Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany in 1818. He was a Economist, Philosopher and a Sociologist. Marx attained his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Berlin in 1841. Among the various theories and concepts developed by Marx, his theory on the capitalist economic system along with the concept of the base and superstructure is what he widely recognized by. Although Marx was born in a fairly wealthy middle class family, Marx has always questioned the capitalist system that is being utilized. More recently with the emergence of media, the capitalist system has been able increase the gap between the poor and the wealthy. The documentary, Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class addresses the inequality of the capitalist system with the aid of Marx’s theory of capitalist, in addition to educating the audience of the dishonest techniques utilized by the media to conceal this inequality (2005,Alper).
The film, Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class, by Loretta Alper illustrates how the media uses stereotypes in a humorous manner to gain viewers. The film is based on the 90’s sitcoms. As described by the film, many of the most memorable characters of these sitcoms are of the working class (2005). Furthermore it states that since we view television as a source of entertainment not education, we are easily being subconsciously manipulated. Most if not all the sitcoms presented, showed the working class as buffoons. From characters like Doug, from King of Queens, to Larry, from Larry the cable Guy, we are persuaded that, that is who the working class is (2005). Then there is a new set of shows that portray families of the middle class as ones in The Cosby show, The Jefferson’s and My Wife and Kids. These shows convince us and build our views of the middle class. These are the families that we feel closely related to and the fact that they are portrayed as middle class, make us believe that we are also the middle class and not a part of the working class. To further persuade the audience, the addition of reality tv and shows like, Jerry Springer, Maury and Cops, makes the audience view the working class as second class citizens.
Karl Marx’s capitalist system categorizes individuals into three distinct classes (2014, Brym). The highest class includes the capitalist and the bourgeoisie. According to Marx, these are the individuals who own the means of production, which is everything needed for production including raw materials, machinery and factories (2014). The second class are the petite bourgeoisie, who maintains the capitalist system by producing ideology that supports the bourgeoisies. This the class composed of the philosophers, social scientists, white collar individuals and even small business owners (2014). The lowest class according to Marx’s theory is the working class. These are the wage earners and blue collar workers (2014). The Bourgeoisies and the working class are linked by the relations of production. This is the...
