Archive: Mainstream Media

• Notre Dame Cathedral and Questions from a Worker Who Reads (after Bertolt Brecht)

  Public reaction to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire raises several questions in the mind of this week’s contributor to Working Class Perspectives, Sarah Attfield, regarding the biases present in reporting, public sympathy, and colonizers’ mentality. Left out of the telling of Notre Dame’s history are the workers who laid its stones hundreds of years ago, all while looking to the workers who must soon lay stones for the Cathedral again.

  Categories: Uncategorized, Visiting Scholars Tags: John Russo, Mainstream Media, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sherry Linkon, WCP, Working-Class Art, Working-Class Perspectives

• WCP: Class(room) Warfare

  While the college admissions scandal has drawn plenty of media attention in recent weeks, few were truly surprised to learn that wealthy parents were using their money and influence to help their children get into elite colleges. In this week’s Working Class Perspectives, Kathy M. Newman analyzes the real surprise among the coverage: mainstream news commentary’s emphasis on class. Newman argues that this reporting reflects a broader shift toward greater attention to class and inequality in American culture.

  Category: Visiting Scholars Tags: College Admissions Scandal, Higher education, John Russo, Kathy M. Newman, Mainstream Media, Sherry Linkon, WCP, Working-Class Perspectives

• WCP: Class, Politics, and the Return of Roseanne

  The reboot of 1990s sitcom Roseanne brought with it a staggering number of viewers, indicating a strong demand for working-class representation in television and media. In Working-Class Perspectives, Kathy Newman highlights the need for shows like Roseanne while critiquing the disconnect between the people the show is meant to portray and the public actions of its lead actress, Roseanne Barr.

  Category: Visiting Scholars Tags: John Russo, Kathy M. Newman, Mainstream Media, Sherry Linkon, television, WCP, Working-Class Culture, Working-Class Perspectives

• WCP: Going Public with Working-Class Studies

  Discussions on the working-class in media and economics often neglect the depth and nuances of the working-class many academics have become familiar with. In this week’s Working-Class Perspectives, Sherry Linkon addresses the need for working-class studies to be more integrated with lay understandings of the working-class.

  Category: Visiting Scholars Tags: Academia, John Russo, Mainstream Media, Sherry Linkon, WCP, Working-Class Perspectives, Working-Class Studies

• WCP: Russell Brand: The Usefulness (or Not) of a Working-Class Celebrity Activist

  Using his celebrity as a megaphone, Russell Brand has brought attention to a number of working-class causes. However, commentators have frequently dismissed his activism, unable to reconcile Brand's

  Category: Visiting Scholars Tags: Celebrity, Great Britain, John Russo, London, Mainstream Media, Public Housing, Russell Brand, Sarah Attfield, Sherry Linkon, WCP, Working-Class Perspectives