The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Underrepresentation and Symbolic Annihilation of Socially Disenfranchised Groups (“Out Groups”) in Animated Cartoons
Open accessAbstract
For many years, the mass media have been accused of providing negative and potentially-damaging messages to viewers. Some have complained that the media are replete with too much violence while others have lamented on media stereotyping of various groups. In this article, the authors examine the issues of underrepresentation and symbolic annihilation as they apply to one particular medium-namely, animated cartoons-to which people are exposed early in life, typically on a regular basis for many years. Our principal research questions are (a) To what extent do cartoons underrepresent and/or symbolically annihilate social groups that are not considered desirable in society-at-large? (b) Has underrepresentation and/or symbolic annihilation changed over time? and (c) When social "out groups" are shown, how are they depicted vis-a-vis "in groups"? To examine these questions, the authors examine portrayals based on gender, age, race, and sexual orientation. The data revealed that animated cartoons have a long history of underrepresenting and symbolically annihilating socially devalued "out groups" and that little has changed over the course of the past 65+ years. When "out group" members are included in cartoons, however, their portrayals tend not to be dramatically different-not better and not much worse-than those typical of their "in group" counterparts.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“The five factor model [110] is a popular method used in studies dealing with personality traits; it identifies five different traits: extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and agreeableness [111].”
From Gender stereotypes and education: A comparative content analysis of Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi school textbooks (2018) · cites this paper as [110]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Kytle, J., & Bandura, A. (1978) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2065952 · Cited by 25,422
Statistical Abstract of the U nited S tates
(2005) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/0471667196.ess2527 · Cited by 8,872
From the New York Times Magazine
Minsky, & Hyman, P. (1979) · Cited by 6,899
(1982) · Cited by 3,737
Living with Television: The Violence Profile
Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1976.tb01397.x · Cited by 2,357
The Effects of Television Violence on Antisocial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis1
Paik, H., & Comstock, G. A. (1994) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365094021004004 · Cited by 857
Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures: Men and Women 15-44 Years of Age, United States, 2002
Mosher, W. D., Chandra, A., & Jones, J. (2005) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e609202007-001 · Cited by 696
Television and behavior : ten years of scientific progress and implications for the eighties
Pearl, D., Bouthilet, L., & Lazar, J. B. (1982) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 627
Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media
Flora, C. B., Tuchman, G., Daniels, A. K., & Benét, J. (1979) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2064615 · Cited by 429
The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media
Tuchman, G. (2000) · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-349-62397-6_9 · Cited by 398
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Akers R. L., 1973, Deviant behavior
- Cole J., 1997, The UCLA television violence report 1996
- Gibson C., 2002, Historical census statistics on population totals by race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic origin, 1790 to 1990, for the United States, regions, divisions, and states
- Lear M. W., 1968, New York Times Magazine, 24
- 10.2466/PR0.85.7.1051-1056 · DOI
- 2000, Statistical abstract of the United States
- White J. D., 2002, Journal of Bisexuality, 2, 41
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment against Female Politicians
Krook, M. L., & Sanín, J. R. (2019) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592719001397 · Cited by 320
