A content analysis of working class popular literature as reflecting class norms

Date

1973

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Abstract

Content analysis is used to investigate presentations of selected social norms and sex roles in Romantic and Adventure magazines. A systematic sample of stories is selected from magazines appearing on newsstands in January, 1973, yielding 48 Romance stories and 27 Adventure stories. The stories are analyzed to discover their degrees of support or non-support of six norms often reported as characteristic of American working class culture. The six norms concern: 1.) role segregation between sexes, 2.) sexual morality, 3.) marriage as a life goal, 4.) punishment for illegal acts, 5.) the individual in a hostile environment, and 6.) orientation toward stability and security. In addition, the personality types of male and female characters in the two types of magazines are compared. The results show little support in the stories for traditional working class norms, especially in the Adventure magazines. Furthermore, there are drastic differences between the men's and women's stories in both normative structure and the roles of male and female characters. It is suggested that working class magazines of the types studied seem to support socialization that makes interaction with the opposite sex particularly difficult.

Description

Keywords

Working class, Class norms, Popular literature

Citation