Monday, February 01, 2016

Ill Manors broadcast: TEDx lecture

Ill Manors raises important questions in terms of ideology, moral panic and the representation of class and youth in mainstream media.

Key notes

What is an ideology?

An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function.

What is a dominant ideology?
Dominant ideologies are views and beliefs that are accepted by most people in society without thinking – they are seen as common sense.


A good example would be that the characters in Ill Manors are bad – they are criminals or drug users and deserve punishment.

Dominant ideology and moral panic
One key aspect of ideology and the media is that certain issues that might challenge the dominant view become major concerns for society.


Sociologist Stanley Cohen coined the phrase ‘moral panic’ to describe this situation.

Examples of moral panic:

  • Violent movies/videogames
  • Gangs
  • Paedophilia
  • Terrorism
  • Pornography




Ill Manors: TEDx lecture blog task

Create a new blogpost called Ill Manors: TEDx lecture and complete the following tasks: 




1) Embed the above video in your blogpost and read this Guardian article that accompanied the original event. Remember to also look at the comments below - these can give you a variety of different perspectives and criticisms to the original lecture.

2) Make notes on the lecture: focus on Plan B/Ben Drew's views on the opportunities for young people in London and how these inspired Ill Manors.

3) What are Plan B's beliefs/politics? What are his values/ideologies? Explain your answers.

4) Who is the target audience of the TEDx lecture? Demographics? Psychographics? How do you know? How does this compare to the audience for his music/films?

5) What does Plan B say about the media? Explain how this can be linked to Cohen's media theory of moral panics? Read this summary of moral panics and the definition from Wikipedia and use them in your answer.


Complete these questions for homework if you don't get them done in the lesson - due for your next Media lesson.

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