Write a 200-250 word discussion that applies at least two of the ideas from Chapter 5 of Social Problems to the case of activism against mass incarceration described in Chapter 3 of When We Fight We Win.

Review “The Media and Claims” (Chapter 5 of Social Problems)

In this chapter, Best analyze how the media translate claims into secondary claims and how primary claimsmakers are up against many constraints when trying to garner media coverage for their claims. Some of these constraints have to do with the conditions of news work. News media value novelty, predictability, compelling visuals, the idea of “balance” of two sides, and official sources. Changing media which has segmented audiences also constrains the kinds of claims that get covered. For-profit media outlets require advertising to stay afloat and advertisers favor wealthy customers, which means that media tends to devote more attention to issues of concern to corporations and the wealthy than they do to the concerns of the poor and powerless. Some claimsmakers come to be seen as the “owners” of the problem, which gives them more access to media makers. Media makers also tend to rely on higher status people as sources for information, such as experts with graduate education credentials and governmental officials. Particular typifying examples can be landmark narratives which come to shape all media coverage of a social problem. When popular culture addresses social problems, it follows certain conventions of “genres.” Fiction requires heroes, villains and conflict so that type of popular culture tends to individualizesocial problems. The rise of social media has both further segmented people into bubbles, on the one hand, and yet can also make awareness of certain social problems “go viral.” Finally, sociologists who study the effects of the media find that while media may not directly affect what you think, it definitely affects what you think about. This is called agenda setting.

Read “Transforming Visions,” Chapter 3 of When We Fight We Win

For this assignment, you will read Chapter 3 (pp. 51-76) of When We Fight We Win, entitled “Transforming Visions: Ending Mass Incarceration.”

Apply Best’s Concepts to the Ending Mass Incarceration Case Study

Write a 200-250 word discussion that applies at least two of the ideas from Chapter 5 of Social Problems to the case of activism against mass incarceration described in Chapter 3 of When We Fight We Win. Michelle Alexander published her book The New Jim Crow in 2010. Unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012. Since then, many police shootings of unarmed African-Americans have been filmed on cellphones and those videos have been shared widely through social media. How has media, of all types, affected the rise and effectiveness of the organizations and movements discussed in Chapter 3 of When We Fight We Win–the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, All of Us or None, Color of Change, the Human Rights Coalition or the movement to legalize marijuana?