The Media Violence Debate and the Risks It Holds for Social Science

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The debate about violence and indecency in pop culture within and outside of the scholarly community has been raging for several decades. On the one hand, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have issued notes directly linking media violence to aggression (Ferguson and Beresin 70). On the other hand, research on the matter is inconclusive showing that the correlation between violence and aggression varies from null to weak (Ferguson and Beresin 70). The situation with indecency is also hard to evaluate since it is unclear where freedom of speech ends and impropriety starts.

To make the situation clear, it is vital to examine violence and indecency separately. There is no scientific evidence that the representation of violence is pushing boundaries (Ferguson and Beresin 75). Even though exposure to cruelty and brutality is growing due to the increased number of media sources, it neither seems to affect the psychological health of the population nor does it reinforce new societal ideas of what is appropriate.

However, caution in the matter is suggested since the younger population is prone to the “copycat phenomenon.” Therefore, violence in the media is to be controlled, as the copycat effect is greater “when there is extensive media coverage and detailed descriptions and if the event is glamorized or sensationalized” (Ferguson and Beresin 72). Additionally, research methods in the matter are open to criticism.

The situation differs from indecency in the media since the research on the phenomenon is scarce. While there is no specific information on the matter, the older generation strongly believes that vulgarity of the pop culture is pushing boundaries. This may be explained by moral panic theory, which claims that such an opinion has no rational basis behind it. However, the copycat effect may come in place, and the moral standards of the younger generation may lower due to the indecency exposed by pop culture.

Work Cited

Ferguson, Christopher, and Eugene Beresin. “Social Science’s Curious War with Pop Culture and How It Was Lost: The Media Violence Debate and the Risks It Holds for Social Science.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 99, 2017, pp. 69-76.

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