ABSTRACT
The relationship between the visual construction of class and the media is a historically contingent one. The partial representations of the reality of working-class life is apparent in the dismissive terms utilized to describe certain sectors of the working class within the mainstream media in phrases that have become part of the dominant discourse. The contemporary working-class poor are classified across a range of media, political, and academic sites as 'socially excluded', 'welfare dependent', and more pejoratively as 'underclass', 'lowlife', 'losers', and 'yobs'. The mainstream media industries are generally speaking dominated by the proponents of 'left' liberalism and are drawn from a narrow socioeconomic background granting them the power to disseminate their ideas and to air their concerns. The partial representations of the reality of working-class life is apparent in the dismissive terms utilized to describe certain sectors of the working class within the mainstream media in phrases that have become part of the dominant discourse.
