In The Drama of Reality Television: Lives of Youth in Liquid Modern Times, the author offers a glimpse into the lives, viewing habits, and opinions of todayâs Generation Z. While reality television is quite often viewed as just a guilty pleasure, the conversations that the author had with young people show that reality television is a major pedagogical force in the lives of young viewers.
This is compounded by our current liquid modern time period; a time in which everything is fluid, there are no solid bonds and people are disposable. The author shares the incredible conversations that she had with seven honest, insightful pre-teenagers to give us a deeper understanding of the ways in which just a âguilty pleasureâ is working to deeply impact the lives of young people.
Danielle T. Ligocki, Ed.D. (2015), Lewis University, is an Assistant Professor of Education at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She spent 11 years teaching junior high before joining Oakland University. She has published articles focused on her work with young people, including "Using the Algebra Classroom as a Site for Social Justice" (Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 2017).
1 Introduction
â1âResearcher Positionality
â2âFocus of Research
â3âLiving in a Neoliberal Society
â4âLiving in a Liquid Society
â5âLimitations
2 Liquid Modernity: What Is It and How Does It Play a Role in the Lives of Young People?
â1âWhat Is Liquid Modernity?
â2âLack of Solid Bonds
â3âOversharing, Surveillance and the Lack of a Private Life
â4âDisposability and a Culture of Consumption
â5âInsensitivity
â6âNo Sense of Community and Disintegration of the Social Network
â7âWhy Liquid Modernity and Reality Television?
â8âCritiques of Liquid Modernity
3 Critical Media Literacy and Reality Television
â1âReality Television
â2âHistory of Reality Television
â3âImplications of Reality Television
â4âNeed for Critical Media Literacy
4 Itâs All about the Drama!
â1âJasmine
â2âMalaysia
â3âBrian
â4âJohn
â5âMarty
â6âBrittany
â7âJake
â8âThemes
â9âNotion of Drama
â10âExtent of Reality
â11âInfluence on Lives and Identities
â12âConcept of Disposability
â13âCreation of Media Selves
â14âEmphasis on Stereotyping
â15âConclusion
5 Conclusion
â1âWhat I Learned from the Research
â2âCritical Recognition of Stereotypes
â3âLooking Forward
â4âConclusion
Index
Those involved in shaping the lives of todayâs youth â teachers, parents, researchers and even pre-service teachers.