What examiners look for in an answer

The examiners would look at the Explanation / analysis / argument, Use of examples and the Use of terminology. For the exams using social groups as a case study/ examples would maximise my knowledge and understanding. Using different theories such as Jenkins, Howarth, Tejfal etc… would guarantee a better grade in the exam. The definition of collective identity would be needed in the answer; collective identity – the individual’s sense of belonging to a group. 

How do contemporary media represents different collective groups in different ways?

-          Focus on today and young people

-          Diverse representations and self representation

-          Own examples from the groups you are studying

Collective identity is linked with stereotyping; therefore, linking how the media stereotypes with young people with same collective identity and you can use the London riots as an example of this.

(Source: http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com/2010/03/media-and-collective-identity.html)

Psychologist's

Henri Tajfel – Henri Tajfel was a psychologist that came up with the Social Identity Theory. Social identity theory is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership. The groups which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups got given a sense of social identity, a sense of belonging to the social world. Tafjel believed to increase our self image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong to, we can increase our self image by discriminating and being prejudice against the out groups. Therefore, out groups get categorized into ‘them’ or ‘us’ based on social categorization. Stereotyping is based on a normal thought process, therefore, we tend to exaggerate the differences between groups and the similarities of things in the same group, this is how the media do it when they categorized youths with the riots when they occurred.
Henri Tajfel argues that there is a distinct ‘in group’ and an ‘out group’. This is developed in ‘in group’ favouritism and ‘out group’ discrimination. The individual’s self-esteem is maintaining by being part of the ‘in group’.
This can be linked with the London riots as the media categorized the rioters to be youths, therefore, they are the out-groups. This also gives a negative representation for youths which has a big impact in the world as youths are stereotyped even more. The media increase youths self image by discriminating and being prejudice against the social groups. The London riots gave a negative social identity to youths, as they categorized them during the riots.
Stuart Hall – Stuart Hall argued that the media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it.
(Source - http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism04.html)       A central feature of Marxist theory is the 'materialist' stance that social being determines consciousness. According to this stance, ideological positions are a function of class positions, and the dominant ideology in society is the ideology of its dominant class. This is in contrast to the 'idealist' stance that grants priority to consciousness (as in Hegelian philosophy). Marxists differ with regard to this issue: some interpret the relationship between social being and consciousness as one of direct determination; others stress a dialectical relationship.
Stuart Halls encoding/ decoding challenges long held assumptions on how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed, proposing a new theory of communication.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)#Encoding.2Fdecoding) Distortion is built into the system, rather than being a 'failure' of the producer or viewer. There is a 'lack of fit' Hall argues 'between the two sides in the communicative exchange.' That is, between the moment of the production of the message ('encoding') and the moment of its reception ('decoding').
Stuart Hall suggests media messages in Encoding/decoding become a common-sense status in part through their performative nature.
This relates to the London riots as the media encode and decode information and news to make it look like it was all youths rioting. For example, all the video clips they were showing had youths rioting, therefore, people that watch the news would decode the information and see that only youths have been rioting, therefore, this again gives a bad impression on all youths and young people. The media twist information, therefore, they only encode part of the information and decode part of the information.
Caroline Howarth’s – Caroline Howarth’s a British lecturer in social psychology. Her research focuses on the inter relationships between social representation and identity. She did the Brixton youth studies, where she combined social identity theory with social representation theory. She explored the representations of different communities and social groups and the ways they define and represent themselves.

(Source: http://etn.sagepub.com/content/2/2/237.abstract) Caroline Howarths Brixton Study

This article examines how the struggle for recognition and esteem permeates everyday experiences in the context of young people growing up in Brixton, south London, UK. It begins with a brief history of Brixton and an explanation of the qualitative methods (focus groups and interviews) and thematic analysis used in the research. The findings are then discussed in three sections. The first section illustrates how identity is constructed through and against the representations held by others within particular social contexts. Focusing on the varying strategies that different young people adopt in constructing a positive identity reveals the salience of racist representations in the social construction of Brixton. The second section examines the effects this can have on the self-image and self-esteem of many in the study, looking in particular at strategies used to contest negative versions of blackness. This points to the racializing and gendering within the (re)production of local youth identities. The concluding section illustrates how some young people collaboratively develop the social and psychological resources to protect themselves against the prejudices of others. Together, this material reveals how social relationships and institutional cultures empower/disempower Brixton's youth in their collaborative struggle for recognition and esteem. This allows us to consider how new multicultures address, incorporate and resist new racisms and prejudices towards a locality.