Social Inequality, Childhood and the Media

Abstract

This chapter of this book deals with the connections between social inequality, childhood and media. The first part is dedicated to national contexts of social inequality and to a discussion of social disadvantage in rich Western societies, with the specific examples of Austria and Germany. The second part deals with the connection between inequality and mediatization. One central argument is that a disadvantageous position in a mediatised society often leads to a lack of participation in society (education, job perspectives and so on). In our mediatised Western societies, participation is closely connected to (digital) media, so that socialisation often becomes media socialisation. We will preface a survey of relevant trends in global mediatization with a literature review covering the evidence of the links between social disadvantages and media experiences. To conclude, we will discuss the consequences of mediatization for academic research on young people’s growing up in general and for our study on media socialisation among socially disadvantaged adolescents in particular.