Theorists

Stan Cohen
 -moral panics
-deviance amplification, youths, mass media
-folk devils

David Gauntlet
-"identities aren't given but are constructed and negotiated"

David Buckingham
-"a focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences for both individuals and social groups"

Michel Foucault
-you don't have a real identity, certain frameworks give you your identity. It is not fixed it is just a temporary thing for this part in your life.
-the media is a power structure
power outcomes aren't inevitable and can be revisted
-discourse: in our instance is the injustice and equality enforced by the press and news broadcasts, the POWER is the mass media
-demonisation of youths
-social media 'amed with blackberries'
-37% of British teens own a blackberry
-some wanted the internet 'turned off'
-BBM allowed anonymous organisation in the riots
-COULD be that the youths wanted to protest
-social media provides democracy

Henry Jenkins
-participatory media- everyone can get invloved

Gramsci 
 Italian theorist Antonio Gramsci (1881-1937). He emphasised that the control of society by one group or one set of political ideas was not necessarily achieved by force or control of arms, but by persuasion and ‘consent’ – the basis of democracy. The rulers manage to convince the mass of the population that they are ‘better off’ accepting current government policies. Maintaining hegemonic control is thus a process of constantly reinforcing the message and developing the argument.

The concept of hegemony allows for substantial change in ideas over time, even though the

same groups remain in power. These groups constantly adjust their ideas and find new ways

to gain the consent of those they dominate.

In media terms the Mass Media both perpetuate cultural hegemony and are a cultural hegemony in themselves in that a relatively small number of big companies, e.g. News

Corp., The BBC, Time Warner, Sony etc., control most of the world’s media, and this in turn allows them to control most of what we see, hear and know. This, in turn, allows them to control what we think, selecting only ideas that serve its interests, i.e. bourgeois capitalism. This is known as a ‘Top Down’ model of dominant ideologies.
Acland
 Acland argues that media representations of delinquent youths actually reinforce hegemony.  They do this by constructing an idea of ‘normal’ adult and youth behaviour, and contrasting it with deviant youth behaviour which is shown to be unacceptable. 

Acland also claims that media representations of young people out of control allows the state to have more control of them (e.g. media reports about delinquent youths led to ASBOs).  This is something Acland calls the ‘ideology of protection’ – the idea that young people need constant surveillance and monitoring.  This happens because youth is the time when young people learn about social roles and values, and allows the state to make sure they conform to hegemonic values. 

When applying Acland think about the extent to which media representations show young people as in need of control.  Do the representations show young people as behaving in an unacceptable way?  If so does this identify what behaviour society thinks is acceptable (i.e. hegemonic)?  You may want to focus particularly on how the representations we looked at show youths to be deviant, thus reinforcing middle class hegemony.