Gender in Twentieth-Century Children’s Books
McCabe, J. M., Fairchild, E., Grauerholz, L., Pescosolido, B. A., & Tope, D. (2011) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/0891243211398358 · Cited by 230
Islam, K. M. M., & Asadullah, M. N. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190807 · Cited by 196
Leavitt, P. A., Covarrubias, R., Perez, Y. A., & Fryberg, S. A. (2015) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.12095 · Cited by 186
‘To Be Able to Imagine Otherwise’: community archives and the importance of representation
Caswell, M., Migoni, A. A., Geraci, N., & Cifor, M. (2016) · Archives and Records · doi:10.1080/23257962.2016.1260445 · Cited by 141
Socially defunct: A comparative analysis of the underrepresentation of older women in advertising
Baumann, S., & de Laat, K. (2012) · Poetics · doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2012.08.002 · Cited by 56
Gender representations in children's media and their influence
Steyer, I. (2014) · Campus-Wide Information Systems · doi:10.1108/cwis-11-2013-0065 · Cited by 44
Who’s modeling STEM for kids? A character analysis of children’s STEM-focused television in the US
Aladé, F., Lauricella, A. R., Kumar, Y., & Wartella, E. A. (2020) · Journal of Children and Media · doi:10.1080/17482798.2020.1810087 · Cited by 41
Problems of Publicity: Online Activism and Discussion of Same-Sex Sexuality in South Korea and China
Chase, T. (2012) · Asian Studies Review · doi:10.1080/10357823.2012.685450 · Cited by 28
Doc McStuffins and Dora the Explorer : representations of gender, race, and class in US animation
Keys, J. (2016) · Journal of Children and Media · doi:10.1080/17482798.2015.1127835 · Cited by 31
Symbolic annihilation of Syrian refugees by Turkish news media during the COVID-19 pandemic
Yücel, A. (2021) · International Journal for Equity in Health · doi:10.1186/s12939-021-01472-9 · Cited by 26
Scharrer, E., Ramasubramanian, S., & Banjo, O. O. (2022) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2022.2138890 · Cited by 25
Gender and Emotion Stereotypes in Children’s Television
Martin, R. M. (2017) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2017.1344667 · Cited by 24
Blumberg, R. L. (2015) · Cited by 23
Gendered Instagram representations in the aviation industry
Smith, W. E., Kimbu, A. N., de Jong, A., & Cohen, S. (2021) · Journal of Sustainable Tourism · doi:10.1080/09669582.2021.1932933 · Cited by 27
Mueri, K., Kennedy, M., Pavlova, M., Jordan, A. L., Lund, T., Neville, A., Belton, J. L., & Noel, M. E. (2020) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002086 · Cited by 20
Shomron, B., & Schejter, A. M. (2019) · Television & New Media · doi:10.1177/1527476419893596 · Cited by 17
Schneider, C. J., & Hannem, S. (2019) · Sexuality & Culture · doi:10.1007/s12119-019-09587-6 · Cited by 15
Ciszek, E. L., & Rodriguez, N. S. (2020) · Communication Culture and Critique · doi:10.1093/ccc/tcaa024 · Cited by 14
Creating iPhone Dreams: Annihilating E-waste Nightmares
Good, J. E. (2016) · Canadian Journal of Communication · doi:10.22230/cjc.2016v41n4a3058 · Cited by 14
Character Creation Diversity in Gaming Art
Long, T. (2016) · International Journal of Role-Playing · doi:10.33063/ijrp.vi7.254 · Cited by 14
Binder, K., & Ward, L. M. (2015) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2015.1013602 · Cited by 10
Graber, S. M. (2018) · Journalism Practice · doi:10.1080/17512786.2018.1478745 · Cited by 10
Coming out: The role of journalism in social exclusion of LGB people
Şahin, S. (2018) · Journalism · doi:10.1177/1464884918769462 · Cited by 9
The sociocultural context of adolescent pain: portrayals of pain in popular adolescent media
Cormier, A., Mueri, K., Pavlova, M., Hood, A., Li, Q. K. W., Thurston, I. B., Jordan, A. L., & Noel, M. E. (2024) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003216 · Cited by 8
Shomron, B., & Schejter, A. M. (2021) · The Communication Review · doi:10.1080/10714421.2021.1951534 · Cited by 8
Dunlap, K., & Kowert, R. (2022) · Loading · doi:10.7202/1084842ar · Cited by 8
Glotov, S. (2023) · Journal of Media Literacy Education · doi:10.23860/jmle-2023-15-1-3 · Cited by 11
Toys will be toys: gendered interaction frames in theToy Storytrilogy
