Perspectives on mediated shame of class and poverty in European contexts

Abstract

In this chapter we introduce the key concepts of the book-media, class, poverty and shaming. We describe a shift in the strategy of the media over recent decades, from giving or denying a voice to gazing at selected segments of society. Behind that move is a new negotiation of the meaning of class and wealth or poverty as a social relationship and cultural symbol. Shaming works here as a strategy of implicit or explicit social degradation. Across Europe, the mediatised shaming of poverty and class does not follow any simple logic, but is dependent on a local socio-political context.