Media Culture: The Social Organisation of Media Practices in Contemporary Britain
BFI commissioned report shows how ethnicity, class and education affect how we watch television and film.
On 6 November 2006 the BFI has published a report highlighting how class, ethnicity and education influence the way British viewers relate to film and television and how these differences can exclude large groups of the population. It suggests we need to rethink how we communicate across our different communities as audiences are divided in their taste and understanding of British cultural programming and film.
The study was carried out by the Open University and the University of Manchester for the BFI and it says culture has always divided people as much as it has provided a basis for shared values - and film and television are no exception. The problem is not one of minority groups failing to integrate with the national culture, rather key aspects of national film and television culture offer little space for ethnic interests or identities.
Media Culture: The Social Organisation of Media Practices in Contemporary Britain took three years to research and compile and sheds valuable light on cultural practices associated with film and television and their relation to social divisions among the population in Britain today. The research was based on a statistically representative survey of the UK, focus groups, a qualitative sample of households, and a small sample of business and professional elites, as well as specifically targeted respondents from Britain's three largest ethnic groups - Indian, Pakistani and Afro-Caribbean communities. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and has been conducted by its Centre for Research on Socio-cultural Change at the Open University and the University of Manchester.
Among its key findings the report shows that, in general, members of minority ethnic groups have a strong involvciteent in film culture. They go more regularly to the cinema than the rest of the population and are more likely to own collections of film and video, as well as to watch film clips on the internet and access news and sports. Digital, satellite and cable television are accessed in greater proportions, although the internet is used less relative to the rest of the population.
The research also shows that ethnic groups tend to be less fond of soaps as a genre, but their responses to particular soap operas show a strong contrast between EastEnders and Coronation Street. They often prefer EastEnders and have little interest in Coronation Street. This suggests, says the report, a preference for metropolitan cosmopolitanism and a distanced relation to northern working class culture. Ethnic groups also show little liking for programmes that embody the values of "Middle England". This is echoed in the lack of interest in the classic signature of quality British cinema like costume dramas and literary adaptations.
Second generation migrants are also more involved with film and television culture than many other aspects of publicly funded culture in Britain.
Richard Paterson, Head of Strategic Development at the BFI, welcomed the report and said it has implications for how media organisations develop their policies to involve audiences from across the community in their activities. "We were keen to expand the scope of this unique research project to examine how communities - particularly ethnic viewers - use film and television in their everyday lives," he explained. "This is an area with which we have been concerned for a number of years and these findings provide more evidence that we have to consider in developing future policies that shape all our services and activities."
Media Culture: The Social Organisation of Media Practices in Contemporary Britain was prepared by Tony Bennett, Mike Savage, Elizabeth Silva, Alan Warde, Modesto Gayo-Cal and David Wright. Tony Bennett, Professor of Sociology at the Open University, said: "Our study shows, in unprecedented detail, how our relationships to film and television are shaped by our age, our gender, our ethnicity, our class, and our education - and it suggests new ways of looking at these than the now tired policies of social inclusion and social integration.
'Our report raises some timely issues given the current concern with the public value of television and the media in general. For these questions require that the interests of different publics be taken into account. Yet we show that media publics are significantly divided in their media tastes along class, age, ethnic and gender lines - and the challenge is to find a balance that takes account of this.'
You can download a copy of the full report here:
It is also available from the CRESC website or Open University website.
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