Customer Reviews

Connecting Social Problems in Popular Culture

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Call me over-analytical, but as a former sociology instructor, I check out authors' references and "facts." Sternheimer's analysis checks out. This is a fine book that combines entertaining pop-culture references with solid research to produce a theme many find distinctly unwelcome: popular culture and media are NOT the devastating influences on young people that escapists argue. Whether it's violence, sex, drugs, school failure, materialism, and so on, a youth's behavior relates far, far more to his or her poverty level and the real behaviors of nearby adults than to fictional images on the screen.

Negative comments by "LD" claiming he "knows" that "these humans" (young people)--30 million people he never met--are "not right" just by "observing" them tell me a lot more about the reviewer than about teenagers. Unfortunately, this kind of egotism is often the standard for books and reviews about youth. Those who instead take a humbler, more critical approach demand evidence beyond "what's inside my head," and Sternheimer supplies strong evidence that can be checked to back her points.

This book is clearly written and works well both for a personal read and for social scientists and teachers seeking texts for media analysis, cultural studies, sociology, social psychology, and related classes where a distinct, refreshing view challenging conventional notions is needed.