. ppt (Some psychological studies have shown a correlation between children playing violent video games and suffering psychological effects, though the vast majority stop short of claiming behavioral causation) Dolly Magazine Website (2008). Retrieved 10 April, 2008 from http: //dolly. ninemsn. com. au/

Thank You for Watching