<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This paper presents an analysis of how social class is constructed as a moral category on Swedish mainstream television. Practices of categorisation by the media is an important area of study since these practices are part of a process of co-construction of social categories that are offered to media users as cognitive tools and frames for navigating the social landscape. Based on a content analysis of television in Sweden, we show that the medium of television categorises people appearing on television along the social divisions of class and constructs class as a moral category, with a lower moral value assigned to the working class in comparison to the middle and upper class.</p>
</abstract>

This paper presents an analysis of how social class is constructed as a moral category on Swedish mainstream television. Practices of categorisation by the media is an important area of study since these practices are part of a process of co-construction of social categories that are offered to media users as cognitive tools and frames for navigating the social landscape. Based on a content analysis of television in Sweden, we show that the medium of television categorises people appearing on television along the social divisions of class and constructs class as a moral category, with a lower moral value assigned to the working class in comparison to the middle and upper class.

Naturalizing Social Class as a Moral Category on Swedish Mainstream Television

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Naturalizing Social Class as a Moral Category on Swedish Mainstream Television"}

This paper presents an analysis of how social class is constructed as a moral category on Swedish mainstream television. Practices of categorisation by the...

	Working class	Middle class	Social elite
Significance in the programme	55	66	67
Limited or no significance for the programme	45	34	33
Sum	100	100	100

Working class	9
Middle class	76
Social elite	15
Sum	100

	News and factual programming	Drama and film	Entertainment	Reality TV
Working class	4	14	6	12
Middle class	69	73	85	84
Social elite	27	13	9	4
Sum	100	100	100	100

	Working class	Middle class	Social elite
Appears both audially and visually	32	37	53
Appears only visually	68	63	47
Sum	100	100	100

	Working class	Middle class	Social elite
Has no social relations of significance to the narrative	89	83	78
Has social relations of some or great importance to the narrative	11	17	22
Sum	100	100	100

Naturalizing Social Class as a Moral Category on Swedish Mainstream Television

Published Online: May 26, 2018

Page range: 81 - 94

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2018-0003

Keywords
class, ideology, categorisation, valuation, content analysis

© 2018 Peter Jakobsson et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The significance of the different social classes in Swedish television programmes 2015 (per cent)

The representation of social classes in Swedish television 2015 (per cent)

Social classes in different genres on Swedish television in 2015 (per cent)

The mode of appearance of different social classes in Swedish television programmes 2015 (per cent)

Social relations and social class in drama and film on Swedish television 2015 (per cent)

The appearance of the different social classes on the five television channels with largest reach in Sweden 2015 (per cent)

Naturalizing Social Class as a Moral Category on Swedish Mainstream Television

Published Online: May 26, 2018

Page range: 81 - 94

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2018-0003

Keywordsclass, ideology, categorisation, valuation, content analysis

© 2018 Peter Jakobsson et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The significance of the different social classes in Swedish television programmes 2015 (per cent)

The representation of social classes in Swedish television 2015 (per cent)

Social classes in different genres on Swedish television in 2015 (per cent)

The mode of appearance of different social classes in Swedish television programmes 2015 (per cent)

Social relations and social class in drama and film on Swedish television 2015 (per cent)

The appearance of the different social classes on the five television channels with largest reach in Sweden 2015 (per cent)

Keywords
class, ideology, categorisation, valuation, content analysis