Luisi, T. (2018) · Journal of Children and Media · doi:10.1080/17482798.2018.1513852 · Cited by 8
Why Silence? Reporting Internal Conflict in Ethiopian NewspapersPreprint
Moges, M. A. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3081980 · Cited by 8
Controlling Images of Neighborhoods in Gentrification Coverage
Rucks‐Ahidiana, Z. (2024) · Social Problems · doi:10.1093/socpro/spae014 · Cited by 8
Reifying Contemporary Versions of Liquified Racism: Black Representation in Competitive Swimming
Peavy, A., & Shearer, E. T. (2021) · Journal of Sport and Social Issues · doi:10.1177/01937235211012178 · Cited by 7
Framing Haitians and Cubans in The New York Times : Enduring Imprints of Political History
Celeste, M. (2013) · Journal of Haitian studies · doi:10.1353/jhs.2013.0007 · Cited by 6
Shomron, B., & Schejter, A. M. (2021) · International Communication Gazette · doi:10.1177/1748048521990565 · Cited by 5
Local Television News in Salinas, California
Brown, C., & Roemer, R. C. (2016) · Electronic News · doi:10.1177/1931243116628585 · Cited by 5
Luisi, T. (2021) · The Journal of Men s Studies · doi:10.1177/10608265211018816 · Cited by 5
Gordon, N. S. (2020) · Howard Journal of Communications · doi:10.1080/10646175.2020.1819482 · Cited by 5
Jamal, A., & Lavie, N. (2022) · American Journal of Cultural Sociology · doi:10.1057/s41290-022-00166-1 · Cited by 3
‘Time for a troll’; the standard story propping up the colonial state
Nairn, R., & McCreanor, T. (2021) · Kōtuitui New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online · doi:10.1080/1177083x.2021.1953084 · Cited by 3
The Underrepresented ‘Other’: Portrayal of Religious Minorities in Hindi Language Cartoon Shows
Laskar, K. A., & Amir, S. (2022) · Journal of Creative Communications · doi:10.1177/09732586221103953 · Cited by 3
Perceptions of gender in young consumers of animated films.
Barnes, K. (2012) · doi:10.18297/etd/72 · Cited by 3
Pinokyo animasyon filminin kök değerler çerçevesinde göstergebilimsel çözümlemesi
Arslan, M., & ARSLAN, A. (2025) · Mehmet Akif Ersoy üniversitesi eğitim fakültesi dergisi. · doi:10.21764/maeuefd.1496853 · Cited by 2
Len, S. (2025) · Annals of the International Communication Association · doi:10.1093/anncom/wlaf019 · Cited by 2
Öztürk, R. (2023) · Journal of Children and Media · doi:10.1080/17482798.2023.2269337 · Cited by 2
Armstrong, A. L., & Chamberlin, B. (2024) · Symposium on Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) · doi:10.1145/3663433.3663455 · Cited by 2
Visions of Migration: News Images and the Production of Knowledge on the U.S. Southern Border
Scott, A. (2024) · Journalism & Communication Monographs · doi:10.1177/15226379241261809 · Cited by 2
The Exposure to Animated Movies and Constructing Adolescents’ Perception towards Gender Role
Fathy, S. A., & Fahmy, P. A. S. (2020) · Communication Society and Media · doi:10.22158/csm.v3n2p96 · Cited by 2
Ridder, A. D., den Bulck, H. V., & Vandebosch, H. (2020) · Communications · doi:10.1515/commun-2019-0103 · Cited by 2
Be-tween two worlds: a content analysis of tween television programming
Gerding, A. (2011) · Library, Museums and Press - UDSpace (University of Delaware) · Cited by 2
Why Silence? Reporting Internal Conflicts in EthiopianPreprint
Moges, M. A. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3361621 · Cited by 2
Operationalizing Inclusion of Diverse Older Adults in Aging Services Information
Winberry, J., & Mehra, B. (2025) · Journal of Applied Gerontology · doi:10.1177/07334648251318420 · Cited by 1
McCabe, J. M., Grauerholz, L., & Pescosolido, B. A. (2011) · Cited by 1
Keeping Quiet: Investigating the Maintenance and Policing of Male-dominated Gaming Space
Charles, C. A. D. (2016) · Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research · Cited by 1
Where injustices (fail to) meet: newspaper coverage of speciesism, animal rights, and racism
Kinefuchi, E. (2024) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2024.1467411 · Cited by 1
Islam, K. M. M., & Asadullah, M. N. (2016) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 1
I, Too, Am a Woman: an Emancipatory Text on the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Sexuality
Allen, M. M. (2018) · Cited by 1
The Toon Gaze. La rappresentazione del femminile nei cartoni animati prescolar
Ciofalo, A., Leonzi, S., & Quercia, G. (2021) · Ocula · doi:10.12977/ocula2021-10 · Cited by 1
The Portrayal of Older People in Marketing Materials for Senior Centers
Gillespie, J. R. (2012) · ScholarsArchive (Brigham Young University) · Cited by 1
Bacon, J. (2018) · Scholars' Bank (University of Oregon) · Cited by 1
Gender socialization in childhood and adolescence: The role of the media in context
van Oosten, J. M. F. (2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818872-9.00127-8 · Cited by 1
Zhou, Y. (2017) · Syracuse University Libraries (Syracuse University)
Lugt, J. V. (2015) · Digital Commons - Ursinus (Ursinus College)
Mackin, J. (2016) · Carleton University's Institutional Repository (MacOdrum Library, Carleton University) · doi:10.22215/etd/2016-11508
Esposti, P. D., Mascio, A., & Roberti, G. (2021) · Ocula · doi:10.12977/ocula2021-3
(De)constructed Gender and Romance in Steven Universe: A Queer Analysis
Vogt, O. (2019) · NDSU Repository (North Dakota State University)
Valerius, D. S. (2021) · MOspace Institutional Repository (University of Missouri) · doi:10.32469/10355/85821
SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION TERHADAP EKSISTENSI PEREMPUAN DALAM SERIAL BRIDGERTON (2020)
Putri, R. A., & Saktiningrum, N. (2021) · Adabiyyāt Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra · doi:10.14421/ajbs.2021.05203
Defending the Pride Lands and Marginalized Subjects: The Lion Guard as Progressive Pedagogy
Lazić, G., & LeFebvre, R. (2022) · Southern Communication Journal · doi:10.1080/1041794x.2022.2085780
Gender, race, nostalgia, and fanship: factors affecting parental mediation of Disney animated films
Luisi, T. (2022) · doi:10.32469/10355/91599 · Cited by 1
The Removal of the Environment:Time’sSymbolic Annihilation of Environmental Issues as Cover Stories
Yarosh, J. H. (2023) · Sociological Focus · doi:10.1080/00380237.2023.2166180
International Journal of Role-playing 7 -- Full Issue -- IJRP
Torner, E., Blackstock, R., Hutchings, T., Giardino, J., Leonard, D. J., Long, T., Steele, S. H. H., & White, W. J. (2016) · International Journal of Role-Playing · doi:10.33063/ijrp.vi7.249
Aktif, pintar dan berwibawa: Wanita atipikal dalam ‘Ejen Ali’
Nazrin, M., & Ismail, S. F. S. (2023) · RENTAS Jurnal Bahasa Sastera dan Budaya · doi:10.32890/rentas2023.2.10
Schaefer, I. (2023) · Journal of Student Research · doi:10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5212
Representing the Underrepresented
Wyke, D. (2024) · The Motley Undergraduate Journal · doi:10.55016/ojs/muj.v2i1.78372
McKenzie, K. J., Elvin, R., Thomas, P., & Murialdo, F. (2025) · Journal of Interior Design · doi:10.1177/10717641251364844
Pain in the media: A content analysis of pain-related events in ‘Made for Kids’ YouTube videos
Crouch, S. M., Nichols, S., Thompson, D., Ferencz, G. A., Jordan, A. L., Noel, M. E., & Wallwork, S. B. (2026) · Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2026.106473
What Do “Most People” Believe? Race, Gender, and the Generalized Other
Quadlin, N. Y., Mize, T. D., Doan, L., & Manago, B. N. (2026) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/00031224261495117
Metadata
- Authors
- Klein, H., & Shiffman, K. S.
- Affiliations
- Morgan State University (US)
- Cable News Network (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Klein, Hugh
- ORCID
- Klein, Hugh
- Venue
- Howard Journal of Communications
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2009-02-04
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 55-72
- ISSN
- 1064-6175 (ISSN-L)
- 1096-4649
- PMC
- PMC6124697
- OpenAlex
- W2045224283
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 5.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Howard Journal of Communications (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R03AA009885)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Media, Gender, and Advertising
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Cultural Identity and Representation
- Social Sciences › Communication › News Media Framing and Political Communication
- Keywords
- animated cartoons, underrepresentation, symbolic annihilation, outgroup, ingroup, media stereotypes, gender representation, age representation, racial representation, social devaluation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review