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David Gauntlett is a British sociologist and media theorist whose work is central to the AQA A-Level Media Studies specification. His book Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction (2002, with later editions) provides a theoretical framework for thinking about how contemporary media shape, and are shaped by, audience identities. Where Mulvey focuses on textual structures of looking and Butler focuses on the philosophical production of gender, Gauntlett focuses on the relationship between media and everyday identity construction, with particular attention to Web 2.0 and participatory media.
Gauntlett's key claims for AQA can be summarised:
In Media, Gender and Identity, Gauntlett surveys mainstream media from the 1950s to the early 2000s. His key findings:
Gauntlett argues that contemporary media present "a number of different, sometimes contradictory, ideas about gender and identity". Women's magazines, for example, combine conventional beauty advice, feminist articles, career content, and self-help — often in a single issue.
| Era (Gauntlett) | Gender Representation |
|---|---|
| 1950s-70s | Narrow, rigidly gendered |
| 1980s | Shifting, contradictory |
| 1990s | Visible diversity, postfeminist irony |
| 2000s | Pluralistic, pick-and-mix |
| 2010s-20s | Further diversified, participatory |
This is an optimistic reading compared to Mulvey's pessimism. Gauntlett does not deny persistent sexism or racism, but argues the range of available representations has expanded meaningfully.
Gauntlett's most influential concept for AQA is the "pick-and-mix" approach to identity. Drawing on sociologist Anthony Giddens's idea of the reflexive self, Gauntlett argues that modern subjects:
This does not mean everything is equally available — class, race, gender, and sexuality shape what one can pick and mix. But the principle of active self-construction is a significant shift from earlier passive-audience models.
flowchart TD
A[Available Cultural Resources] --> B[Audience Selection]
B --> C[Combination]
C --> D[Ongoing Identity]
D --> E[Reflexive Revision]
E --> B
Gauntlett examines how audiences use media figures as role models — not by direct imitation, but by drawing selectively on examples of "how life can be lived". Magazines and TV offer:
Audiences take what they find useful and leave the rest. This is different from early moral-panic worries about copycat effects; Gauntlett's audiences are selective consumers, not passive receivers.
Gauntlett's later work — especially Making is Connecting (2011) — focuses on Web 2.0. He argues that participatory platforms (YouTube, blogs, social media) transform identity construction by:
For Gauntlett, creativity and connection are closely linked: making things and sharing them builds identity and community.
| Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 |
|---|---|
| Publishers broadcast; audiences consume | Audiences produce and share |
| Few-to-many | Many-to-many |
| Gatekept content | Open platforms |
| Stable identity consumption | Participatory identity making |
Gauntlett explicitly positions himself in relation to other representation theorists:
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