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How similar, how different? On Dutch media depictions of older and younger people

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2014

DOROTA LEPIANKA
DOROTA LEPIANKA*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
*
Address for correspondence: Dorota Lepianka, Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Postbus 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: d.a.lepianka@uu.nl
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Abstract

By providing information on society at large, the media help to establish and maintain relations between various social groups, such as between younger and older people. They may also disturb the formation or maintenance of such relations, e.g. by stimulating the ‘othering’ of the out-group members. The aim of the present study was to trace how the different strategies of ‘othering’ are applied by Dutch news media in their portrayal of older and younger citizens. The analysis showed that the most notable discrepancies in the media coverage of the two age groups appear in (the nature of) their evaluation. While the negative descriptors of older characters relate more frequently to their (alleged) incompetence, the negative depictions of younger actors refer predominantly to their lack of benevolence. In the case of positive evaluations the reverse is true: older characters are more often presented as warm and younger people as competent. The results of the study are interpreted in the light of literature on social distance and (social) practices of ‘othering’.

Keywords

media portrayalsolder and younger adultsotheringdimensions of stereotypeswarmth and competencecontent analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 5 , May 2015 , pp. 1095 - 1113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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