the reader

FOA Martijn

Outline:

1: Introduction:
Structure and content/part
Task division
Learning outcome
2: Body (2): Compare writers
Writers;
Background
Age
Stature and credibility
Conclusion writers
How do age, background and nationality of writers influence language and meaning?
What are the consequences of this influence?
3: Conclusion:
Effects Noor, Martijn, Joos and Nadine on language and meaning
Compare gravity of different aspects’ effect

Introduction:

[Slide 1.] Sociologists make a distinction between gender and sex. Gender is the perceived component of human sexuality while sex is the biological or genetic component.
Why do we differentiate between gender and sex? Differentiating gender from sex allows social scientists to study influences on sexuality without confusing the social and psychological aspects with the biological and genetic aspects.

Gender is the socially constructed component of human sexuality. Gender is an inner feeling that you are male, female, both, neither. Perhaps the best way to understand gender is to understand it as a process of social presentation. Because gender roles are outlined by behavioural expectations and norms, once individuals know those expectations and norms, those individuals can adopt behaviours that project the gender he/she wishes to portray.

[Slide 2.] We are about to present to you a comparison of two articles with the common theme of advertisements. We will compare two articles about this subject made by two authors with different nationalities.
Article #1: “A healthier dose of realism” by Nicola Clark (UK).
Article #2: “Thin is too in” by Robert Gustafson, Mark Popovich and Steven Thomsen (USA).

[Slide 3.] We want to convince you of our ability to demonstrate an awareness of how, in both articles, language and meaning are shaped by culture and context.

[Slide 4.] Our presentation today will be divided into 6 parts, respectively this introduction, 4 body parts and a conclusion. Noor will discuss content, I will discuss the authors, Joos then compares the context in which the articles were written and Nadine will end the core of our presentation by contrasting forthcoming cultural aspects of both articles. Finally, overseeing the sub-conclusion every speaker in our group will present concerning their individual piece, I will give a final conclusion.

Body (2); Compare writers:

[Slide 5.] Article 1 was written by Nicola Clark. She is the 40-year-old mother of two girls, both disabled, and a campaigner on the issue of promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people. She had lived her life in the United Kingdom. She is currently active as a marketing manager at a prominent real estate company.

[Slide 6.] The second article was written by three American scholars; Robert Gustafsen, Mark Popovich and Steven Thomsen. Robert Gustafson is an associate professor, and Mark Popovich a professor, in the Department of Journalism at Ball State University; and Steven Thomsen is an associate professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young
University. Furthermore, Clark is 40, while Gustafsen, Popovich and Thomsen are respectively 62, 56 and 61.

[Slide 7.] With this data in mind, some pieces of the puzzle seem to fall in place when you start to read both articles. To start with 'A healthier dose of realism', even though I think it is obvious that Clark's opinion is not necessarily influenced by her own sex, after reading i did feel like Clark is a woman who is and acts thoroughly against factors in daily life that carry out a negative influence on people leading to a variety of negative ways of thinking, and even several medical disorders. To enforce her viewpoint she introduces a controversial example of such a factor: airbrushing; airbrushing refers to any retouching done to a photo that changes the reality of the photo. People or objects removed, acne erased, or body shapes altered. She gives mention to the work of Jo Swinson, a British Liberal Democrat and Member of Parliament. The reason Clark refers to Swinson is because Swinson is a leading figure within the Campaign for Body Confidence, who believe and pledge to defend that everyone has the right, whatever their size, shape or form, to feel happy about themselves. The following abstract from Clark's article sketches a clear view of her opinions.

[Slide 8.] 'Swinson tells Marketing that she will shortly be presenting the ASA with a portfolio of scientific evidence to back calls for a voluntary code of conduct on airbrushing. She points to the fact that the ASA's code states that ads must be socially responsible, adding: 'When there is a great deal of evidence showing that idealized media images contribute to body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and even eating disorders, I believe that it is socially irresponsible to promote these unrealistic images without making it clear that they are not real.'

The key part to understand in this abstract is in the last sentence: 'I believe that it is socially irresponsible to promote these unrealistic images without making it clear that they are not real.' To rephrase: we should protect people from their possible inability to understand the reality of the images they are presented with. This is quite arguable, but can easily be counterfeited as well, because, one might argue that people (especially and mostly above 18) have the right to expose their minds to the before mentioned idealized media images, and that prohibiting this would show discrimination and depreciation towards people's ability to use common sense and relativization. So, author backgrounds in this case resulted in weak spots in the argumentation.

[Slide 9.] Then in article 2, with the limited background information available, little can be said with absolute certainty about the effects on language and meaning. Very accurate speculation, however, is far from impossible; the age of the authors might indicate unfamiliarity towards social media, simply because they don’t use it. This might then of course lead to a distorted view towards social media, which could then lead to less correct conclusion about the influence of social media on mental health.

Conclusion: