Catering to the Interests of the Richest or Staunch Fighters for Social Justice? A Long-term Perspective on Media Discourses of Economic Inequality in the U.S. Press

Join MIC's Visiting Scholar, Hendrik Theine, for a lunchtime talk about his research on media discourses of inequality.

Income and wealth inequality have increased remarkably since the 1980s, marking a profound challenge for the U.S. Not only are the richest becoming even richer; the bottom 10% struggle with a standard of living that is worse in comparison to some of the poorest European countries. This growing concentration of economic inequality has been identified as a key factor contributing to the increasing polarization of U.S. society, giving rise to substantial societal and political problems such as the increasing economic and political power of the rich. 

Against this background, this talk draws on ongoing research exploring the discourses of economic inequality across different types of news media, which — aside from a few case studies — has not been comprehensively studied thus far. Based on quantitative and qualitative methods in the framework of critical discourse studies, this research shows the long-term evolution of the various topics that constitute the discussion around economic inequality. It will assess, as well, the effect of newspaper political orientation and ownership structures on discourses of inequality. 

Lunch will be provided, beginning at 11:45am. Please RSVP to briar.smith@asc.upenn.edu.