What's on? Rethinking class in the television industry
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: School of Media & Communication
Abstract
What's on? Rethinking class in the television industry is situated in the context of academic, media, and public discussions about social class and the TV industry. From policy concerns about working class access to the sector, through to class as a prominent point of discussion in BAFTA award winners' speeches, class is important to national conversations about TV. Academic research has demonstrated that class is crucial in shaping what gets commissioned for television, who gets roles on and off screen, and the sorts of representations of social class that are broadcast and made available to download or stream.
What's on? understands class is an aspect of identity that is intrinsically entwined with other demographic characteristics and markers of identity such as gender, race and disability. This idea aligns with the recent policy and industry attempts to measure and evaluate workforces and audiences from an intersectional perspective. This intersectional understanding of class is present in academic debates over on-screen representation. Who is counted as working class, how class is connected to race and gender, for example, and the way inaccurate or distorted versions of working class life fail to connect to audiences, have all been important themes in recent research.
Whilst the literature has been crucial in shaping how we understand the importance of social class in the television industry, there has, as yet, not been a UK research project that fully connects the questions of who produces, what is made and how class is represented and understood. Even within this rich body of research, and the accompanying public, practitioner, and policy interest, questions remain unanswered: What is the impact of social class, understood intersectionally, on contemporary TV production? How is social class represented on contemporary TV? And how do audiences consume, understand, and respond to class on TV? This project is designed to answer these connected questions, sitting at the intersection of the connected literatures that have grappled, separately, with these issues.
Working in partnership with the BBC and Channel 4 (BBC pilot ongoing) What's on? will analyse the production, consumption, and reception of two case study drama series. In doing so, the project connects questions of who produces, what is made, and how class is represented and understood. Understanding class in the context of production, representation, and consumption and will make a significant contribution to the literature, given the limited number of studies that have pursued this approach to research. Moreover, linking these three areas of analysis has yet to see a research project with an intersectional approach to social class.
The analysis in the project follows four complementary methodologies to produce: a network ethnography for each programme; interviews with commissioners, producers, casting directors and on-screen performers, as well as below the line staff; a framing and textual analysis of the programmes; and analysis of audience data provided from project partners and collected by fieldwork. The project will make a major, specific, contribution to television studies and creative industries, with insights for cultural and media studies scholars, alongside a network of public, policy, and practitioner audiences. These audiences will be engaged using a variety of methods, including a blog, workshops, policy events, reports, audio and film material, as well as open access book and academic papers.
What's on? draws on the experience and track records of Johnson and O'Brien as PI and Co-I, offers the opportunity for the emerging early career academic voice of Minor to Co-I a major project, and will offer a wealth of development for a postdoctoral research fellow. The combination of skills and experience will allow AHRC funded research to make an impact on academic audiences and to address inequality in one of Britain's core creative industries
What's on? understands class is an aspect of identity that is intrinsically entwined with other demographic characteristics and markers of identity such as gender, race and disability. This idea aligns with the recent policy and industry attempts to measure and evaluate workforces and audiences from an intersectional perspective. This intersectional understanding of class is present in academic debates over on-screen representation. Who is counted as working class, how class is connected to race and gender, for example, and the way inaccurate or distorted versions of working class life fail to connect to audiences, have all been important themes in recent research.
Whilst the literature has been crucial in shaping how we understand the importance of social class in the television industry, there has, as yet, not been a UK research project that fully connects the questions of who produces, what is made and how class is represented and understood. Even within this rich body of research, and the accompanying public, practitioner, and policy interest, questions remain unanswered: What is the impact of social class, understood intersectionally, on contemporary TV production? How is social class represented on contemporary TV? And how do audiences consume, understand, and respond to class on TV? This project is designed to answer these connected questions, sitting at the intersection of the connected literatures that have grappled, separately, with these issues.
Working in partnership with the BBC and Channel 4 (BBC pilot ongoing) What's on? will analyse the production, consumption, and reception of two case study drama series. In doing so, the project connects questions of who produces, what is made, and how class is represented and understood. Understanding class in the context of production, representation, and consumption and will make a significant contribution to the literature, given the limited number of studies that have pursued this approach to research. Moreover, linking these three areas of analysis has yet to see a research project with an intersectional approach to social class.
The analysis in the project follows four complementary methodologies to produce: a network ethnography for each programme; interviews with commissioners, producers, casting directors and on-screen performers, as well as below the line staff; a framing and textual analysis of the programmes; and analysis of audience data provided from project partners and collected by fieldwork. The project will make a major, specific, contribution to television studies and creative industries, with insights for cultural and media studies scholars, alongside a network of public, policy, and practitioner audiences. These audiences will be engaged using a variety of methods, including a blog, workshops, policy events, reports, audio and film material, as well as open access book and academic papers.
What's on? draws on the experience and track records of Johnson and O'Brien as PI and Co-I, offers the opportunity for the emerging early career academic voice of Minor to Co-I a major project, and will offer a wealth of development for a postdoctoral research fellow. The combination of skills and experience will allow AHRC funded research to make an impact on academic audiences and to address inequality in one of Britain's core creative industries
