Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2020

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Communication

Degree Program

Communication, MA

Committee Chair

Smith-Jones, Siobhan

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Della, Lindsay

Committee Member

Medina, Manuel

Author's Keywords

immigration; immigrants; representation; television; media; stereotypes

Abstract

A larger number of people reside outside their country of birth today than in any other time in history, and these levels are expected to continue to rise in the future (International Organization for Migration, 2011). The United States is currently the most popular immigrant destination in the world, with more immigrants than any other country. Immigrants statistics indicate that the immigrant population in the United States reached a record of 44.4 million in 2017 (Pew Research Centre, 2019). Correspondingly, the percentage of immigrants who were admitted into the U.S. as spouses of citizens has increased over of the last of the era, from around 10 % in the late 1960s, 15% in the 1970s, 22% in the mid-1980s and in the late 1990s, and a further rise around start of the 21st century (Stevens, Ishizawa & Escandell, 2012). Growing concerns regarding immigration have accompanied the rising immigrant population in the United States. However, in order to understand these growing concerns, the role of the media must be carefully examined because audio-visual representations of immigrants in mainstream media, film, and television may account, to some degree, for these concerns. Consequently, understanding media’s representation of immigrants is vital to understanding how dominant immigrant stereotypes come to be in larger society and accordingly, attitudes towards immigrants and immigration. Keywords: stereotypes, immigrants, reality television, media effects.

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