ANT100 Ashford University Week 5 Television Reality Shows Discussion

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the following Required Resources:

Choose one of the following two options to address in this discussion. Be sure that your initial post meets the full length requirement of 300 words, and that you incorporate at least two of this week’s required resources in your post, one of which should be the textbook. Include citations and a full reference to your chosen sources. (See the Required Resources page for all references in APA format).


Option 1: Read The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race (Links to an external site.) and Social Darwinism Isn’t Dead: Rich People Think They Really Are Different From You and Me (Links to an external site.). This article notes that “The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long” (Abdul-Jabbar, 2014).

  • What kind of class divides do you see in the US today?
  • How are race, gender, ethnicity, and other variables that we have covered in the class related to class?
  • How do different economic classes view each other, according to the two articles you read for this discussion? Do you agree with the authors of these articles? Support your position with information from credible sources.

Option 2: Prior to listening to the following story, reflect on the following:

  • What are your thoughts on reality TV?
    • Did you ever notice that it could have the power to change the way people think about the world or have a positive impact on people’s lives?

Next, listen to The Other Real World (Links to an external site.) podcast and address the following:

  • Has your view of reality TV changed?
  • How do you feel about “foreign powers using popular media to influence the emotional climate and therefore the politics of another country?”
    • Have you noticed any other instances of governments using the media to influence outcomes in another country?
    • What positive impact could this kind of norms engineering have?
    • What negative impacts could it have?
  • Do you think that future conflicts will be fought more often via media rather than via active combat?